Green Coffee Offerings : Islands: Puerto Rico

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We have not carried any Puerto Rico coffee for more than four years now. This coffee has an island profile in flavor, meaning balanced and m-i-l-d ... mild. That's not a bad word in coffee, it doesn't necessarily mean "milquetoast." But if your idea of great coffee is dry-process Harar, citric Kenya, or high-altitude Central American, be prepared to change gear when tasting island coffees. I looked at PR samples again lately, one of which was incredibly defective under UV light and moldy in the cup. Ugh

Puerto Rico has been a tough coffee origin in recent years. With increased awareness about the effect of low altitude production on coffee, the need for a lot of human labor to hand pick and sort coffee to create truly great lots, and changing weather patterns ... well, everything is stacked against Puerto Rico. They don't have the access to labor, they don't have the altitude, the picking and preparation have been poor, and all of this shows in the cup. When it was good, to describe the flavor it is best to think about the general term "island profile". These coffees, which include Jamaica and Kona, have a soft cup, not acidic, balanced, and mild. They are approachable coffees, and all happen to be quite expensive. (Be aware of the fact that higher priced coffees don't necessarily have a "better" cup, but rather that price is determined by the cost of production, and limited availability. Remember that this is a coffee grown in the U.S. so production costs are higher.) Here is some more background:

Puerto Rico has a well developed coffee tradition. The history of coffee is closely tied to the history of this Caribbean island. First brought in 1736, the Spanish immigrants who settled on the island relegated coffee to a secondary role for the most part of the 18th century. At the time, the fertile valleys were their main concern and sugar and the crops were the order of the day. During the early part of the 19th century, events in Europe forced a migration of residents from the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. They arrived to Puerto Rico and were quickly told that if they wanted to farm, they would have to go to the highlands for all the valleys were taken by the Spanish immigrants. They settled in the Southwestern Mountains of the island, mostly around a town called Yauco. Hard work and determination was rewarded when they brought forth the idea of growing coffee in these high mountains. By the 1860s they dominated the coffee industry on the island. Two devastating hurricanes hit Puerto Rico during 1898. The hurricanes destroyed the coffee industry. Farmers needed to wait two years to begin seeing the crop return to its normal level. During this time, it was evident that the United States was interested in Puerto Rico (along with Cuba and the Philippines) for its sugar production. Tariffs gave coffee in Puerto Rico a severe blow as European nations no longer allowed our coffee to come in as a colonial product. The United States had a long standing agreement to buy the bulk of its coffee from Brazil. -From the Yauco Selecto literature