| Australian
Mountain Top Peaberry |
| Country: |
Australia |
Grade: |
Peaberry |
Region: |
New South Wales |
Mark: |
Mountain Top Estate |
| Processing: |
Wet Process |
Crop: |
September
2005 Arrival
(2004-2005 crop) |
Appearance: |
Peabery 16+
Screen |
Varietal: |
Bourbon-derived
hybrid |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes: Mountain
Top is a farm in SE Australia, about 2 hours south of Brisbane and 5
minutes west of Nimbin. This selected area is unique because of the altitude
and unique volcanic red soils. The farm itself is on the slopes of the
extinct volcano, Mt. Warning. The area is a lush, subtropical environment,
and is unique in coffee since this is the southernmost growing area I
am aware of. It's also unique in that this growing area is quite distant
from where most Aussie coffees come from, at least the Skybury from Mareeba
in the north, which is a fully mechanized farm akin to Kauai coffee.
And this is the first time we have bought an Aussie coffee, after years
of evaluating Skybury samples and finding the flavors to be somewhere
between copy paper and plastic wrappers, this is such a relief. Now,
for the preparation; it is a little embarassing to call this Extra Fancy
because compared to a really nice Kona XF, the green coffee is not much
to look at. It has a peculiar rounded form which is somewhat like Bourbon
cultivar, and somewhat like Mundo Novo.My 300 gram sample has one broken
bean, and a couple other oddities that won't affect the cup but make
it seem that XF grade is a stretch. Nonetheless, we are not "eye-cuppers" here
- we don't judge coffee by making pronouncements about the green appearance,
since many perfectly prepared green coffees cup like cardboard. Now the
cup ... the best part ... The cup is crisp and light-bodied. It's an
odd term but very appropriate here: juicy! This cup is very juicy and
has a very nice sweetness to it that is almost like pine sap, sharp sweet.
In a way, it shares some cup qualities with Isle of Saint Helena coffees;
the body is thin and their is this sweet clarity in the cup. How many
times can I use the word "sweet" in describing this coffee?
It would be a great training tool to show people what "sweet" coffee
is... and it has brightness, something I have never truly experienced
in an Aussie coffee. Overall, the flavors exist in a compact range, and
the sweet aftertaste seems to linger for an appropriate amount of time
given the lighter body. PEABERRY UPDATE: We received a late crop shipment
of Austrailan Mountain Top Estate Peaberry on October 1 2005. It is a
later shipment than the flatbean, and has a unique cup character (more
Indonesian-like than the flat bean. I think it makes a really great single-origin,
single-Estate espresso too (FC+ to light Vienna roast ). I wasn't bowled
over with the preparation of the green coffee, but I let the cup do the
talking and it was really nice. Expect a little more character in the
espresso shot for this cup, and I actually prefered a slightly shorter
pull (18 to 10 seconds) . Anyway, this is a unique lot, the only Mountain
Top PB in the US. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.0 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.1 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity / crisp, sweet, light-bodied cup |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: I
like true Full City, just before 2nd crack. Even a bit into 2nd is nice
- at this stage it is more bittersweet than sweet. I also notice that,
with rest of several days, the body is much greater than I score here
in the review. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
84.4 |
Compare
to: Island coffee qualities in some regards, a sweet and straightforward
cup that is, nonetheless, quite incomparabale. |
| Australian Mountain
Top XF |
| Country: |
Australia |
Grade: |
XF -Extra Fancy |
Region: |
New South Wales |
Mark: |
Mountain Top Estate |
| Processing: |
Wet Process |
Crop: |
April 2005
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.7 d/300gr,
17-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Bourbon-derived
hybrid |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes: Mountain
Top is a farm in SE Australia, about 2 hours south of Brisbane and 5
minutes west of Nimbin. This selected area is unique because of the altitude
and unique volcanic red soils. The farm itself is on the slopes of the
extinct volcano, Mt. Warning. The area is a lush, subtropical environment,
and is unique in coffee since this is the southernmost growing area I
am aware of. It's also unique in that this growing area is quite distant
from where most Aussie coffees come from, at least the Skybury from Mareeba
in the north, which is a fully mechanized farm akin to Kauai coffee.
And this is the first time we have bought an Aussie coffee, after years
of evaluating Skybury samples and finding the flavors to be somewhere
between copy paper and plastic wrappers, this is such a relief. Now,
for the preparation; it is a little embarassing to call this Extra Fancy
because compared to a really nice Kona XF, the green coffee is not much
to look at. It has a peculiar rounded form which is somewhat like Bourbon
cultivar, and somewhat like Mundo Novo.My 300 gram sample has one broken
bean, and a couple other oddities that won't affect the cup but make
it seem that XF grade is a stretch. Nonetheless, we are not "eye-cuppers" here
- we don't judge coffee by making pronouncements about the green appearance,
since many perfectly prepared green coffees cup like cardboard. Now the
cup ... the best part ... The cup is crisp and light-bodied. It's an
odd term but very appropriate here: juicy! This cup is very juicy and
has a very nice sweetness to it that is almost like pine sap, sharp sweet.
In a way, it shares some cup qualities with Isle of Saint Helena coffees;
the body is thin and their is this sweet clarity in the cup. How many
times can I use the word "sweet" in describing this coffee?
It would be a great training tool to show people what "sweet" coffee
is... and it has brightness, something I have never truly experienced
in an Aussie coffee. Overall, the flavors exist in a compact range, and
the sweet aftertaste seems to linger for an appropriate amount of time
given the lighter body. We will have a limited amount of Mountain Top
this year and when this arrival is gone, that's it! |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.0 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.1 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity / crisp, sweet, light-bodied cup |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: I
like true Full City, just before 2nd crack. Even a bit into 2nd is nice
- at this stage it is more bittersweet than sweet. I also notice that,
with rest of several days, the body is much greater than I score here
in the review. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.4 |
Compare
to: Island coffee qualities in some regards, a sweet and straightforward
cup that is, nonetheless, quite incomparabale. |
| Bolivia
Organic Peaberry "De Montaña" |
| Country: |
Bolivia |
Grade: |
SHG |
Region: |
Yungas
Region, Central Cordillera |
Mark: |
Cert.
Organic
Cenaproc Co-op "de Montana" |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
Jan 2006 arrival |
Appearance: |
1.4 d/300gr, Peaberry
screen |
Varietal: |
All Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.2 |
Notes: The
Cenaproc Co-op has been doing such a good job with their coffees that it's
almost unfair. They won the #1 spot in the Bolivian Coffee Competition
in 2003 and 2004, and had multiple other lots in the Top 10. This co-op
knows what they're doing, and while different lots have different cup characters
(because they originate on the small farms of different coop members),
the Cenaproc mill has nailed down the processing and preparation to maximize
the cup quality for all their coffees. the "de Montaña" mark
is simply their best Strictly High Grown coffees, and this peaberry lot
was one of the few from the mill this year. In fact, we bought the whole
thing in advance based on how well it has cupped in years past, and the
arrival of the coffee more than fulfilled my hopes for it. For me, a great
Bolivia is not a powerhouse coffee, it's a fragile, fragrant cup that deserves
the tasters attention. The fragrance here is is sweet, but fairly mild
at the City roast and FC roast I cupped. Wetting the grinds produces a
delicate, temporary aroma, black tea-like with apple blossom accents to
it! When the crust is broken (in the cupping process) a clear but fleeting
floral fragrance escapes - just fantastic! These are the little things
that make a coffee so seductive, even if they are so momentary. The cup
has light body (matching light intensity cup character overall) and caramelly
sweetness, and very floral character. Drinking a cup of flowers, a floral
infusion ... that's what tasting this Bolivia is akin to. Now, if you want
to roast this to Full City, or Full City +, you are going to get a darker,
fruitier character from the cup. And I won't disuade you because this peaberry
can accept a wide range of roasts and do well. I did not try a Vienna yet,
but I do not doubt it will be quite good; very high grown, dense coffee
seeds can tolerate the abuse. But for me, this is a City to City+ coffee
at it's peak; light, crisp, crystal clear. If you get an off note here,
clean your brewer! |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
9.0 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
2.9 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Aromatics, clean fruits |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
to City + roast is my recommendation … you don't want to burden
the sweetness and floral notes with dark roast notes. Then again, it
is a forgiving coffee and Dark roasts work well too. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.8 |
Compare
to: A very Bolivian cup profile: light, sweet, floral, clean |
| Bolivia
Organic Cenaproc Co-op "Peaberry" |
| Country: |
Bolivia |
Grade: |
SHG |
Region: |
Yungas Region, Central
Mtn. Range |
Mark: |
Cert. Organic,
Cenaproc Co-op |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
March 2005
arrival |
Appearance: |
.1 d/300gr,
50% Peaberry, 50% 16 screen blend |
Varietal: |
All Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.5 |
Notes: This
lot of coffee has a unique story behind it. It is from the Co-op that
won the #1 spot in the Bolivian Coffee Competition in 2003. But just
a week after we left the country, there was basically a coup and the
president resigned amidst rumblings from the rural regions of Bolivia
who believed he was selling out the country to foreign energy interests.
In the meantime, there was a lot of uncertainty and perhaps jealousy
against established organizations ...and perhaps Cenaproc co-op, having
won the #1 spot for two years in a row, were a target. The Co-op's president
decided to go into hiding, and since the coffee lot we had hoped to buy
was almost ready for export, it too went into hiding! Well, that was
last year and in the first Bolivia Cup of Excellence Competition it was
Cenaproc lots that dominated the top 10. This co-op knows what they're
doing, and while different lots have different cup characters (because
they originate on the small farms of different coop members), the Cenaproc
mill has nailed down the processing and preparation to maximize the cup
quality for all their coffees. I cupped some earlier Cenaproc arrivals
that were nice, but a bit underacheiveing - this lot is what I expect
from a really good Bolivian coffee though. The cup has sweet, clean aromatics
laced with a sharp spiciness. I am initially impressed with the caramelly
sweetness in the cup, but as it cools there are berry notes that emerge.
And I like it at a darker roast when the darker fruits emerge (raisin,
prune), This cup profile is an excellent option for those who like Central
American coffees, but want to try something new. Like last year I added
a 1 cuppers correction, because the lighter City roasts in particular
are so impressive. We brewed this coffee in the shop and people could
not decide if it was a really bright Huehuetenango or perhaps even a
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe! The higher tones in the cup are that distinct!
This lot is supposed to be peaberry, but in fact it is about 50% peaberry
and 50% small flatbean. Well, the shape of the seed doesn't mean anything
when it is roasted, ground and brewed, so I went ahead and cupped this
lot out against the the other Bolivias we have offered and found it brighter,
with a slight winey quality to the acidity - I liked it! So I put the "Peaberry" in
quotes in the name. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
9.0 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
2.9 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Roast: City
+ roast is best I think… you don't want to burden the sweetness
and fruit notes with bitter roast notes. Dark roasts work well too. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Compare
to: A very Bolivian cup profile: light, sweet, fruited, clean |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.8 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Aromatics, clean fruits |
| Brazil
Organic Camocim -Pure Bourbon |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
Pedra Azul, Espirito
Santo |
Mark: |
Camocim Estate, Organic
Cert. |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
May 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17+ Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Bourbon
(Yellow) |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: If
you read the Moka (Peaberry) review, I might be repeating part of this
farm information: Camocim is an organic certified farm of some note in
Brazil; every farmer I speak with from Cerrado to Sul de Minas knows
of it, and their production is much sought-after. Camocim Farm is in
Espirito Santo, a coastal state north of Rio and to the west of Minas
Gerais. Camocim is a true Estate coffee that turned to organic production
in 1999 under the ownership of Henrique Sloper Araujo. But the diverse
environmental character of the farm, it's garden-like appearance, dates
to the original owner in the '60s who planted exotic Pinus and Eucalyptus
varieties, as well as Jacaranda. The farm is situated at 1100 meters
and is near the famous Pedra Azul (Blue Mountain) monolith, a well-known
land feature in Espirito Santo. Camocim coffee is unique in the processing
too; they use no water in peeling the skin off the cherry, nor it removing
the fruity mucilage from the parchment layer that coats the green bean.
