Sweet caramel, dense chocolate, spice box and dried fruit with abundant crema and syrupy smooth body.
We carefully roast and blend this coffee to bring out the finest qualities in espresso coffee. When properly extracted the Barrington Gold yields unctuous crema and a complex lineup of bold flavors followed by a long, smooth finish.
To attain this perfection, we begin by sourcing coffees that are naturally very low in acidity and extraordinarily high in body. Our proprietary blend includes aged and conditioned coffees from Southeast Asia and South America. Though we are mindful not to fully disclose the components of this blend, there are some unique aspects about the Gold that we would like to share with you.
Critical components in the Gold include carefully conditioned monsooned coffees from Southeast Asia. Monsooned coffees are green coffees that have been allowed to absorb the moisture of the monsoon winds after picking. The seeds expand as they absorb the moisture, the cells rupture and then they are dried for export. Numerous chemical compounds in the seeds are altered in the process, but the overall effect is a profound decrease in the coffees acidity. This blend also includes coffees that are part of our Landed Aging Program™ whereby we further soften the green coffees acidity through storage in a relative humidity controlled environment.
The conditioning and aging processes we employ are risky, labor intensive and very costly. Yet they are central to the identity of the Gold. When the otherwise delicate flavors of these coffees are concentrated through the high pressure extraction of an espresso machine, the qualities are magnified to an essential level.
The Gold is an espresso blend that we created in the mid 1990’s. Year in and year out, the aroma and flavor profile remain true to the original. If anything about the Gold has changed over the past two decades, it would be a slightly refined focus that we have been able to attain through years of fastidious work with our growers. All of the coffees that make up the Gold are BCRC Farm Direct Projects. Several of these projects represent some of the very first direct trade relationships in the specialty coffee trade. Working directly with coffee producers is the most effective and sustainable way to source the best coffee grown each year. Our relationships span decades and hold strong to this day.
Each year a portion of the money we invest in the Gold ingredients goes to support a non-profit organization called Generative Partners®. Generative Partners® works within farming communities in Encruzilhada and Vitória da Conquista in Bahia, Brazil to implement projects in education, health, sustainability, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (W.A.S.H.).
Generative Partners® was founded by Stephanie Palm Neves in 2003. Our initial contributions helped to foster the construction and operation of the Centro Rural Educate, an early education center in Encruzilhada, Bahia. Now that the local government has built more schools, our contributions are directed to the specific programs that Generative Partners® identifies as critical to the health and well-being of the individuals within these communities. Children, equity, and the environment remain core tenets of their mission. You can learn more about each of the projects they are currently undertaking here.