Tetsu Kasuya Set

In 2021, Tri-Up Coffee began a coffee processing project with World Brewers Cup Champion 2016 Tetsu Kasuya. Combining the efforts of Test, Tri-Up, farmers, and producers came the first custom processing coffee - Tomodachi. The words means “friendship” in Japanese and shows the collaborative efforts of everybody involved to produce this special process.

Few years later, a second custom processing was developed named “yabai” meaning “awesome” in Japanese. This process explores taking the fermentation further to enhance more complexity.

Tomodachi. Double Anaerobic Honey; whole cherry ferment for 3 days, depulp and ferment for 2 days, moved to shaded raised beds to dry for 35 days. Focusing on perfumey, sweet, and fruity character.

Yabai. Double Anaerobic Natural; whole cherry fermentation for 10 days then moved to shaded raised beds to dry for 35 days. Focusing on taking the fermentation flavours further, enhancing more complex fruit notes and sweetness.

The idea for the set was to showcase the difference between the replication of the same processing ideas across 2 origins. Overall, the coffees fit Tetsu’s processing ideology but at Alo, the coffees expressed with richer grape and berry character , with higher sweetness as well. On the other hand, at Don Eli, the coffees expressed with more fresh fruit character and had higher clarity.

The similarities in processing method brought out grape tones from Yabai process and mulled wine richness from Tomodachi process, yet retaining their individual terroir character in the nuanced details.

Ethiopia Alo Tomodachi

flavor. dried mango, berry compote, clementine, mulled wine

Ethiopia Alo Yabai

flavor. red currant, pinot noir, grape currant, violet

Costa Rica Don Eli Tomodachi

flavor. forest berries, mulled wine, fresh orange

Costa Rica Don Eli Yabai

flavor. green muscat grape, yellow pear, sauv blanc, yellow peach