SEASONAL EDITION_002 - PERSONA(250g)

This season’s coffee reflects a how objects and subjects perceived to individuals through its perspective. the difference creates persona and it open up chances to be expanded.  

Sensory quantitative notes

• Sweetness: 9/10
• Acidity: 9/10
• Bitterness: 2/10

PERSONA

[From barista ideas, through barista craft, for the future of coffee]

Kenyan coffee is the kind of coffee people either love or hate, mostly because of its distinctive acidity in the cup. “Kenyan acidity” is often described as currant-like, liquorice candy, cola, or winey in a wider spectrum, depending on each professional's background. And because most Kenyan coffees are washed, that clarity makes the acidity stand out even more. I’m on the side that loves it.

If you’ve visited our café more than a few times, you’ve probably heard about a producer from Costa Rica: Alejo Castro. We’ve been serving his coffees since 2020, and one of the coffees we bring in almost every year is his anaerobic fermentation, natural processed SL-28. An iconic Kenyan variety grown in Costa Rica. The primary notes are always led by fermentation notes like red wine, berries, and plum. The classic “Kenyan” style acidity that you might expect from Kenyan coffee is not easy to find.

And that’s where this season’s theme begins. Even when I know processing is shaping the flavour more than the variety in this particular coffee, my mind still searches for a familiar Kenyan signal because the variety tells me to. Sometimes, it feels like I want to believe the winey intensity comes from the variety, not the fermentation because that story is easier, and because it makes logical sense. In that moment, the coffee has a persona: a public identity built from expectation. It can help people understand the cup quickly, but it can also blur what the cup truly is and where flavours are actually rooting on.

Specialty coffee works the same way. It’s a small part of the larger coffee world, and it’s also a vague term, full of values, preferences, and different definitions depending on who you ask, which culture you are in. But whether we like it or not, we live inside that scene. We roast all our beans in-house, build our drink bases and syrups ourselves, and pursue better flavours, a result of producers’ work, processing, roasting, and brewing. That effort becomes visible in the cup and visibility creates expectation.
Some people walk in already carrying an idea of what a “specialty cafe” should be. Others might decide not to visit at all because it’s unfamiliar or had unpleasant experiences elsewhere. But when they do come in, we’re grateful that the persona they expect often matches who we actually are. A place focusing on flavour, craft, and a deep understanding on what coffee can express.

The dynamic also works in the other direction. Since we opened, more first-time visitors have been coming. Often following coffee friends, sometimes simply because they live nearby. And we realized something important, for people who haven’t been exposed to specialty coffee, we might have their first impression of what it is. It’s an exciting moment to watch someone discover a new world while they visit our space. It’s also a responsibility because the “specialty coffee” they see is shaped by how we introduce it, how we explain it, and what we choose to value. To them, we are more than just one cafe, we become a reference point.

Let’s bring the story back to the cup. This Seasonal Edition blend is our way of turning persona into something you can taste. We took that Costa Rican SL-28, surrounded by Kenyan expectation, and added the missing puzzle piece: the “Kenyan acidity” itself, by blending a washed coffee from Rungeto FCS, Karimikui, Kenya. The blend becomes a persona in reality between what the cup expected to be and what the cup actually contains.

And for our seasonal special drink, The Persona, we present another layer, our own persona as creative specialty coffee baristas. Using the blend as the core, we build around it by pulling out hidden layers like dried fruit and warm spice notes. It’s our way of showing roles, what coffee should take core flavour, what other ingredients should support, and how a coffee-focused mixed beverage should taste, maintain coffee’s character, and be balanced.