Lehmus Roastery's Lesoin is the newest member of the popular barrel-flavored coffees from Lehmus Roastery. In the series, raw coffee beans are aromatized in an oak barrel containing alcohol. The roasting creates very interesting flavors and aromas in the coffee.
This time, the coffee has received its aroma from a barrel filled with Nuija gin from the Lappeenranta-based Nuija Distillery, which, after being emptied, was transferred to the Lehmus Roastery to impart its aromas. Originally, it was a barrel filled with American bourbon whiskey, which was then filled with Nuija gin, and then with Lehmus Roastery coffee. Quite a layering, then!
The illustration on the package is inspired by the most beautiful interior in Lappeenranta, i.e. the ceiling paintings and floor decorations of the hall of the Lappeenranta Town Hall, built in 1829. The town hall is usually closed to the public, but for this noble cause we were granted an audience by the city administration to photograph the decorations. Based on the images, designer Ville Kauppi has reproduced and designed the coffee package label to honor this oldest wooden town hall in Finland and its historicity.
The name "Lesoin" (the fortress's laziest coffee) refers, of course, to Lehmus Roastery's slogan "Lesompaa kahvia" (more laziest coffee), but also to the fact that the label is crowned by the general emblem of the cavalry brigade and cavalry, i.e. crossed swords, found above the entrance to the oldest building in the historic Lappeenranta fortress, which was completed in 1772 as a military guardhouse.
Only very high-quality and refined coffee is suitable for a coffee package with such twists. A blend of top-quality Arabica varieties produced by the Njowa C washing station, grown very high on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya, has been aromatized in a barrel for a week. The aromas of the coffee are strongly liqueur-like thanks to the barrel aromatization. The taste has rum, sweetness and hints of ripe banana. The mouthfeel is soft and full-bodied.
Lappeenranta Town Hall from the outside and below from the inside.
Lappeenranta has (previously) been such a poor city that it received an exemption to build the town hall, the city's most important administrative building, out of wood - normally they have had to be built of stone.
A certain frugality has also continued in the interiors: for example, the loft posts look very valuable and heavy, but they are made of painted wood.
The floor of the town hall is also not a structure assembled from hardwoods, but an artfully painted surface.
Do you spot any common shapes in the ceiling paintings and the Fortress's "Lesoin" label?
We got the barrel from artisan distillery Nuija Distillery. The distillery, which opened this year, is the first product to be produced, a robust yet refreshingly smooth Nuija Gin. The symbolic roots of Nuija go back to the founding of Lappeenranta in the 17th century, with its wild forest people. The name may also have been inspired by the wild man’s mace on the coat of arms of Lappeenranta, among other things.
Matti Hiltunen of Nuija Distillery pours juniper berries into the still for a new extraction batch.
The guardhouse, which currently serves as a cavalry museum, greets those ascending the fortress hill right next to the main gates. The beautiful light blue building originally served as a guardhouse and is now the oldest building in Lappeenranta, at 251 years old.
A limited edition of Nuija-Njowa coffee has been produced in the fortress grounds. Buy yours from our online store or at the store at Satamatie 6.