Idle Hands x La Marzocco Home

January 2024 | Salt Lake City, Utah

Idle Hands

Idle hands launched in November of 2021 at the tail end of Covid by a couple of friends who had long been in coffee. With a shared set of core beliefs in the principle of collaboration, mutual growth, and equity throughout the value chain, Adrian, Peter, and Ricky formed Idle Hands Roasting Company. Collectively we’re made up of Cup of Excellence judges, Golden Bean winners, Q-Graders, and combined have some 30+ years in the industry.

To us, being a responsible roaster means that there is a moral and ethical responsibility to every person these coffees interact with from crop to cup; not just sourcing coffees strictly for their intrinsic qualities. We make very conscious decisions to step away from traditional attitudes and conventional methods of buying and selling coffee and we are sure to not replace them with elitist ones. We source the same coffees from the same producers, coops and exporters local to producing countries year after year. And make attempts to improve at every step along the value chain; even after the coffee has left our roastery. The packaging you receive is recyclable (LDPE 4), please dispose of thoughtfully.

For these coffees, we recommend resting the coffee for 14 days after roast +1 additional day for every 1,000ft above altitudes of 2,000ft to reduce the intensity of crema and improve the taste experience. And as always, please adjust accordingly to taste preferences.

Confluence Blend

Coffee Name: Confluence Blend
Origin: Colombia, Ethiopia, Brazil and Tanzania
Producer: Colombia, Linarco Rodriguez Ospina; Ethiopia, Boledu Coffee Halo Beriti; Tanzania, COTACOF Korongo PB; Brazil, SMC Donas do Cafe
Elevation: 2800ft – 7300ft
Process: Washed Colombia and Tanzania; Natural Brazil and Ethiopia
Variety: Multiple
Tasting Notes: Milk Chocolate, Cherry, Sweet Citrus

This blend is thoughtful to the entire supply chain; producers, dry mill operators and exporters, importers, ourselves (of course..) and you. This blend aims to create a consistent product at a steady price point year round. Confluence is a post roast blend; all coffees are roasted individually before being blended in batches.

Currently made up of a washed Caturra/Tabi mix from Huila, Colombia from Linarco Rodriguez, a natural Heirloom from the Halo Beriti station in Yirgacheffe from our friends at Boledu, a natural community lot produced by female coffee producers working with SMC in Brazil, and a washed community lot from COTACOF and Sucafina in Tanzania. Each part of this blend plays a vital role in making Confluence what it is.

With our history of coffee making and cutting our teeth as baristas in Australia, we were taught to lean towards larger doses and splitting shots. We believe these slightly increased doses give a juicier mouthfeel and acidity helping showcase those red fruit flavors and subtle chocolate notes we love so much. Makes for a great one and one; one espresso and one macchiato or piccolo latte.

Confluence Brewing Recipe

Dose: 20g
Time: 32 seconds
Yield: 38g
Temperature: 202F
Pressure: 9 bars
Preinfusion: Optional 3 seconds

Wanna go for somethin’ wild? In a 21g LM basket, up-dose further to 23g and aim to yield 40g in 35sec. Like smaller doses and longer yields? Get your 18g basket and go for a 18.5g dose and aim to yield 35g in 28-30sec.

Guatemala El Panal

Coffee Name: Guatemala El Panal
Origin: Guatemala
Producer: Jorge Mendez
Elevation: 5,200ft
Process: Washed
Variety: Bourbon, Caturra, Pache
Tasting Notes: Honeycomb, Raspberry, White Grape

We featured Jorge’s El Panal washed coffee last year, and it was a smash hit among baristas for its sweetness, balance and consistent flavors.

Jorge’s career in coffee began as a picker at coffee farms around the San Pedro Necta municipality of Huehuetenango before he and his wife, Ana Alisia Aguilar Ramos, saved enough money to buy some land along the PanAmerican Highway. Not long after acquiring this first piece of land Jorge and Ana sold their original property and moved back into the mountains to Agua Dulce.

Along with learning the ropes in coffee; value, trading and qualities, Jorge learnt and arguably perfected sustainability practices introducing bees to the farms to assist in pollination and including this in his list of offerings. Supporting farm level diversification and coffee producers’ alternative means of money making is an awesome opportunity, so we’re excited to showcase Jorge’s coffee blossom honey. The harvested honey must come from within 1km of the coffee farm and harvested only during flowering. Which means it only comes around once a year!

Both of these products are sourced and imported by our pals at Onyx Coffee Importers, a producer operated supply chain founded by Edwin Martinez. Edwin is a third generation coffee producer from Guatemala, and once upon a time a neighbor of Jorge Mendez; Edwin began importing his coffee to North America in 2009. He’s successfully and proudly developed Onyx into a collaborative and community driven company that brings us coffee from folks like Jorge Mendez and Arcenio Castillo and we’re super proud to know them and have worked closely with them on including Jorge’s honey and coffee in this subscription.

The honey may arrive crystalized due to the colder weather. If you’d like to return it to crystal form you can sit in on the top of your espresso machine or place the jar in a small cup of hot water.