From the Inzá valley of Colombia, Onyx brings us their Colombia La Pirámide washed medium roast. A coffee that brings a ton of juiciness to your cup, let’s analyze this one with taste tests and more through an in-depth Onyx Colombia La Pirámide review.
Pre-Grind Impressions
About the Inza Growing Region
Colombia’s Inza growing region is one of the oldest in the America’s. What’s especially cool about it is that many farmers are still growing the exact same varieties that were first brought to the area. They call the older varietal, Typica.
Since the late 1970’s, the Federatión Nacional de Cafeteros has made an effort in the country to replace the Typica varietal with more easily grown plants. While many farmers in Colombia made the transition to disease and drought tolerant Caturra and Castillo plants, the rural qualities and impassible roads of the Inzá region (along with guerilla groups) meant the Federatión didn’t get the same type of plant transition in Inza. To have a little bit of history like this still available is pretty cool. (Or, you may think about other, less coffee-crazed things when you enjoy your morning cup…)
Visual Bean Inspection
Popping open the La Pirámide bag, we’re immediately introduced to a sweet, juicy sensation. It’s really a pleasant pre-grind scent.
A quick visual inspection shows us there is nothing about the beans themselves that give cause for concern. We see a batch that is relatively even-roasted with no visible deficiencies. We’re ready to give these the green light to hit the grinder and start the drip brew process.
Onyx Colombia La Pirámide – Taste Test
Onyx tells us to expect notes of Pear, Panela (think sugar cane), Dried Cherry and Black Tea with the coffee. This is interesting to me mostly because of the black tea. I don’t associated it with coffees from South America like I would an Ethiopian grown bean.
Our first sip shows us that juiciness we noted prior to grinding is going to be a dominant theme with this coffee. The juiciness presents an interesting balance because the black tea is prevalent as well. It’s sort of a tug-of-war. You know that dry feeling you get from the tannins in black tea? We’ve got that sensation going on. At the same time, there is a juicy part of this coffee that causes salivation.
I do believe the pear suggestion by Onyx is also a good one. There is a sort of mealy sweetness that presents itself ever so briefly.
The juiciness could be dark cherry as Onyx suggests. This is going to sound incredibly pompous but to me, the berry quality of this coffee is more of a raspberry. No matter what your palate finds, that juiciness really sets up the cup to be an easy drinking experience.
Acidity Testing
Advertised as a coffee with bright acidity, the black tea qualities certainly lend themselves to that description. I wouldn’t put this coffee in the top tier when it comes to acidity though. Venturing a taste-test based guess, this coffee drinks like one with a pH of about 5.3.
We get out the pH meter and find this one comes in a 5.5. That’s pretty middle of the road for coffee and right in line with what we’d expect from a Colombian grown bean.
La Piramide Review Wrap & Score
To put our Onyx Colombia La Pirámide review into just a few words –
This is a really nice coffee that is medium bodied but much lighter than we anticipated – which is a good thing. The delicate balance between the black tea and juiciness is a welcome experience and frankly, this is better than we expected.
We score this coffee a 91. It brings us the black tea, crisp finish of an Ethiopian coffee while providing an additional layer of juiciness that is really something fun. We’d short list this one and suggest it to anyone looking for a breakfast coffee or just something relatively light.