Once it is dried, they allow the coffee to "rest" (reposo)
for 3 months, much longer than the average 20-30 days at most farms.
The result can be seen in the green coffee: a variegated and ruddy appearance
that might, to the neophyte, seem like a mark of low quality. It's not.
In fact, we are paying a big premium for these coffees, partly for that
extra restin g process that results in this odd, variegated appearance
to the green coffee! This farm grows many cultivars, but this year we
asked them to separate a small, pure-Bourbon lot for us. Bourbon is one
of the most traditional arabica cultivars named after the isle of Bourbon
(now Reunion) and know for high bean density and good roast characteristics.
The trees produce less, which theoretically concentrates more positive
flavor compounds into the fruit, into the green seed. This lot has a
dynamic cup, brighter than the Moka or Jacu coffees. (In fact, it seemed
as bright and vivid as a table of high grown El Salvador coffees I cupped
alongside it - not many Brazils would hold up to that feat.) The dry
grounds have that character I always look for: sweetness, in this case
an almost buttery type. Add water and there is a clear floral-herbal
scent: jasmine, sage blossom, and a malty sweetness. In the cup, the
body and sweetness are at the forefront, with the sage flower aromatics
come through as a secondary attribute in the finish. (Around now, any
cupper would be convinced that the ruddy look of the green coffee was
completely counter to the great cup quality). As the coffee cools, a
honey graham cracker flavor comes to the foreground, and mild orangey
notes can be detected. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0.5 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity (brewed) / Brightness, sweetness, jasmine
and sage |
 |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: For
brewed coffee I have best results at City + roast, for espresso a FC+
roast |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.9 |
Compare
to: A refined, brighter cup than many Brazils. Please Note: This
coffee has a very ruddy appearance due to the special "resting
period" of the coffee in parchment. |
| Brazil
Fazenda Boa Sorte Natural Bourbon |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
Campos Altos,
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Boa Sorte Estate, |
| Processing: |
Dry-Processed |
Crop: |
January 2007
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Red
Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.4 |
Notes: Boa
Sorte is a small coffee farm (fazenda) in south Minas Gerais state. I
visited there a while ago and checked out the samples last year, but
felt there were some improvements to make in the coffee and the processing.
It is owned by a young couple, Bethania and Junior, and they have a lot
of enthusiasm for improving the farm. It has good altitude for the region
of Campos Altos, 1050 meters. They made improvements to their mill, sorting,
and drying, and it really shows this year. What we have here is a separation
of their 100% Bourbon cultivar trees (Bourbon, the traditional seedstock
that was the first brought to the Americas from the East, originating
on the Island of Bourbon, now known as Reunion). This is also traditional
in another way: patio-dry-process coffee. In this, the whole cherry,
picked red and fresh from the tree, is promptly laid out to dry on special
patios at the mill. The result is heavy body, low acidity, fruited tones
in the cup. It's a rustic profile overall: The lighter City roast has
sweet, rustic fruity fragrance from the dry grounds nut hints, papaya,
very winey fruit aroma. It seems like it might go over the edge, , become
overly fruity, but doesn’t. There are suggestions of cardomom and
fresh ginger. With a bit more roast there is a heavy, rustic chocolate
aromatic with winey tones (think Scharffen-berger chocolate); totally
different than City roast but not unexpected at all. Perhaps the FC+
roast is more what people expect from a true natural dry-process Brazil,
and why it forms such a good espresso component, especially for the darker
Southern Italian style espresso. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.1 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Bold intensity / Chocolate, fruit, wineyness |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City++ |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.8 |
Compare
to: Traditional natural dry-process Brazil, and Bourbon to boot! |
| Brazil
Flatbean -Brauna Estate |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
|
Region: |
Araponga,
Matas de Minas
(Minas Gerais) |
Mark: |
Fazenda
Brauna |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
November
2006 arrival |
Appearance: |
2
d/300gr, Peaberry 16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Catuai,
Bourbon, Icatu |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
11/10/06: We
previously had a peaberry of this same coffee. This shipment is flatbean
- cup is virtually the same so the review remains unchanged. Notes: This
coffee placed high in the Brazil Cup of Excellence competition in
2004 and I wasn't sure if it would still be available after that.
(It was No. 2 in the general competition and No.10 overall ... that's
from over 900 samples submitted! It fell just below the 90 threshold
to join 8 other coffees for a special distinction.) Luckily, I have
a friend in the Brazilian trade who looks out for us, and that's
the only way I could get this coffee. The farm has been owned for
years by the Schmölz family, who overseas all the production
and milling of the coffee on the farm. This lot is Catuai and Bourbon,
and it is a Brazil Specialty Coffee Assoc. certified lot. That means
I can punch in the certificate number to the BSCA web site and view
the varietal information and grading ratings for this specific lot
- very cool! Pulped Natural coffees are prepared by the fairly recent
demucilage system created in Brazil. Ripe cherries are pulped but
the mucilage (fruity layer under with outer peel) is not removed.
Parchment coffee (green coffee in the outer parchment shell) dries
in contact with the sugar-rich mucilage which transfers natural sweetness
to the beans and preserves the full body typical of the best Brazilian
coffees. Illycafe has been using Pulped Naturals as a part of espresso
blends for years now, in combination with other Brazils. In brazil
these are called CD coffees which means Cereja Descascada, or basically "Washed
Cherry". I spoke with Joao who works at the farm and he tells
me that the experiments with other process methods on the Brauna
farm were just not a good match for this coffee in terms of cup results
(and with their 10th place prize I am sure he is right). You can
use the Brauna as a small percentage of espresso blends ... I don't
want to use too much because this coffee is a bit brighter than other
Brazils, or you can adjust the roast (a slower drum roast) and get
a great 100% Brauna espresso. It is a fine single origin Brazil for
drip/French press . The cup has sweet aromatics, almost a malty-sweet
scent that follows through into the cup flavors. I get a cinnamon
spice in the wet aroma too. The cup has a mild sweet orange brightness
(and acidity rare in other Brasilian coffee but an intrinsic quality
for coffees from the Araponga region of Matas de Minas). For me,
this is one of the nicest straight-roast Brazils... |
Joao and Afonse (pictured) run the farm, and their sister Marta does
the books. A true family business. See my 2005
Brazil travelogue for more about Brauna
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Simple pleasant cup with nuttiness |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: See
notes above: In general Full City is best for Brazils in terms of nutty-chocolate-sweetness,
and you don't want to take them too dark because they often become
ashy and carbony (at a Full French Roast). I like this a tad lighter,
at City +, because it has a nice sweet orange aspect at that roast. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.3 |
Compare
to: Very high quality Brazil of the Pulped Natural type (a cleaner
cup profile than the Natural-Dry Brazils). It is mild, clean, and
for a Brazil it has a distinct sweet cup. Note that this is new crop
for 06/07 season, and I found a higher percentage of defects in this
lot, although the cup character is outstanding. Per 300 grams, expect
to see 2 defect beans (pod beans that are dark brown, easy to see,
pick them out pre-roast) |
| Brazil
Screen-Dried Moreninha Formosa |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
Serra
do Salitre, Minas Gerais, Cerrado Mineiro |
Mark: |
Moreninha
Formosa |
| Processing: |
Dry-Processed
on raised screens |
Crop: |
December
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Bourbon, Catuai |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: The
Moreninha Formosa is from Serra do Salitre, a high plain in Cerrado Miniero,
Minas Gerais state. It's the same micro-region where we bought the competition-winning
natural dry process Fazenda Rio Paraná of Ricardo Torezan last
year. At 1200 meters, the Serra do Salitre has better altitude than most
of Cerrado proper, which averages 800-900 meters for coffee production.
More importantly, this is a special dry-process done on raised beds ...well,
screens, in the African tradition. This allows for dry air to circulate
all around the coffee, evenly and thoroughly evaporating moisture from
the ripe coffee cherry. And that's the second key here; ripe cherry.
The owners of this mill advance 70% of the local price for coffee (based
on the Brazilian coffee index ESALQ) to growers who deliver red cherry
coffee to receiving stations. The reason for receiving coffee in the
form of ripe cherry is to ensure uniform processing, and to avoid the
defects that usually end up on the patios in typical dry-processing.
Therefore, expertise in coffee preparation is offered to the growers,
and guarantees the best coffee quality. The mill helps the individual
growers maximize their return by actually using the coffee market to their advantage.
At anytime producers can fix the price of their coffee. When this special
lot sells at a better price in the international market as compared to
the local price, the profits obtained will be split between the coffee
producer and the processor. The cup is very rustic, fruited, chocolatey,
and thick. I mean, this coffee has HUGE body, and the natural, somewhat
earth-tones in the the flavor made me (for a second) do a double-take
... was this a natural Yemeni coffee? No, the flavor is quite different,
but it has that level of exotic, "wild" character. I like this
coffee fresh, within 72 hours of roasting, and felt that it became a
little ashy as it aged. But this was also with short 8 minute sample
roasts, and I feel that a proper drum roast, with slow warmup (ala Hottop
or GeneCafe) will not drop off like this. I am off to test that now... |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Bold intensity / fruited, rustic, nutty, full-body |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City to Full City+ |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.2 |
Compare
to: Great, fruited, natural dry-process Brazil - has Yemeni hints
in respect to the fruit that results from this processing. |
| Brazil
Carmo de Minas -Aprocam |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
17-18,
2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Carmo
de Minas, Sul de Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Aprocam,
Fazenda do Sertao, Nazareth Dias Pereira |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
Late March
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.8 d/300gr,
17+ Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Yellow
Catuai |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
Notes: The
farm of Nazareth Dias Pereira is at 1300 meters; the region (Aprocam
mountains, Carmo de Minas region, Sul de Minas Gerais state) is a premier
growing region for specialty coffee. Her coffee placed high at the Cup
of Excellence this year (the sister lot of this coffee is the #13 we
bought, the only difference is this is Yellow Catuai and the CoE lot
is Red Bourbon). Most significantly, this is the fourth year the coffee
has made it to the CoE auction! But even more important is not the official
accolades, it is the cup; this is one of the most deliciously seductive
Brasilian coffees in my memory. (Remember that last year's Yellow Bourbon
that flew outta here was from the same Coop too). It has more brightness
than I expect from Brazils. It's sweet, very sweet at City+ roast, with
a honey-like tone. And the City roast has some grape in the wet fragrance
too, while darker roasts I intended for espresso still have some sweetness
too, like dark molasses. This dense, high-grown bean really holds up
in the darker roasts, more so than other Brazils, but it's the light
roasts that amaze me on the cupping table. It's so softly rustic, but
refined too, with apricot and banana in the finish. Perhaps more than
any single quality aspect, this cup is extremely balanced, and all the
flavors integrate so well. At the importers office, this was the first
Brazil they had to score in the high 80s. I don't go that high, but if
I put this coffee in an all-Brazil table, I think it would win out over
all. |
Carmo de Minas topography
Ripe Yellow Catuai at Aprocam |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity (brewed) / Low-acidity, nuts, dusty sweetness. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: For
brewed coffee I have best results at a slower City + roast, for espresso
a Full City + (just breaching 2nd crack without gaining any momentum.) |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86 |
Compare
to: Excellent Brazil of the Pulped Natural type (a cleaner cup
profile than the Natural-Dry Brazils) |
| Brazil
Organic Camocim -Yellow Icatu |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
17-18,
2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Pedra
Azul, Espirito Santo |
Mark: |
Camocim
Estate, Organic Cert. |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
Late March
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.8 d/300gr,
17+ Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Yellow
Icatu |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.2 |
Notes: Espirito
Santo is a coastal state north of Rio and to the west of Minas Gerais.
