![[RELEASE 120] Charlie Black is in the rotation: four coffees from a Pooraka family roastery - AllwaysCoffee](http://allways.coffee/cdn/shop/articles/release-120-charlie-black-is-in-the-rotation-four-coffees-from-a-pooraka-family-roastery-5987215.jpg?v=1785505516&width=1000)
Charlie Black is in the rotation
A family roastery out of Pooraka, started by someone who had already spent three decades inside a multinational coffee company. Four coffees this round, across the whole subscription board.
Roaster Feature
Charlie Black is a family roastery in Pooraka, in Adelaide's north, roasting small batches. The coffee history behind it runs a long way further back than the roastery does: distributing coffee from home in the early 1990s, then better than thirty years working for a multinational, then the decision to stop doing it for somebody else. Their line is "coffee in our veins," which is the kind of thing you can only really say if it is true.
The pitch is simple: fresh, quality and transparent coffee, sourced and roasted to bring out what each coffee has got. That is the whole reason to bother with a small roaster instead of a bag that has been sitting in a supermarket since who-knows-when.
Four coffees land in the rotation this round, one for every way you brew. A blend, a single origin Kenyan as both espresso and filter, and a Colombian decaf that earns its spot.
Paradise White
Ethiopia (natural) + Colombia (washed) · Blend · Medium-light roast
Charlie Black's everyday blend, and the one to start with. A natural Ethiopian brings the fruit, a washed Colombian keeps it clean underneath, roasted medium-light so it stays sweet and bright.
The two halves are doing two different jobs. The Ethiopian is a natural, dried whole inside the cherry so the fruit sugars soak back into the bean, which is where the berry sweetness comes from. The Colombian is washed, pulped and fermented clean, which gives the blend a backbone so the fruit does not turn to mush.
Caramel and citrus up front, ripe berries behind. Good with milk, good on its own, the kind of espresso that actually tastes like something on a Tuesday morning.
Kenya Gathiruini AA, as espresso
Komothai, Kiambu, Kenya · SL28, SL34, Batian, Ruiru 11 · Washed · 1,830 MASL
A washed Kenyan from the Komothai growers in Kiambu, grown up around 1,830 metres from the classic SL28 and SL34 alongside Batian and Ruiru 11. Grade AA, washed and dried the way Kenyans are meant to be.
Gathiruini is one of thirteen washing stations in the Komothai co-op, and the name is Gikuyu for "fern plant," after the ferns that grow all over those hills. The blackcurrant-and-citrus thing Kenyan coffee is famous for is not a processing trick, it is the SL28 and SL34: two varieties selected at Kenya's Scott Labs back in the 1930s from a single drought-hardy tree, and still the benchmark today.
Pulled as espresso it is loud in the best way: red fruit, a bright citrus acidity and a juicy finish. Clean and a bit sharp, not for the faint-hearted.
Kenya Gathiruini AA, as filter
Komothai, Kiambu, Kenya · SL28, SL34, Batian, Ruiru 11 · Washed · 1,830 MASL
The same Kenyan, brewed long. Filter gives the red fruit and citrus room to stretch out, and the finish stays juicy all the way down.
The Komothai co-op has been going since 1956 and now pulls cherry from more than eleven thousand smallholders, most of them tending a few hundred trees each on small plots of red volcanic soil. Every bag is the work of a lot of small, careful hands.
This is the pick for slow mornings, pour over and plunger. Same beans as the single origin espresso, just a gentler way to drink them.
Charlie Black Decaf
Colombia · Sugarcane process · Medium roast
A Colombian decaffeinated with the sugarcane process, which pulls the caffeine while leaving the sweetness and body where they belong. That is the difference between a decaf that tastes like coffee and one that tastes like a memory of it.
The clever bit is how it is done. The caffeine is drawn out using ethyl acetate, a compound made by fermenting sugarcane molasses, which is handy given Colombia grows sugarcane just about everywhere. No high heat and no pressure, so the sugars and the body stay largely intact.
Mild and easy, milk chocolate with a honey finish. For after dinner, or for anyone who is off the caffeine but not off good coffee.
Who's behind Charlie Black
Charlie Black is a family business in Pooraka, roasting small batches. The pitch is fresh, quality and transparent coffee, sourced and roasted to bring out what each coffee has got.
The background is longer than the roastery. Coffee distributed out of a home in the early 1990s, then thirty-odd years inside a multinational, then going out on their own. They also take the coffee on the road as Roaming Charlie, their event carts, which is how a fair few people in Adelaide meet them before they ever buy a bag.
It is the founder-led, small-batch end of the Adelaide scene, which is exactly where Allways likes to shop. An actual family who care whether you liked it, rather than a factory that will never know.
A family roastery in Pooraka, South Australia, roasting small batches. Behind it: coffee distributed from home in the early 1990s, thirty-odd years inside a multinational, and now their own name on the bag. They also run the Roaming Charlie event carts. Coffee in our veins, and no hiding where the beans come from.
Charlie Black is in the rotation now
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