A cup of one of Luminous’ El Mirador offerings, roasted on September 17th and brewed today with the trusty Aeropress. 12g coffee, 200g water off the boil maybe fifteen seconds, three minute brew, swirl, 30 second wait, plunge.
This coffee was anaerobically cofermented for 130 hours in 200 liter vessels beside 80 liters of “prepared fruit based culture”, so at most 120 liters of coffee cherries. Then, naturally processed.
The finer details of what fruit was used to coferment aren’t listed nor do I think they are important. The listed flavor notes are there, I definitely get red fruit, definitely get lime. But I’ve had weirder coferments. I think this coffee is most notable for its pinpoint perfect body and acidity. Gorgeously rounded, perfectly tart balanced against the expected sweetness of good specialty coffee. I won’t go back to the Aeropress with this one, my two V60 brews of it have been a bit more expressive, it just bursts out of the cup. It was also particularly easy to brew, my first pourover was excellent.
The trade off for lab manufactured perfection is the cost. Luminous has a lot going on, which I’ll talk about in a comment. I initially wondered how much of the cost went into the coffee, but there are some financials on a little card on the box: they paid $31.37 per kilo for these beans, $14.23 in freedom units. If you’re not familiar with coffee prices, that is a whole lot. I paid them $30 plus tax for 200g. I have bought ultra premium coffee for more, but those were halo products or competition coffees, intended to be the very best a roaster can make. This is just what Luminous sells. So is it worth it?
To me, yes. A typical 15g cup is around $2.50 accounting for the filter. Its engineered perfection is not something I’d want every day, but it's a great coffee.
So, regarding Luminous Coffee the company and not this particular coffee.
Luminous is a micro roaster in Las Vegas. Small team, small lots, small quantities of coffee in each box. I've bought from small roasters before. How different can this one be?
Pretty different, turns out. For one, they only sell coffee for twenty six hours a week, no stocking up orders in advance of a shipping cutoff. You miss it? Wait. I waited. I was immediately curious how the financials on that work, it's typically a good idea to take people's money when it's offered.
Luminous sells coffee in two forms: just the bag or, for $1 more, All the Extras. I intentionally did not look at what that meant. Always pay the one. The box is nice and beautiful; it brings to mind old popcorn boxes. The bag is custom, with a slot for the ID card. Each box included a packet of Third Wave Water, a sachet of instant coffee, a beautiful large sticker, and a piece of candy that I immediately ate. All that stuff is so expensive. I remain curious about the financials.
While eating that candy I was worried. This was far and away the flashiest coffee buying experience I've ever had. Polished presentation often hides mediocre to bad products. But the coffees I bought are top flight. So the maximalism, rather than the root of the brand, is icing on the cake. These are people who are serious about what they're doing, exceptionally good at it, and are so enthusiastic that they want every other element of the experience to be as fantastic as the coffee.
I'm very, very impressed at the intentionality. A lot of good coffee companies are buttoned up and want their coffee to do the talking, which is great. Luminous is loud and happy to be loud. I will absolutely buy from them again.
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