In fact, it is not far from the Matas de Minas region where our Fazenda
Brauna coffee Is grown. Espirito Santo has a lot of arabica production,
but also has a good low altitude region in the northern part for robusta.
That does not concern us though, and "good" is a relative term
when speaking of robusta, especially the rancid Brasil Conilon type.
Camocim is a true Estate coffee that turned to organic production in
1999 under the ownership of Henrique Sloper Araujo. But the diverse environmental
character of the farm, it's garden-like appearance, dates to the original
owner in the '60s who planted exotic Pinus and Eucalyptus varieties,
as well as Jacaranda. The farm is situated at 1100 meters and is near
the famous Pedra Azul (Blue Mountain) monolith, a well-known land feature
in Espirito Santo. The farm grown Catucai, Yellow Bourbon, Icatu and
Catuai, and our pre-ships of these coffees have been great ... unfortunately
last years lot was delayed in transit, and arrived in terrible condition.
I cupped it. I rejected it. This year, the Red Catuai lot had similar
problems, and was loaded with something roasters call "foxy beans" -
coffee with loads of red-tinted silverskin attached to them hinting at
the fact the coffee was too old on the tree, or sat too long before being
pulped. We rejected it (based on the cup, not the appearance). But this
Yellow Icatu cultivar was a different story. It is all about nuts and
chocolate here, qualities that remind one of dry-processed Brasils. From
dry fragrance through aftertaste, it is milk chocolate and almond-hazelnut
flavors with a striking sweet-bittersweet alternating character. I prefered
FC to FC+ roast to bring out these qualities, and while they are dependent
on this level of roast, my C+ roast had them in abundance too. It's more
of a rustic cup than the brighter Carmo de Minas offerings, and I find
fruited (apple) hints in the cup, turning rustic and rooty in the aftertaste.
Perhaps it is this rustic side, paired with above average body, that
makes me think of a really good natural Brasil coffee. |
Senor Olivar, who switched Camocim to organic production
The famous local landmark: Pedra Azul
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity (brewed) / Low-acidity, nuts, dusty
sweetness. |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: For
brewed coffee I have best results at Full City + roast, for espresso
a Vienna |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85 |
Compare
to: Natural dry-processed Brasil, even though this is a pulped
natural. Note the unusual appearance of this coffee? Camocim
ages coffee in parchment longer than any other producer to give more
sweetness, chocolate and body. That is why it cups more like a natural
dry-processed Brasil coffee. |
| Brazil
Mogiana WP Decaf |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
SS,
FC |
Region: |
Mogiana |
Mark: |
|
| Processing: |
Dry-processed,
then decaf by Water Process |
Crop: |
April
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 17 scr |
Varietal: |
Bourbon,
Icatu |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
2 |
Notes: Decaf
Brazil is a fairly neutral cup, and its main use is for decaf espresso
blends. It adds body and is a good "backdrop" in terms of roast
taste. A backdrop coffee fills out the background of the cup and does
not interfere with your "highlight" coffees, the ones that
are going to be the exclamation point of your cup character. If you want
earthiness in the cup, a Sumatra or Sulawesi can do this for you and
provide body. But if you are not trying to develop an earthy "wild" blend,
but want a cleaner espresso cup, then Brazil is very useful. It has great
espresso use to create low-CAF or decaf blends with body and depth. If
you like a very soft espresso cup, you will enjoy this Brazil as a straight
decaf espresso (its a bit too mild for me). This Mogiana-region coffee
is a traditional Brazilian dry-process coffee. What's that mean? Dry-process
means that the rip coffee cherry is picked by hand, laid out on patios
to dry and then the outer pod and inner parchment layers are removed
in one milling process to reveal the green coffee seed. But the old traditional
Brazilian dry-process was dried on the tree, not on a patio! When a coffee
is 100% tree-dried it can be too wild and have unpleasant off flavors.
So before decaffeinating this coffee originates with a good lot of coffee,
and the new water processor in Mexico that is producing decafs with more
origin character than the previous SWP sources, and this cup really surpasses
the Brazil Santos SWP decaf that we previously stocked in the 2000-2002
crop years. Although the aromatics are low, I add a 2 for cupper's correction
because this is an excellent "special purpose" coffee. We
stock this especially for use in espresso blending. Use for a
lo-caf espresso blend base. Produces great crema, and a great neutral
roast taste as a backdrop for your caffeinated grace note coffees in
the blend (Yemeni, Harar, Etc). The shots I have pulled with 100% Brazil
WP decaf were very nice too, but would not cut through milk in cappuccino
etc very well. Of course, if you make your cap correctly (1.5 oz espresso
and a maximum of 4 oz milk) it will do fine. If you need an all-decaf
espresso I would recommend 60% Brazil decaf, 20% of an Indonesian decaf
like Sumatra, and 20% of a Central American decaf or Mexican decaf. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
7 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
7.5 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
7 |
Roast: Best
character emerges in the roast tastes, caramelly and mildly pungent.
For this, roast 10 to 30 seconds into the 2nd crack, also a great range
for Northern Italian style espresso. |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Compare
to: A non-chemical water process coffee that out-cups the previous
SWP Santos and lends great body to blends. |
| Add
50 |
50 |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
81.5 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Clean and neutral |
| Brazil
Cerrado 5th Place -Fazenda Pantano |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Cerrado
Competition Graded |
Region: |
Coromandel,
Cerrado, Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
5th Place
Semi-washed Process, Rodrigo Aparecido Martins |
| Processing: |
Semi-Washed
Process (Eco-Washed) |
Crop: |
January 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.2 d/300gr,
17-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Icatu, Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: This
Brasil lot differs from the other 2 we purchased in the 2005 Cerrado
Coffee Competition I attended late last year in Brazil. This is a semi-washed
coffee, which means that it is picked as ripe red cherry, taken to the
mill and depulped/demucilaged. Then it is laid on the patio to dry (or
perhaps on raised screens in the African style for "air drying").
The result is a cleaner cup style, with brighter notes and a lighter
body. You might also note that this is the processing used for literally
ALL of the finalists in the Cup of Excellence in Brasil for the past
5 years, and is the method endorsed by Illy. And I must say, having cupped
all the Brasil CoE lots and bid in the competition, my opinion is that
this Fazenda Pantano coffee would have done VERY well. It is clean, sweet,
and full of secondary cup flavors (the ones I always describe as "hints" and "aspects" and
such). The farm is run by Rodrigo Aparecido Martins and is located in
the Coromandel area of Cerrado. The cup does not have tons of dry fragrance
(I noted the sweetness though) but comes to life with water; the wet
aroma is floral and laced with citrus rind. Cup flavors are similar,
with rose-like floral notes, orange citric qualities and a light, malty
sweetness. The finish is clean, honeyed, and has the same persistent
orange notes and malted sweets. It's good, and is a different style of
Brazil than the naturals. For this, it needs a lighter roast treatment,
even as light as City roast although I found City+ to be optimal. As
I roasted toward Full City, some of these delicate citrus and floral
notes were diminished but I did enjoy a hazelnut/almond roast taste that
came up. You can certainly roast darker, or use as an espresso base at
a light Vienna, but expect a different cup than described here (as Vienna
espresso it was tangy, with a citric hint, and with good bitter chocolate
flavors.) |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity / Delicate sweetness and floral notes |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
is ideal for the cup I describe, see the description about darker roasts. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.7 |
Compare
to: Clean, brighter Brasils, in league with the top 10 Cup of Excellence
Lots, I firmly believe. |
| Brazil
Cup of Exc. #13 Nazareth Dias Pereira |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
CoE finalist |
Region: |
Carmo
de Minas area, Sul de Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Brazil
Cup of Excellence 2006, 13th Place, Nazareth Dias
Pereira, Fazenda do Sertao |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
Late March
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.2 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Red
Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.4 |
Notes: We
are lucky this year: lucky to get a great Brazilian CoE lot, and lucky
to be able to buy even more coffee from this exact same producer, Nazareth
Dias Pereira. It's a chance to compare Red Bourbon coffee entered into
the CoE competition and the Catuai cultivar the farm produces. Yes,
we are lucky because both are amazing, sweet Brasil coffees. As I have
said before, my personal top coffee from the auction is often not the
1st or 3rd or 5th place, and it is true again - lucky 13th was my favorite.
When you consider that there are 800 or so entrants in the CoE, and
how many times each lot must make it through the National and then
International juries, #13 is damn good. In fact, all the top 30 that
make the auction are exemplary coffees. Perhaps most significant of
all, this is the fourth time Nazareth has made the finals. The farm
is about 800 hecatres with 210 in production with coffee and more than
that dedicated to raising prized Girolando cattle! Thirty-four families
reside on the farm, a total of approximately 145 people, in houses
assigned by the farm at no cost to its employees, all with running
water and electricity, where they receive a salary above the Brazilian
minimum wage, milk, coffee, transportation and medicine. In
the farm there is a municipal public school, and it is also enrolled
in the government Family Health Program. There is a phone line for
the employees, a soccer field for them to practice sports and a reservoir
where they can fish. Okay, I haven't been there, I stole all that from
the CoE farm description. The point being ... this is an established,
well-organized farm! Now, let's forget the soccer, the fisshing and
the cattle ---to the cup! For me, the most striking character of this
coffee is sweetness ... a rustic sweetness that pervades from fragrance
and aroma through aftertaste. Dry grounds are highly fragrant and have
a toasted malt quality with light mollasses and graham cracker hints.
The wet aroma. Cup flavors have a strong jasmine tea character from
initial sip through the long aftertaste. During the cupping process,
breaking the crust results in a momentary, intense red pepper aroma!
There are orange hints with a bit of rindy zest, and as mentioned,
that rustic, honeyed sweetness paired with malty grain flavors. Brightness
is quite high for Brazil, bringing the whole cup into balance from
the high note through the tenor range - darker roasts bring out deeper
roasty flavors and chocolate bittersweets. But I highly recommend a
true City+ roast, stopped after 1st crack concludes plus a few seconds.
At this stage, you won't have surface color or texture evenness, but
we don't roast coffee to enter it in whole bean beauty contests, we
drink this stuff. My suggestion is to forget about roast appearance,
and try for a City+ to expreience the full "origin flavor" glory
of this coffee; you can always shoot for a toned-down chocolatey cup
with a Full City or FC+ roast next time around. |
Fazenda Sertao, Nazareth dias Pereira
The Historic Farmhouse
|
Fazenda Sertao Wet Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity (brewed) / Sweetness, Jasmine flavor,
Balance, Brightness |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
+ roast,see the description for more |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.6 |
Compare
to: Exemplary Brasilian coffee ... for me, as good as it gets.
