Lot 61 - Featured Guest Roaster in 2021 January

Welcome to 2021…hello to our new subscribers, welcome back to old friends and thank you to everyone!

We are looking forwards to a year of exciting coffee, trying out new roasters and maybe revisiting a few old friends…but at the centre of everything will be stunning flavours and perfectly roasted coffee!

We start the year in Amsterdam and our pleased to feature Lot 61. Take some time out to enjoy your brew and learn a bit about the team there.

Tell us a bit about Lot 61; the team, your offerings, your values…

Born in Sydney, raised in Brooklyn, Roasting in Amsterdam is more than a slogan for us. It explains not only our journey but that we are travellers, adventurers, seekers. We are a coffee roaster, but coffee has never been just that, it’s a lifestyle, an attitude, a refuge, a comfort. Nothing brings us more joy than firing up the roaster, opening the doors and serving our community.

Your branding and packaging is so bold and elegant – is there anything in particular you are looking to achieve with this?

We wanted to create a contemporary brand with longevity and a ‘sense of place’. Last year we rebranded, and one of the inspirations was to allocate the flavour wheel more prominently on the packaging. Now, our bags represent a comprehensive and kaleidoscopic picture of flavour profiles, so you can actually track and trace colour origin with flavour profile. Lastly our bags are recyclable and reusable!

A life around the world and set up in Amsterdam, what appeals to you about the area and are there any plans to try other countries?

Although we are based in Amsterdam, LOT61 indeed has an international spirit and Aussie accent. LOT61 is where the salty scene of Bondi and Venice intersects the grit and grind of Carlo and Williamsburg. It`s just who we are.

How important is sustainability to you?

We’ve been on a mission to become a circular coffee brand in every aspect of our field. This approach earned us a B corp certification last year, where we took a full 360 view on the business and examined every aspect to become as neutral as possible.

Are you sourcing through established suppliers or any direct relationships with origin?

This has varied throughout the years, but we have built close relationships with farmers directly as well as with traders.

We follow the coffee, so if something amazing comes our way or we search for it ourselves we do our best to support whatever source this is.

Our focus at this point is to source from Poly farms instead of mono cultured farms, to eradicate soil depletion.

How do you profile for roasting – are there particular concepts you feel are specific to what you want to achieve, or put in the cup?

We follow the coffee. Roasting can never really be one track minded, and may take some discovery to find the best balance and get out what the coffee wishes to portray. This is a never ending journey, but that’s what keeps us ticking.

Great selection for this month, tell us a bit about them

This month we feature 3 different origins: Ethiopia, Colombia, and Kenya. Ethiopia, Layyoo shines with it’s fruity acidity, lingering blueberry and notes of nectarine. Colombia, our good friend and producer Eider Munoz has been able to unlock notes of mango, peach and rich citrus. And our latest edition Kenya, Faith is really an easy drinking coffee with bursts of juicy red berries, milk chocolate and subtle hints of floral.

Any brew recommendations: recipes you would like to share

For Layyoo and Faith we recommend to use 15 grams of ground coffee with a brew time of 2m30sec with a yield of 230 grams and 250 grams respectively. For Eider Munoz the recipe is slightly different: 17 gr of coffee, 250 grams out in 3 minutes.

Do you have any significant plans for 2021?

Just continue doing what we do the best: roast and brew with a huge focus on sustainability. Explore new origins, experimental lots and new markets – oh, and keep on geeking out in our field!