We’re excited to introduce Burnthouse Porter Coffee Edition 2025 (5.5%), our latest collaboration with Origin Coffee, an exceptional speciality coffee roaster located in Porthleven, just a short drive from our brewery. Like the first version brewed in 2023, we used our base porter recipe but increased the ABV to 5.5% to add more body and backbone for the coffee to bounce off. This time, we used a whopping 250kg (!) of coffee and introduced a new variety of coffee beans: Aponte.
Grown in Colombia’s Nariño region, Aponte is a honey-processed coffee from a collective of smallholders, many of whom belong to the indigenous Aponte community. Once driven into coca production, these growers now lead Colombia’s honey processing movement, producing coffees with exceptional clarity and nuance. Due to its high elevation and dry climate, Aponte undergoes slow, controlled drying, resulting in a smooth, layered cup with mellow stone fruit acidity. Stephen Grey, Head of Coffee at Origin explains why he chose Aponte: “The coffee chosen for this year’s version is a perfect fit! The funky, fermenty notes from the honey processing produce a big, juicy stone fruit profile with lots of body, that'll lend a deliciously sweet deep fruity character to complement the beer, and the caramel & brown sugar notes on the finish match the profile of porter perfectly.”
For this new Coffee Edition of Burnthouse, the process of brewing a Porter remains the same, right up until we add the coffee beans! This happens just before packaging: the Porter is recirculated (cold) through a separate vessel containing the beans. From here, it’s all about checking and tasting the beer for as long as it takes until there’s the perfect level of coffee infusion. We then stop the recirculation, package the beer, and drink it… And so will you!