The CoE Internatiional jury scored this 87.22. It is rare I score above
the CoE jury (I am very tight on my scoring) but the overall cup quality
here, the straightforward desireability of this cup, compells me give
it a +1 cupper's correction. |
| Brazil
Fazenda Ipanema "Dulce" |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
16+,
2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Sul de
Minas |
Mark: |
Ipanema,
Utz Kapeh/BSCA certified
 |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry-Process |
Crop: |
late February
2006 arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Bourbon,
Catuai, Icatu |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes: For
more information on Utz Kapeh ( a sort of "Fair Trade Lite" designation)
see this article. The Fazenda Ipanema "Dulce" (sweet) is a
traditional Brazil, prepared using the natural dry method where whole
unpeeled coffee cherry is layed out to dry on the patios intact. I have
seen other farms refer to their dry-process coffee as "Dulce" but
i am not sure if this is a uniform designation. Basically, natural dry-process
is the old, traditional Brazil method. This means that the coffee has
all the pulp, fruity mucilage and skin on it as it dries. Natural coffees
have greater concentrations of organic components, minerals and soluble
solids, meaning that they have more body in the cup, and more intense
flavors. While these flavors are chocolate and fruit in flavor, there
is a husky side to them, a natural honey or naturally-dried fruit aspect
to them. Some would call that "unclean" in cup character. Even
Illy frowns upon the wild notes in these coffees. But these coffees have
more impact, more character, than other Brazils. The "Dulce" has
a raw honey sweetness to it, great body, earthy chocolate tones, with
clean mild fruit accents that I find to be melon-like! It has very low
acidity too, which to some is ideal but it does make the cup seem a bit
incomplete to me: it doesn't register on the tongue, and most of the
flavors are sensed toward the back of the palate. For a infusion (French
press) or drip coffee, a bit of a natural dry-processed Ethiopian (Harar
etc) would add a great accent to this cup. But as espresso the top end
of this cup really comes up, balancing out the overall profile: it is
great straight espresso! (Like other Brazils, don't overroast or they
become ashy as espresso: restrict it to Vienna or lighter.) There is
also a soft winey fruit tone that lurks in the back of this cup, certainly
not as pronounced as the natural Ethiopian coffees, but along these lines. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
7.8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.1 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
4.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium / Body, mild fruits |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: I
like a true Full City or Full City+ for this coffee, and a light Vienna
for espresso. Like most Brazils you don't want to take them too dark
because they often become ashy and carbony (at a Full French Roast).
For drip coffee you get a great cup at a lighter City+ roast, where fruit
notes are at their best. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
84.9 |
Compare
to: Traditional, full bodied, Natural Brazil character: a little
wild, mild clean fruitiness, heavy body, low acidity. |
| Brazil
FTO Poco Fundo |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Non-traditional |
Region: |
Sul de
Minas |
Mark: |
Poco
Fundo, FTO (Fair Trade, Organic) |
| Processing: |
Dry Processed |
Crop: |
November
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
3 d/300gr,
16-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Icatu, Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: Poco
Fundo a cooperative, the "The Associacao dos Pequenos Produtores
de Poco Fundo, " located in the south of the state of Minas Gerais
and boasts 76 members. Annual production is relatively small; six containers
of their best quality, the rest being sold off in the internal market
of Brasil. The growing region, Sul de Minas, can be a challenging one
to produce traditional dry-processed coffees; the main issues can be
rain arriving while the coffee is on the patio to dry, or other weather
shifts that prevent uneven drying. Add to that the problems of growing
organic coffee in Brasil, dealing with pests and tree nutrients on a
soil that needs amendment, and it's a miracle you can get good cup quality
at all! But Poco Fundo has the potential to be a great, rustic, wild
cup. At it's best it is like a dry-processed Ethiopian coffee, deeply
fruited (plum and raisin) with great body, and roast taste ranging from
almond to milk chocolate. But Poco Fundo is a shifty coffee, and some
lots can be really defective too. That's why we offer it sometimes, but
not that often. When the cup is good I grab as much of it as I can get!
This lot of Poco Fundo has a clean cup, nutty (dry-roast peanut) in the
lighter roast, turning to milk chocolate in FC+ roast levels. There is
a clean fruitiness to the cup, something I love about natural dry-process
Brasilian coffees, but something a cupper needs to be concerned about.
Winey fruited notes can verge on ferment, and ferment in coffee will
mean a month or two down the line the cup quality will tank! But this
lot of Poco Fundo has a solid, clean berry-like fruit in it, and paired
with the nut, chocolate roast tastes and creamy body, makes this one
of the nicest natural Brasils as a straight roast drip coffees. You will
pick up some tobacco notes and earthiness as the cup cools, in the aftertaste
... it is a rustic, natural coffee after all. This might be the only
Poco Fundo lot we have all year; last year we had one great lot and the
rest had off flavors, musty cups and such. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity / Full body, rustic fruity notes |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City is ideal, lighter for a nuttier roast taste, or FC+ for more chocolate
roast taste. Expect some unevenness in roast color, and lots of chaff. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.4 |
Compare
to: Natural, full body Brasil with rustic characteristics (but
relatively clean!) I also do not recommend buying more that a 4 month
supply of this coffee. It tends to experience a flavor shift after
then, to fade quicker than other coffees due to the process method
done in Sul de Minas - can't explain but I have noticed a drop off
in the fruit notes in the cup over time. |
| Brazil
Cerrado 2nd Place -Fazenda Araras |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Cerrado Competition
Graded |
Region: |
Monte Carmelo, Cerrado,
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
2nd Place Natural
Dry Process, Waldemar Bovi |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry
Processed |
Crop: |
January 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
4 |
Notes: Fazenda
Araras was the 2nd place dry-process coffee in the 2005 Cerrado Coffee
Competition. It is a Monte Carmelo region coffee grown by Waldemar Bovi,
and Monte Carmelo dominated the event. Well, at least in the dry-processed
category, 7 of the top 10 were Monte Carmelo! As I have said before,
Cerrado has the best weather for dry-process coffees, with a dramatic
shift from rainy season to dry season. This means the trees explode with
flowers, produce &an even-ripening of cherry, and can be harvested
in one pass practically! If you doubt that the harvest machines used
in Cerrado for the first pass of picking can select only ripe, red cherry,
think again. See my pictures from the 2004 and 2005 competitions to compare
hand picking and machine picking. In other regions of Brasil, it would
unthinkable, but Cerrado is unique in many ways and it is one area where
the machine picks better. then humans come in and strip pick the remainder,
resulting in lower cup quality. Anyway, you will also note a peculiarity;
I have scored the #2 lot above the #1 lot in the dry-process category.
I recommend #1 for its outstanding espresso use, something that is not
reflected in the cupping scores. #2 I recommend for drip-press use (although
it produces proverbially "wicked" espresso too!) Why? Well,
on the cupping table the Fazenda Araras was sweet, had ripe orange hints
in the aromatics and in the cup. I had milk chocolate notes, winey fruit,
grape and pomegranate, and tobacco in the finish. It was outstanding. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Full body, fruited notes |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City is ideal for drip/press. Darker roast (Light Vienna) works well
too, and will be very chocolaty but you might see the fruit notes eclipsed.
This is a good roast for espresso. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
88 |
Compare
to: Natural, full body Brasil, with fruited/winey hints. |
| Brazil
Cerrado 2nd Place -Fazenda Araras |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Cerrado Competition
Graded |
Region: |
Monte Carmelo, Cerrado,
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
2nd Place Natural
Dry Process, Waldemar Bovi |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry
Processed |
Crop: |
January 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
4 |
Notes: Fazenda
Araras was the 2nd place dry-process coffee in the 2005 Cerrado Coffee
Competition. It is a Monte Carmelo region coffee grown by Waldemar Bovi,
and Monte Carmelo dominated the event. Well, at least in the dry-processed
category, 7 of the top 10 were Monte Carmelo! As I have said before,
Cerrado has the best weather for dry-process coffees, with a dramatic
shift from rainy season to dry season. This means the trees explode with
flowers, produce &an even-ripening of cherry, and can be harvested
in one pass practically! If you doubt that the harvest machines used
in Cerrado for the first pass of picking can select only ripe, red cherry,
think again. See my pictures from the 2004 and 2005 competitions to compare
hand picking and machine picking. In other regions of Brasil, it would
unthinkable, but Cerrado is unique in many ways and it is one area where
the machine picks better. then humans come in and strip pick the remainder,
resulting in lower cup quality. Anyway, you will also note a peculiarity;
I have scored the #2 lot above the #1 lot in the dry-process category.
I recommend #1 for its outstanding espresso use, something that is not
reflected in the cupping scores. #2 I recommend for drip-press use (although
it produces proverbially "wicked" espresso too!) Why? Well,
on the cupping table the Fazenda Araras was sweet, had ripe orange hints
in the aromatics and in the cup. I had milk chocolate notes, winey fruit,
grape and pomegranate, and tobacco in the finish. It was outstanding. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Full body, fruited notes |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City is ideal for drip/press. Darker roast (Light Vienna) works well
too, and will be very chocolaty but you might see the fruit notes eclipsed.
This is a good roast for espresso. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
88 |
Compare
to: Natural, full body Brasil, with fruited/winey hints. |
| Brazil
Cerrado 1st Place -Fazenda Cruz Branca |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Cerrado Competition
Graded |
Region: |
Estrela do Sul, Cerrado,
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
1st Place Natural
Dry Process, Carlo Diamante |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry
Processed |
Crop: |
January 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4 d/300gr,
17-18 screen |
Varietal: |
Mundo Novo,
Icatu, Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.7 |
Notes: This
lot was the 1st place dry-process coffee in the 2005 Cerrado Coffee Competition
I attended late last year in Brazil. Carlo Diamante owns the farm, and
surprise here was that natural dry-process coffees from the Monte Carmelo
region of Cerrado dominated the top 10 spots. So the fact an Estrela
do Sul coffee interloped, and snatched the 1st spot, was interesting.
Cerrado is really the best area of Brasil to do the dry process due to
the dramatic shift from rainy season to dry season. It is so dramatic
in fact that red ripe cherry can often be left to start drying on the
tree! Tree-dried coffee, a process that has been refined at Fazenda Vista
Alegre using irrigation, is actually the norm in Cerrado. The reason
is this even ripening and rapid shift into the dry weather pattern, and
this is because Cerrado is not under the same Atlantic ocean influenced
weather pattern as the rest of Brasilian coffee growing areas. The Fazenda
Cruz Branca lot won me over in Brasil where the heavy body, dry bittersweet
chocolate notes, aromatic wood aromas, and slight orange hint were all
very intense. Now, I have specific recommendations for this lot and for
the #2 lot from Fazenda Araras, which I actually score slightly higher!
