Lehmus Roastery's Muukko is one of our most popular coffees, and no wonder. Muukko is a very smooth, round and full-bodied coffee. It has practically no acidity at all, just softness and fullness.
We often recommend Muukko as the first specialty coffee, as its feel and uniqueness are a pleasant route into the world of better coffees than usual.
Coffee beans from the Indian monsoon wind
The Indian coffee bean used in Muukko is larger than usual and golden yellow instead of green.
Muukko has an interesting bean and story behind it. Muukko uses a bean known as Monsoon Malabar, which for those interested is actually called S-795 / Kent Arabica.
The beans arrive in Lappeenranta from the southern coast of India, where they have been dried with the help of monsoon winds and rains!
The story is true: coffee beans rest in well-ventilated drying buildings during the monsoon season, which is up to 16 weeks - the normal drying process for coffee takes a couple of weeks.
Monsoon winds, rain and humidity affect the acidity, colour and size of the coffee. Monsoon Malabar has a neutral pH, the colour of the bean changes from green to golden yellow during the process and it swells to a larger size than a regular coffee bean.
Why such a complicated process has been developed has to do with the early days of coffee transportation.
When coffee was first shipped from India to Europe, it took six months to travel from India past the Cape of Good Hope to Europe. In the hold of the ship, the coffee was exposed to sea air and humidity for a very long time. As transportation methods developed, the coffee lost its soft aroma. To restore this, a processing method was developed that gave the coffee beans an aroma reminiscent of the previous transport journey.
A special story, but who are we to doubt it!
A long straight highway in the background of Muukko
Original product image from summer 2017 from Muukon Direct.
The name Muukko coffee comes from the Muukko straight, which refers to the approximately three-kilometer-long section of Kuutostie Road between Lappeenranta and the neighboring city of Imatra.
When you're driving on a straight road, you feel like you're in America. You'll come across large sand dunes, straight dunes, prairie-like fields, small pine forests, windmills, industrial buildings, and whatnot.
See the road camera from Muukko straight below:
Lappeenranta: Road 6 Muukkon straight - to Imatra
These images inspired Lehmus Roastery's artistic director Samu Koskinen , who drew a hiking couple sitting in front of a growling American iron. He has drawn the original image for the label by hand, like all the other labels from our roastery. At the moment, Koskinen feels that Muukko deserves a little tweaking, but not to the image itself, but to the coffee scale.
" Muukko has definitely received far too little slacking off when designing the product. When drinking Muukko, it always feels like you're driving down the highway with your hair down and enjoying the warmth of the sunrise echoing from the east. It's always nice to return to the earthy softness and slack off to the beat of Springsteen on the radio. "
"The back label of Muukko says: The roast's body is shaped like a growling American iron. The taste is overall pleasant, the feeling free like an accelerating convertible.
"Muukko is suitable for both everyday life and celebrations. You can sniff the strong aroma on the terrace of your own ranch, but no one will stop an independent citizen from enjoying the soft taste in the glow of a glowing evening campfire."
Roaster Visa Tuovinen says that Muukko has created a loyal circle of friends.
"Due to its nature, Muukko is suitable for even dark coffee lovers and can be drunk with milk or as is. Many people have fallen in love with Muukko. I think it's because Muukko offers such a different taste experience compared to the usual coffee drunk in Finland."
Monsoon Malabar is not a highly regarded coffee brand in the so-called low-end coffee scene, because its taste becomes familiar relatively quickly, and it does not offer a very wide range of flavors, but rather has an honest and straightforward taste. The red package will remain in Lehmus Roastery's selections for the foreseeable future.
"Many of our customers especially like Muukko, so we will of course continue to offer it in the future."
Facts:
Muukko - American Roast
Country of origin: India
Bean: S-795 / Kent Arabica
Roast level: 3/5
Fullness: 4/5
Rating: 4/5
Order Muukko from our online store at lehmusroastery.com .
PS. If anyone has a red old sports car that they would like to use to transport roasters for filming purposes on Muukon straight in exchange for coffee, you can contact arttu at lehmusroastery.com. Thanks!