The reason is that the #2 coffee suits drip-press coffee brewing better,
and thus scores higher in the cupping process, but this, the #1 coffee,
is the one I chose for espresso. As a single origin, single farm espresso,
Cruz Branca is unbeatable. I roasted by cupping sample to C+ as is the
norm, and the espresso sample to FC+/Light Vienna, just a bit into 2nd
crack. The volume and quality of the crema was a thing to behold, and
it was a very tightly compacted crema that persisted a very long time
too. The creamy mouthfeel of this espresso was extraordinary, and makes
perfect sense due to the high soluble and insoluble solids in a dry-processed
coffee. Now, I had to work with my grinder and machine (Ditting and Andreja
respectively) a bit to tune it for this shot. Over-extracted Brazil shots
are awful so be sure to play with the variables if first results are
unimpressive. But ultimately you should get intense chocolate with abundant
crema. If you choose, a small "accent coffee" can be blended
in for the espresso, something to add a top-end note to the cup and aroma,
such as 10-20% of a Harar, a non-citric Kenya, or a Central American
coffee such as a bourbon El Salvador. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.2 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Full body, chocolate notes,
loads of crema |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City is ideal for drip/press although darker is very nice too! For espresso,
a slow-finish roast to a FC++ or Vienna is good. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.5 |
Compare
to: Natural, full body Brasil with full body and intense chocolate. |
| Brazil
Fazenda Santa Helena |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
17-18,
SS, FC |
Region: |
Sul de
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Fazenda
Santa Helena (Estate), BSCA Certified
|
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
Late June
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Yellow Icatu,
Yellow Bourbon and Acaiá |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Is
the coffee world getting smaller? To get this Brazilian coffee I have
to call a broker in London, where an American and a Costa Rican and a
Brit have managed to buy some of the great lots, and it gets shipped
to Oakland via Portland. Seems more complicated than it should be, but
when it comes to really nice coffees, the competition is indeed global,
and small roasters in Europe are competing against buying groups in Japan,
and a certian home roaster supplier in Oakland, California. Anyway, it's
not about the story behind the coffee, it's about the trees, the processing,
the roasting and the cup. It starts with this Sul de Minas farm. At the
base of Serra do Pau D'Alho, near the shores of the Furnas Lake, lies
Fazenda Santa Helena. High quality coffee varietials (Yellow Icatu and
Yellow Bourbon, augemnted by Acaia) are grown using efficient, localized
drip irrigation, which guarantees a gradual maturation of the tree, with
no impact from severe weather accidents like drought and frosts. The
farm is a true estate, and has complete autonomous processing facilities,
including covered patios and raised
bed drying (Brazilians call it "air drying", many call
it African Bed drying since it originates in Ethiopia). The cup is excellent
in espresso, and roasted properly lends a dusty sweetness to the cup.
A lighter "cupping roast" has raw honey sweetness, carmel,
orange, and roasted nuts. The aftertaste has a nice dry-roasted peanut
character, cocoa, and that sweet undertone of sorghum syrup. The body
is excellent, after a proper 48 hour rest. It's a mild cup for brewed
coffee, low in acidity; as espresso it is a striking straight roast,
single-origin, single estate cup... but reflects the way it is roasted.
I-Roast espressos are llively and have more compact flavor range than
the slower drum roasts, which are more deep and distinct. |
Fazenda Santa Helena |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
7.9 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity (brewed) / Low-acidity, nuts, dusty sweetness. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: For
brewed coffee I have best results at a slower City + roast, for espresso
a Full City + (just breaching 2nd crack without gaining any momentum.) |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85 |
Compare
to: Excellent Brazil of the Pulped Natural type (a cleaner cup
profile than the Natural-Dry Brazils), great as a mild low-acid brewed
cup, and excellent as espresso. Check out their web page: http://www.fazendasantahelena.com.br/
(hee-hee) |
| Brazil
Carmo Estate Peaberry |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Peaberry
No.1 |
Region: |
Sul de
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Carmo
Estate,
BSCA & Utz Kapeh Certified
|
| Processing: |
Natural
Dry-Process |
Crop: |
July
2005 arrival |
Appearance: |
.2
d/300gr, PB No.1 Screen |
Varietal: |
Catuai,
Icatu, Bourbon (Yellow and Red cultivars) |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes: This
is new crop coffee from the excellent Carmo Estate that I visited this
past October. It's a really high quality farm-specific south Minas Gerais
coffee with a lot of history behind it: the Junqueira family introduced
coffee in this high altitude region 150 years ago. And it is still in
the family; Tulio Junqueira, a fourth generation member of the same family,
owns Carmo Estate. Carmo Estate has 525 acres (212 ha) which is fairly
average for an Estate type Brazilian farm (they get a LOT bigger than
this) and ranges from 3,000 to 3,800 feet . It is planted with quite
a few arabica varieties - Mundo Novo, Catuaí, Catucaí,
Bourbon, Acaiá and Icatú. The cup has a very mild brightness,
but is in perspective a very low acidity coffee. It's the roast tastes
I really like much, milk chocolate, nuts, spice, wood, rich humus (good
earth, not dirty). It is certainlu a great espresso too, as a straight
shot it produces a lot of crema. I have tried light roasts but prefer
a Full City that is right at the cusp of 2nd crack ... or a few snaps
into it. There's a nice tangy pungency in this roast, and a creamy body
that compliments the overall cup profile so well. |
View of the valley at Carmo Estate
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.0 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.0 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Roast: See
notes above: In general Full City and darker is best for Brazils in terms
of nutty-chocolate-sweetness, and you don't want to take them too dark
because they often become ashy and carbony (at a Full French Roast). |
| add
50 |
50 |
Compare
to: Very high quality Brazil of the Natural type (patio, sun-dried) |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
83.9 |
| Brazil
Sul de Minas Yellow Bourbon |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
17-18, 2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Sul de Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Aprocam Top Sky Yellow
Bourbon |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
Late June
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.2 d/300gr,
17+ Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Yellow
Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
Notes: Bourbon
coffees are the traditional old-world varietal, and was once the exclusive
coffee tree of Brazil. The small, rounded seed has a refined cup character,
good bean density, and is grown in a way that requires more labor and
produces less coffee than newer hybrids. Yellow Bourbon (the type that
turns to a bright yellow color when ripe, rather than the Red Bourbon)
is even more challenging to grow, because when rip the coffee is fragile.
Slight winds can knock the fruit to the ground and ruin it. This is a
lot I am really excited about because it comes via our knowledgable Brazil
source from a cooperative that farms at an amazing 1400 meter altitude
(well, amazing for Brazil). This makes it one of the highest grown Brazils
we have ever offered. I cupped both the Red Bourbon and the Yellow, and
chose to offer the Yellow as a lot to you all (although the Red was too
good to pass up ... we are using it in our signature espresso blend -
I am sure you can figure that out!) But the Yellow does both light roast
and darker roast, brewed and espresso; the Yellow Bourbon is very versatile.
The cup is impressive, with more brightness than I expect from Brazils.
It's sweet, like raw, unfiltered honey. (Actually it has a very distinct
flavor for me: bee pollen, something you used to find in health food
shops). The City roast has some canatloupe in the wet fragrance too,
while darker roasts I intended for espresso still have some sweetness
too, like dark mollasses. This dense, high-grown bean really holds up
in the darker roasts, more so than other Brazils, but it's the light
roasts that amaze me on the cupping table. It's so softly rustic, but
refined too, with apricot and banana in the finish. It is delicate in
an unusual way, delicate but tinted with mild earthy tones ... white
porcelain, but crafted earthenware, (Apologies in advance for far-flung
analogies!) At Full city+ to light Vienna, as a single origin/single
varietal esrpesso, this coffee is awesome: sweet, nutty, creamy, with
a really fine acidic accent. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity (brewed) to medium (espresso)/ Low-acidity,
nuts, dusty sweetness. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: For
brewed coffee I have best results at a slower City + roast, for espresso
a Full City + (just breaching 2nd crack without gaining any momentum.) |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87 |
Compare
to: Excellent high altitude single cultivar Brazil. |
| Brazil
Cerrado Competition Lots, 2004 -2005 Crop |
| Here we
have the reviews for the Cerrado Auction Lots I bought after the competition
in November 2004 (This is '05 new crop coffee harvested in late '04 per
the Brazil crop cycle). You can read more about the event on the Brazil
Cerrado Competition Pages. Basically, I bought 4 of my favorite
coffees from the competition, 2 lots of Natural Dry-Processed and 2 lots
of Pulped Natural aka Semi-Washed aka Cereja Descascada, or CD coffee.
Confused? Naturals are the traditional Brazils, and arguably nobody does
it better than Cerrado due to their clear and dramatic wet/dry season
cycle. The CD coffees are now what Dr. Illy buys exclusively for espresso,
with a cleaner cup profile overall. A CD may score higher, but I will
always love the traditional dry-processed Brazils. You have more body,
more crema, and perhaps more complexity in the naturals. A warning: 3
of the 4 lots offered are quite small and will sell out within 6 weeks,
I believe. The other lot is larger, #144, Edson Nobuyasu, Fazenda Bonito
de Cima. That should last 3 or 4 months, I hope. I highly recommend roasting
and brewing each of these for straight varietal espresso shots. See the
roast notes and cupping descriptions for detailed suggestions. (Note
- the other 3 lot reviews are now located in the Archives) |
| Available Lots Listed Below: |
| Brazil
Cerrado -Lot 141 Wagner Ferrero |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Competition Lot,
17+ Screen |
Region: |
Patos de Minas, Cerrado |
Mark: |
Fazenda Pantano,
2nd Place |
| Processing: |
Pulped Natural
(Cereja Descascada) |
Crop: |
February
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17+ screen |
Varietal: |
Icatu, Catuai |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: The
Patos de Minas microregion took first and second place in the CD category
at the competition, and I think I know why. These coffees have a bit
more altitude than most, and have delicate sweet cups with great balance.
Overall, Brazils are mild coffees and are largely flavored by the processing
method used ... at least that is true with the naturals where the coffee
pulp has sustained contact with the parchment coffee. When you remove
that fruity layer as they do with the CD process, you lose some body,
some intensity, some of the husky/rustic qualities of the cup, but you
gain delicacy and sweetness. With 26 judges (might have been more?) agreeing
through all the rounds of cupping, this coffee certainly received the
thumbs up several times over. I found a nice bright nip in the wet aroma,
with sweet. clean, dark molasses roast notes in the cup. The finish is
balanced, mildly chocolatey. It produces a very aromatic espresso when
roasted to the Full City + stage, with berry nuances, and some of the
sharp bright notes remain. It's a nippy "tasse". |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild Intensity / Sweet hints, balance |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City - This would also be my choice if you like a very light City roast
that is just through the first crack, then brew drip or better yet, vacuum
pot. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.4 |
Compare
to: This is a lighter cup overall, and scored very high for its
mild sweetness (a rarity in Brazils). |
| |
| Brazil
Carmo Estate Pulp Natural |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
16+,
2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Sul de
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Carmo
Estate
Utz Kapeh/BSCA certified
|
| Processing: |
Pulp-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
March
2005 arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Yellow
Catuai, Catuai, Icatu & friends. |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes:
This coffee is my choice for espresso blending base, in conjunction with
another Brazil of the Natural -Dry Process variety. It's a really high
quality farm-specific south Minas Gerais coffee with a lot of history
behind it: the Junqueira family introduced coffee in this high altitude
region 150 years ago. And it is still in the family; Tulio Junqueira,
a fourth generation member of the same family, owns Carmo Estate. Carmo
Estate has 525 acres (212 ha) which is fairly average for an Estate type
Brazilian farm (they get a LOT bigger than this) and ranges from 3,000
to 3,800 feet . It is planted with quite a few arabica varieties - Mundo
Novo, Catuaí, Catucaí, Bourbon, Acaiá and Icatú.
This lot is a Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) certified lot,
I can log into the web page and view the varietal information and grading
provenance for this specific lot! We chose the Carmo Pulped natural coffees,
prepared by the fairly recent demusilage system created in Brazil. Ripe
cherries are pulped but the mucilage (fruity layer under wthe outer peel)
is not removed. Parchment coffee (green coffee in the outer parchement
shell) dries in contact with the sugar-rich mucilage which transfers
natural sweetness to the beans and preserves the full body typical of
the best Brazilian coffees. Illycafe has been using Pulp-Naturals as
a part of espresso blends for years now, in cobination with other Brazils.
While I think the straight espresso shot of Carmo is really great (Vienna
roast, 3 days rest) I would say that as a brewed coffee it is a mild,
nutty, but somewhat dull cup. We got it mostly for espresso usage ...
but I have done some neat blend experiments with it for Full City+ french
roasts brewed by drip/french press and it is a great base coffee. I did
50-50 blends with Carmo-Harar,, Carmo-Sumatra Iskandar. All of these
had a really good roast taste (and I am sure theres a lot of other blends
that would benefit from a Carmo base), and the other coffee provided
the accent. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.0 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
4.0 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Roast: See
notes above: In general Full City is best for Brazils in terms of nutty-chocolate-sweetness,
and you don't want to take them too dark because they often become ashy
and carbony (at a Full French Roast). |
| add
50 |
50 |
Compare
to: Very high quality Brazil of the Pulped Natural type (a cleaner
cup profile than the Natural-Dry Brazils) best for espresso blending
and Vienna Roast drip blend bases. If Pulped Natural doesn’t sound
so good, be assured that in the last 3 Brazil Cup of Excellence auctions
nearly every winning coffee was a Pulped Natural! And Carmo Estate
is used by one of the top espresso shops in the Pacific Northwest (you
espresso people know who I am referring to... okay, his initials are
D.S. ) alright, it is Espresso Vivace |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.0 |
| Brazil
Cerrado -Lot 141 Wagner Ferrero - Sold Out |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Competition Lot,
17+ Screen |
Region: |
Patos de Minas, Cerrado |
Mark: |
Fazenda Pantano,
2nd Place |
| Processing: |
Pulped Natural
(Cereja Descascada) |
Crop: |
February
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17+ screen |
Varietal: |
Icatu, Catuai |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: The
Patos de Minas microregion took first and second place in the CD category
at the competition, and I think I know why. These coffees have a bit
more altitude than most, and have delicate sweet cups with great balance.
Overall, Brazils are mild coffees and are largely flavored by the processing
method used ... at least that is true with the naturals where the coffee
pulp has sustained contact with the parchment coffee. When you remove
that fruity layer as they do with the CD process, you lose some body,
some intensity, some of the husky/rustic qualities of the cup, but you
gain delicacy and sweetness. With 26 judges (might have been more?) agreeing
through all the rounds of cupping, this coffee certainly received the
thumbs up several times over. I found a nice bright nip in the wet aroma,
with sweet. clean, dark molasses roast notes in the cup. The finish is
balanced, mildly chocolatey. It produces a very aromatic espresso when
roasted to the Full City + stage, with berry nuances, and some of the
sharp bright notes remain. It's a nippy "tasse". |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild Intensity / Sweet hints, balance |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City - This would also be my choice if you like a very light City roast
that is just through the first crack, then brew drip or better yet, vacuum
pot. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.4 |
Compare
to: This is a lighter cup overall, and scored very high for its
mild sweetness (a rarity in Brazils). |
|
| Brazil
Cerrado -Lot 142 Carlos Piccin - Sold Out |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Competition Lot,
17+ Screen |
Region: |
Patos de Minas, Cerrado |
Mark: |
Fazenda Serra Negra,
3rd Place |
| Processing: |
Pulped Natural
(Cereja Descascada) |
Crop: |
February
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17+ screen |
Varietal: |
Icatu, Catuai,
Mundo Novo |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: On
the cupping table, judging the arrival samples of these lots here at
the shop, I think I like this lot even better than the #2 lot. Now, tomorrow
it could be reversed and certainly at the competition I know I scored
the top 3 in the same order as the group did. But in straight cupping,
this is a tangy coffee, with a rooty sweetness in the cup, like Sarsaparilla.
There's a winey hint in the finish, but a very clean lingering sweetness
too, and a caraway-rye aroma too. The body is silky ... I really like
the body here, and overall it's a cup that comes on as it cools. As a
straight espresso from a Full City+ roast, I get berry, blackberry, and
tangy chocolate. It has lower overall intensity than the naturals, but
what a nice cup. Quite sophisticated for a Brazil |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.3 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild Intensity / Interesting flavor nuances, refined
espresso |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City for brew methods and Full City+ for Espresso. If that is too tangy,
take it to a light Vienna and let it rest a couple days. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.4 |
Compare
to: A clean Brazil cup profile with neat flavor hints. |
|
| Brazil
Cerrado -Lot 143 Ricardo Torezan- Sold Out |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Competition Lot,
17+ Screen |
Region: |
Serra do Salitre,
Cerrado |
Mark: |
Fazenda Parana, 1st
Place |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry-Process |
Crop: |
February
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17+ screen |
Varietal: |
Catuai, Mundo
Novo |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.2 |
Notes: This
lot was the #1 place coffee in the Natural (meaning dry-processed) category.
This is the traditional Brazil process where the whole ripe coffee cherry
is dried either on the tree, on the patio, or a bit of both. Either way,
the coffee seed has maximum contact with the fruity layer of the coffee
and the result is a more rustic cup, with greater body. This cup has
a great, creamy body, either as drip-infusion coffee or as espresso.
There's a husky sweetness in the aromatics that follows through in the
cup, with fruited hints, dark bread, and a pungent note in the finish.
Nuts, it's got nuts, aromatic almondy-hazelnut in the lighter roast range.
It is a great single origin espresso, with tons of cream, mouthfeel and
tangy chocolate bittersweets. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
7.7 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.6 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium Intensity / Greatly attractive body |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City to Full City+ |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.1 |
Compare
to: A traditional Brazil DP coffee but with tangy sweetness and
complex nutty/chocolatey notes |
|
| Brazil
Cerrado -Lot 144 Edson Nobuyasu |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
Competition Lot,
17+ Screen |
Region: |
Coromandel, Cerrado |
Mark: |
Fazenda Bonito de
Cima, 6th Place |
| Processing: |
Natural Dry-Process |
Crop: |
February
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17+ screen |
Varietal: |
Catuai, Mundo
Novo |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Okay,
here's the wild one in the pack. This lot was the #6 place coffee in
the Natural ( dry-processed) category. You might find this coffee to
have great, winey acidity, or you might think it is sour. It's on the
edge, and I will leave it up to you ... either way it has character that
is greatly underscored when you fire up the roaster, take it to Full
City+ and shoot it through your espresso machine. Like the previous lot,
this is the traditional Brazil process where the whole ripe coffee cherry
is dried either on the tree, on the patio, or a bit of both. The coffee
seed has maximum contact with the fruity layer of the coffee and the
result is a more rustic cup, with greater body. When the coffee is on
the patio, fermentation of the fruity layers is regulated more by the
weather than anything - and if a coffee gets a bit winey it might have
been a cool day and the pulp infused this quality into the seeds in a
way. One thing for sure, I like this coffee with a little more roast
on it than the others, because the really light City roast espresso I
pulled was just too much. I would go Full City+ for drip-infusion-press
methods and Full Vienna for espresso. There's a lot of body here, as
you would expect from a Natural, and it makes for lots of crema in your "tasse". |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.1 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
4.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium Intensity / Body, Winey note |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City+ to Vienna, see above |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.1 |
Compare
to: A traditional Brazil DP coffee with a winey character, a bit
edgy for some palates |
| Brazil
Peaberry -Brauna Estate |
| Country: |
Brazil |
Grade: |
16+, 2/3, SS, FC |
Region: |
Araponga, Matas de
Minas Gerais |
Mark: |
Fazenda Brauna |
| Processing: |
Pulped-Natural
Process |
Crop: |
January 2005
arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
Peaberry 16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Catuai, Bourbon,
Icatu |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
Notes: This
coffee placed high in the Brazil Cup of Excellence competition in 2004
and I wasn't sure if it would still be available after that. (It was
No. 2 in the general competition and No.10 overall ... that's from over
900 samples submitted! It fell just below the 90 threshold to join 8
other coffees for a special distinction.) Luckily, I have a friend in
the Brazilian trade who looks out for us, and that's the only way I could
get this coffee. The farm has been owned for years by Afonso Jorge Schmölz
de Mattos, who overseas all the production and milling of the coffee
on the farm. This lot is Catuai and Bourbon, and it is a Brazil Specialty
Coffee Assoc. certified lot. That means I can punch in the certificate
number to the BSCA web site and view the varietal information and grading
ratings for this specific lot - very cool! Pulped Natural coffees are
prepared by the fairly recent demucilage system created in Brazil. Ripe
cherries are pulped but the mucilage (fruity layer under with outer peel)
is not removed. Parchment coffee (green coffee in the outer parchment
shell) dries in contact with the sugar-rich mucilage which transfers
natural sweetness to the beans and preserves the full body typical of
the best Brazilian coffees. Illycafe has been using Pulped Naturals as
a part of espresso blends for years now, in combination with other Brazils.
In brazil these are called CD coffees which means Cereja Descascada,
or basically "Washed Cherry". I spoke with Joao who works at
the farm and he tells me that the experiments with other process methods
on the Brauna farm were just not a good match for this coffee in terms
of cup results (and with their 10th place prize I am sure he is right).
I use the Brauna as a small percentage of espresso blends ... I don't
want to use too much because this coffee is a bit brighter than other
Brazils, and too much acidity in espresso can make a sourish tazze. It
is a great single origin Brazil for drip/French press too. It has a lot
of balance in the cup, great body, nutty tones in the Full City roast
turning to chocolate bittersweet at Vienna. It's a sweet coffee (for
a Brazil, that is) and some cups have an almost oakey hint. For me, this
is one of the nicest straight-roast Brazils, delicate, nutty, a little
chocolatey, and very refined. I feel it justifies a 1 pt. boost for overall
cup appeal. |
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.3 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Roast: See
notes above: In general Full City is best for Brazils in terms of nutty-chocolate-sweetness,
and you don't want to take them too dark because they often become ashy
and carbony (at a Full French Roast). I like this Brauna Peaberry a tad
lighter, at City +, because it has a nice sweet aspect at that roast. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Compare
to: Very high quality Brazil of the Pulped Natural type (a cleaner
cup profile than the Natural-Dry Brazils). It is mild, clean, and for
a Brazil it has a distinct sweet cup. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.5 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Simple pleasant cup with nuttiness |
| Colombian
Organic Nariño - San Lorenzo |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Grade |
Region: |
San
Lorenzo, Nariño |
Mark: |
San
Lorenzo, Organic |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
January
2007 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.8
d/300gr, 17 Screen |
Varietal: |
60%
Caturra, 40% Variedad Colombia |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.4 |
Notes: San
Lorenzo is located in the coffee growing district of Nariño in
the Southern Colombian Andean volcanic mountains. There 21 farms in three
villages in Narino that contribute to the coffee. The towns of San Clemente,
San Isidro and San Vicente are located in the highest mountains of the "Colombian
Nest" or "Macizo Colombiano" between 1,600 and 2,300 meters
high, enjoying of the most important water sources and of the indulgence
of the Andean volcanic soil. This is actually a totally organic coffee,
which, considering the ultra-celan and delicate cup character, is remarable
to me. Colombia has a large problem with the Broca, a insect that bores
into the coffee cherry and seed: these stricken seeds produce off notes
in the cup. To produce a coffee with no sign of Broca damage, organically,
requires great care. Anyway, the varietials are about 60% Caturra and
40% Variedad Colombia, and their pergamino is sun-dried whenever weather
permits. This cup has the special Nariño brightness in the cup:
it surprised me in the blind cupping because I thought, because of the
acidity, it was a Costa Rican! The traditional Caturra varietal also
contributes to the well-defined, articulate citrus in the cup, with spice
and floral sensations in the aromatics and finish. This is a wonderfully
bright cup, and a textbook "New World", the type that scores
so well in competitions. (My experience is this type of very clean cup
qith citric accents and delicate acidity is very popular with the Japanese
judges). While the aroma is sweetly floral, the cup itself has something
I would describe as "sugar cane juice", with honey-lemon accents.
The finish is a bit minty, adding to the brisk, clean, refreshing character
of the cup. It's a prototypical coffee, very refined, dare I say "elegant".
It's not going to scream "quality" at your palate, it will
require you to meditate a bit on it's balance of sweetness, floral and
citric notes, and other nuances. For all this, I recommend restraining
the roasty notes by keeping it at City to FC+, our of the domain of 2nd
Crack. Cupper's Correction of 1. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9.0 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1.0 |
Roast: City;
this has a mild roasty character even when it is roasted to a medium
(City) roast, through first crack completely until the surface color
and texture of the coffee has an even "complexion", but not
into 2nd crack at all. |
| add
50 |
50.0 |
Compare
to: Costa Rican in it's citrusy brightness (acidity), but complex
like the best small farm Colombians. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.9 |
| Colombia
Tolima Planadas - El Jordan |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Supremo |
Region: |
Planadas town, Tolima
state. |
Mark: |
El Jordan,
APCEJOR co-op, Virmax |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
December
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.8 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.7 |
Notes: This
coffee is high grown by the three hundred members of a coffee grower
association from Planadas, in the Colombia department of Tolima. The
dry fragrance had fruited, appley character, which came through in the
wet aromatics, and in the cup. I was reminded of apple pie: sweetness,
fruit, spice (cinnamon). The acidity is bright, partly floral, but (again
with the apple theme), like crisp green apple at the light City roast
stage. The cup is both lively in the bright, top-end notes, but balances
it out with dense body, and intensity from initial sip through long aftertaste.
It's a weighty, solid cup profile, and the caramel sweetness pervades
throughout. My light City roast has a strawberry and rubarb liveliness
to the cup, there's even a minty (Yerba Buena) aspect. The lighter roasts
are honeyed in the finish, and the darker roasts are more like dark brown
sugar. After a few days of rest after roasting, my City+ roast had great
balance and silky body. The fruit changed from apple to blackberry and
raisin; very nice! This coffee seemed to show consistent character and
quality at all roasts between C+ and FC+. It's a no-brainer in terms
of roasting - air roast or drum, it just seems to come out with great
cup quality. I didn't try a Vienna roast, but if it is in line with the
other 4 test roasts, it would be fantastic too. A tip concerning preparation
of this coffee: I was not as impressed with the cup one time we brewed
it. It turns out, I was a bit shy on the grounds-to-water ratio. If you
measure grounds in scoops or by weight, error on the side of greater
brew strength. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Bright, fruited, sweet, dense
cup |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City+ - you can't go wrong anywhere along the line. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.1 |
Compare
to: Balanced, bold Colombia. |
| Colombia
Cup of Excellence #3 - El Placer |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
Planadas, Tolima |
Mark: |
El Placer, 3rd place
Colombia Cup of Excellence |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
January 2007
Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Pure Caturra
cultivar |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: El
Placer means "The Pleasure", and this coffee certainly is that.
It is from the Tolima region, near the town of Planadas, and is the property
of Cesar Julio Muñoz Calderon. The farm is planted in pure Caturra
varietal, and is at 1550 meters altitude. The coffee was 3rd place in
the second harvest Colombia Cup of Excellence 2006, winning one of the "Presidents
Award" for coffee scoring over 90 points. In this case, the International
Jury went well over with an average of 92.38. And it is a fitting reward
for the hard work of the Calderon family; a quote from Cesar, "I
bought this farm 11 years ago, and at that time, it only had 15 coffee
trees older than 7 years. I started growing new trees and also renewing
the old ones, and my farm currently has 2500 trees. All the members of
my family: Wife, and 4 children, have worked in the farm all this time.
In the harvesting time I hire temporary workers. I also grow plantains,
yuca and other vegetables for the consumption of the family." We
put together a buying group for this lot with my friends and George Howell's
Terroir and Stumptown Roasters. To circumvent recent shipping problens
from Colombia that can result in slight damage to flavor (i.e. the coffee
container gets stuck in a humid port city), we had these coffees all
vacuum packaged and boxed in 5 kgs, then we rebagged them upon arrival
here. It was an expensive operation but it really worked: the coffee
arrived beautifully fresh and green. For me, this cup was extremely elegant,
sweet and nuanced. The dry fragrance from the ground coffee has milk
chocolate and bittersweet tones, and at the City + roast, a sweet raisiny
fruitiness. The aromatics have allspice and sweet gingerbread notes,
and a bit of passionfruit. In the cup, the chocolate aromatics become
caramel flavors, and tea-like jasmine notes emerge. Here (again) the
lighter City+ roast shows more effervesence, more liveliness, than the
Full City roast. Both have a very elegent, silky body but the light roast
is more dynamic with a higher tonal range, and traces of sweet lemon,
apricot, cherry, honey. I don't think this is the kind of cup that screams
at you with outrageous flavors, but it is approachable, and will charm
you over time. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
9 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
2 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild-Medium intensity / Bright, nuanced cup |
 |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
clearly has more of the top end, bright flavors. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
89.8 |
Compare
to: Elegant, refined, bright Colombia; similar to Huila and Narino |
| Colombia
Cup of Excellence #12 - El Descanso -sold out! |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
La Plata town, Huila
department |
Mark: |
El Descanso, 12th
place Colombia Cup of Excellence |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
January 2007
arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Caturra |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.8 |
Notes: Jesus
Orlando Lopez inherited El Descanso from his father, and by combining
with his brothers part of the farm, ended up with 8 hectares. That is
actually a big farm in Colombia, and might contradict your preconceptions
of Colombia coffee as a large coffee producer, and hence comrised of
large farms. 8 Hectares is 19 acres, not small, but also not a "Hacienda" by
any stretch. Descanso means "rest", perhaps an ironic name
for a coffee farm that requires so much labor, and it is in the Huila
district at a whopping 1733 meters altitude (nearly 5700 feet). It is
pure Caturra cultivar planted here, which perhaps explains some of the
lovely citrus notes I get in the cup. As with out other CoE lot, we had
this lot vacuum packaged and boxed in 5 kgs, then we rebagged them upon
arrival here. The reason, instead of shipping them in regular burlap,
is that Colombia is experiencing port problems, which can result in a
lot being "stuck" for a couple weeks in a humid climate: not
good for the cup quality! Anyway, the lot arrived in beautiful condition.
But back to the beginning: the dry grounds have a sweet chocolate aromatic,
but there are remarkable fruited notes lurking behind it: plum, blackberry,
and cherry blossom. The lighter City roast I tested had a great, tingly,
champagne-like acidity, and strong floral aspect in the wet aroma and
cup. A bit more roast (FC) and the coffee seemed exponentially more intense,
but still laced with flowers and fruit. In the cup I saw a shift from
fresh fruit, ripe orange and plum, to a more "plum wine" character
as the cup cooled, and into the aftertaste. In fact, I am reminded of
Kenya "wineyness" as I cup this, although not in the same proportions
found in the powerhouse of East Africa. My FC roast features a body is
heavy, similar to some coffees from the Cauca region of Colombia, and
viscous. Dark fruit lace the finish: blackberry, dark plum, raisin sweetness. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.9 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.9 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
2 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity /Complex, floral, sweet. |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City - see the review, |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
90.2 |
Compare
to: Balanced, bold Colombia. |
| Colombia
Cauca Organic - La Esperanza |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Supremo |
Region: |
Cordillera Central,
Valle Del Cauca, Trujillo |
Mark: |
La Esperanza, La
Rochela Farm |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
November
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.6 d/300gr,
17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Caturra,
Typica, Bourbon |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: La
Rochela is a group of small farms outside the municipality of Trujillo
in Valle Del Cauca department of Colombia. They produce several
marks of coffee, but their organic certified lot is known as La Esperanza.
(There are many, many farms called La Esperanza, meaning "The Hope",
which is something I suppose you ened a lot of to farm coffee!) The coffee
is grown between 1400 and 1650 meters, quite high, and milled at the
La Rochela Beneficio, so they have total control of the process. This
coffee is Cauca all the way; the right character for the Cauca appellation.
We have mildly rustic chocolate in the fragrant dry grounds, with sweet,
dark fruit and dry fruit as a backdrop; raisin, Italian dry black fig,
and a syrupy sweetness. Even my light sample roast (City) has a dark
intensity to it: pepper, tarry sweetness, dark chocolate, dark fruit.
The cup is not as bright and acidic as Huila coffees, but rather it is
thick and rounded, a deep tonal range of flavors. It has fruited sweetness
but there is still momentary floral traces in the aftertaste. Plum predominates,
but there is a black walnut finish, paired with a fairly thick, dense
body. As mentioned, even lighter roasts had this brooding, pensive, dark
character to them (Noir coffee?). But I found FC to be exceptional too,
very syrupy. Darker than that and I felt the roast taste took over the
cup too much. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium- Bold intensity / Darkly fruited cup |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.2 |
Compare
to: Cauca cup character, but more refined than the borderline fermenty
Popayans of the old days. |
| Colombia
Excelso 13556 |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Excelso |
Region: |
Unknown! |
Mark: |
13556 |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
September
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4 d/300gr,
16-17 Screen |
Varietal: |
Unknown |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.5 |
Notes: What
should I do when I get a sample of a generic "Specialty grade" coffee,
the kind I really never buy, and it is actually good? I mean really good!
I buy coffees that rate over 85 … and that is just the absolute
minimum requirement. It also has to have a real positive "origin
character" to the cup, something that represents the place it is
from in an extraordinary way. I also have to like it; I can't offer a
coffee I think is unattractive (I am not that good of a "salesman").
So here before me is a totally generic Excelso grade coffee, I don't
even know the general region it is from. Hell, I don't even know if it
is from the North or the South! And it is great, really great. I will
guess this: I think it is a Cauca coffee. It has that hefty-weighty body
and flavor, with a dried plum fruit to it. The coffee is darkly sweet
(like dark brown sugar), and has some black walnut to it ... but that
body really gets me. It's huge, making the overall impression of this
cup as bold as a Indonesian coffee that seems to hang around on your
palate long after the coffee is gone. It seems so dense, so opaque. And
it is the slightly darker roast, the Full City to FC+ where this cup
reaches the intensity that makes it really happen: the C+ roast is really
nice, and plum- raisin flavors predominate. But a little darker and the
nut and chocolate come out. Anyway, here it is, Colombia Excelso 13556,
just a name and a lot number, and a recommendation from me. Following
my "modus operandi", that cupping rules supreme, that I don't
know what the coffee is until after I taste it, until I flip over the
name card at the cupping table, well sometimes it leads you to unexpected
places. And quality is wherever you find it. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.7 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.8 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Dark sweetness, fruits, and
great body |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: Full
City to Full City + |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.5 |
Compare
to: Cauca cup character, but I really don't now where the heck
it is from! |
| Colombian
Huila - Palestina Micro-region |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
16+ Screen Excelso |
Region: |
Huila, Palestina
Micro-region |
Mark: |
Palestina Microregion,
South Huila |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
May 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4 d/300gr,
16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Some
introductory comments are needed: A long time ago some chump decided
that better coffee came from larger coffee beans. Colombia was in the
audience that night, took it all in, and developed a system of pooling
all coffees together in lots based on bean size. Thus we came up with
Supremo and Excelso in the better grades of Colombian (there are also
UGQ and FAQ which are seductive acronyms for Usual Good Quality and Fair
Average Quality, but those don't concern us here). Being a coffee behemoth
and slow to change, Colombia has been reticent to change the system that
they impose on farmers, exporters, and roasters until recently, although
it makes no sense. Bigger coffee seeds from bigger coffee cherries don't
mean better flavor, as much as a bigger cup of coffee tastes better (the
7-Eleven logic?) What does make coffee quality improve? Besides good
standards of farming and preparation, it is the unique region, the soil,
the altitude, the weather, and the care the farm puts into the plant.
So as a new direction, one that makes sense for Colombia, we have these
new micro-regional lots. (Estate coffees rarely make sense in Colombia
because each farm is too small to produce a lot that can be milled distinct,
and shipped separately). So we could call these "micro-pooled" lots.
Using cupping techniques (mostly with a mobile cupping lab) small regions
are identified that have special cup character. It might be centered
around a town, it might be one particular hill or valley. In this case,
we are referring to the small South Huila municipality of Palestina,
settled by Palestine immigrants in the 19th c., and in the region of
Pitalito, and San Augustin. With this coffee preparation, size is ignored
to a greater degree, but the coffee is carefully prepared to remove defective
seeds. Palestina is centered around the town of the same name (not sure
of the history of this unique name, biblical or cultural?) This cup has
a dynamic, sparkling brightness in the aromatics and the cup flavors.
The dry fragrance has a sweet caramelly character, as does the wet aromatics.
The cup flavors are apple butter (you know, the stuff you spread on toast),
with almond, and the previously mentioned caramelly sweetness. As the
cup cools, it becomes very full and round and intense. I would call it
almost Kenya-like in intensity, practically a whole breakfast in a cup! |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.2 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity / fruited and nutty flavor, strong
lively brightness |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
roast preserves the brighter fruits |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.0 |
Compare
to: A classic microregional Southern Huila cup. |
| Colombian
Nariño -Reserva Del Patron |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Supremo |
Region: |
Nariño,
SW Colombia |
Mark: |
Reserva
del Patron |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
August
2006 arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
60%
Caturra, 40% Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
Notes: Reserva
Del Patron is a selection of Supremo coffee from the "heart of the
harvest" in the Narino region. What does that mean? It means the
mill selects for both bean size (Supremo is the largest screen, 17-18/64ths)
and from lots that are neither the earliest to arrive at the mill (lower
grown, likely) or the tail ends of the harvest. Reserva Del Patron is
a mill mark, which means that certain areas of certain top smallholder
farms are harvested to comprise this coffee. It is a limited production,
because the number of contributing micro-farms is small. But also it
is limited because Starbucks buys so much coffee from the Narino region
for their featured Narino offering. It has changed the way coffee is
produced there, but luckily it has not changed the Narino del Abuelo.
This is a classic cup, remarkably balanced in flavor attributes and body.
It is also balanced in the sense that bittersweet character is in proportion
to brightness/acidity, and fruited notes are moderate. This coffee has
really nice chocolate flavors that are mild (milk chocolate) in the lighter
roast range and turn to bittersweet, potent chocolate at Full City+.
FC+ roast, just a snap into 2nd crack, had the most compelling cup, although
this coffee works on a wide range of roasts. FC+ has a strong chocolate
tang from dry fragrance and wet aroma, through the cup flavors and way
into the aftertaste. I get aromatic suggestions of pungent, peppery spice
and dark brown bread baking. There are dry fruit (raisin, plum) and balck
walnut paired with the dominate chocolate bittersweet in the cup flavors,
and a bit of walnut skins with clean tobacco flavor lurking in the aftertaste.
I am really impressed with the body, more viscuous and oily than I remember
with other Colombians, and makes me think that those who love Indonesian
coffees might find the weight of this on their palate quite nice. |
 |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.9 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1.0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity / Balance |
|
| Add
50 |
50.0 |
Roast: Full
City to FC+ (my favorite), although this coffee takes a wide latitude
of roasts. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.9 |
Compare
to: Very balanced cup has hints of both Cauca and some Bucaramanga
coffees from the North ... not like other acidic Narino coffees I have
cupped. |
| Colombia
CoE - Hacienda La Virginia |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Cup of
Excellence (CoE), 3rd place |
Region: |
Algeciras,
Huila |
Mark: |
Olga
Lara Perdomo, Hacienda La Virginia |
| Processing: |
Wet-Process |
Crop: |
July 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.2 d/300gr,
18+ Screen |
Varietal: |
100% Caturra |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
4 |
Notes: Kona-like
prices for a Colombia? Well, that's what happens to a really good coffee
in a Cup of Excellence auction. The cup distinguished itself immediately
from all the other samples (including the #2 and #1 lots: La Virginia
was #3) by it's overall intensity in dry fragrance and aroma. It was
a powerhouse, really bold and powerful. And there was a lot of competition
for this Olga Lara's coffee: we formed a group of small roasters from
Japan and Europe to buy it (Sweet Maria's, Stumptown, Maruyama Coffee
from Japan). Considering that many farms in Colombia are incredibly small
(the average is below 2 hectares), Hacienda La Virginia is a giant; 642
hectares of total land with 106 in coffee production. This true "Hacienda" ,
and old school farm that is now in the hands of the third generation
of the Perdomo family (currently managed by Olga Lara Perdomo). Hacienda
La Virginia is near the Neiva river, with the closest city being Algeciras,
in the department of Huila. It is situated at 1650 meters, perhaps an
average altitude for a Huila coffee, but extremely high by the standards
of many coffee producing areas. We all found this to be the most intense
cup, balanced and bold. There isn't a lot of delicate subtlety in the
dry fragrance - brutish chocolate dominates. The wet aroma is equally
intense, with winy fruited notes, chocolate, and heavy floral notes.
I get a very clear maple syrup and light molasses sweetness. The cup
follows through with great intensity; I would classify this in league
with Kenya auction lots in overall intensity, but with more chocolate
roast taste. It's a wide, expansive cup profile, with a bittersweet chocolate
aspect, and surprising sweet, ripe, red grapefruit brightness. Raisin
fruited notes are strong, with hints of ripe peach, pear, and a bit of
hazelnut. As it cools it turns to Concord grape, and the brightness is
really dazzling while not being too tart - the coffee is very lively!
Between these bright notes and the chocolate bittersweet roast taste
(with a bit of sweetened Earl Gray notes in there), the overall effect
is of depth and complexity. The body has a waxy, cocoa butter texture.
Delicate, lightweight Huila - no, not here. This is a real bold, full-throttle
Colombia cup! The International Jury scored this cup well above 90 -
for me it approaches a similar score, which is still extremely high.
I felt the coffee was excellent at Full City roast, but less spectacular:
it was the City roast that sparkled in the cup. Later, I brewed a 50-50
blend of City/Full City roast and enjoyed it most of all. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
4.2 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
9.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.9 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Bold intensity/ intense, brightly fruited, bold bittersweetness |
 |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
yielded a bright, snappy cup with more fruit: Full City had more body
and more chocolate tones. If you find the coffee not to be complex, extend
the roast a little, go a bit lighter, and allow 24-48 hr. rest |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
90.3 |
Compare
to: This cup has both the brightness of Huilas, and beefy intensity
of Cauca Colombians. |
| Colombia
Organic Mesa de los Santos |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Grade |
Region: |
Burcaramanga: Pie
de Cuesta y Los Santos |
Mark: |
Mesa
de los Santos, Organic |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
January
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
1
d/300gr, 16-18 Screen + PB |
Varietal: |
Caturra
and Typica |
Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.5 |
Notes: As
a coffee farm and mill, Mesa de los Santos is a pioneer in sustainable
coffee agriculture. It is also the first farm in Colombia to produce
and export specialty organic coffee. But the farm predates it's organic
certification by many years: it was founded in 1872! While a traditional
Hacienda layout in all respects, Mesa de los Santos (MDLS) has also
been aggressive in improving their ability to grow, mill and export
the best quality, Caturra, Typica and Bourbon varietal Colombian coffee
under the care the owner Oswaldo Acevedo. Oswaldo is no backwoods coffee
farmer; he owns a sophisticated marketing company. But he is also one
of the most enthusiastic, motivated, well-informed, hands-on coffee
farmers I have met; coffee farm owners seek him out for advice of organic
agriculture and sustainable practices. The farm altitude is a repectable
1650-1750 meters. And rather than following the typical Colombian sorting
regimen of Supremo and Excelso preparations (which average out good
coffees pooled with mediocre coffees into the lowest common denominator)
this is a single farm, "Estate" preparation, wet-milled on
the farm instead of a third-party beneficio. The coffee is what Colombian
was 30 years ago, before the use of the high-yield, disease-resistent
Variedad Colombia cultivar, and the cup flavors support this claim
...sweet aromatics, raisin-like fruited notes, and a chocolatey bittersweet
finish that resonates on the palate. There are peppery spicey, herbal
notes (sage) too, and the fruit has hints of pear, and concord grape.
A City+ roast stage has a more caramelly sweetness, whereas a Full
City turns to milk chocolate. This coffee works either way, even at
a light Vienna where some of the delicate fruit qualities are sacrificed
on the altar of tarry, bittersweets and pungent spice. For me this
represents the best of what Colombia can produce. I roasted MDLS fellow
soccer player is Colombian just to show him what a really
good Colombian coffee should taste like! We waited this year for a
mid-harvest lot, based on early cupping, and I think what we are offering
here is exactly what MDLS should be. |
Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.5 |
Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.4 |
Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Roast: City+
for a more caramelly roast taste, FC or FC+ for chocolatey tones, Vienna
for pungency and bittersweetness This coffee works on all roast levels. |
|
add
50 |
50 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild to Medium/ Fruited tones, balance |
Score
(Max. 100) |
85.8 |
Compare
to: Like really good Colombians with a little more brightness.
Bucaramanga coffees have qualities of the best Huila types and Cauca
types combined. You can learn more about the farm and their innovative
ecological programs at http://www.cafemesadelossantos.com/ |
|
| Colombia
Cauca FNC Excelso |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
(Excelso EP) |
Region: |
Cordillera
Central, Cauca, Inza-Tierradentro region |
Mark: |
FNC Micro-regional
Lot |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
October 2005
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.1 d/300gr,
16-17 Screen |
Varietal: |
Caturra,
Catuai |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: Under
the program by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteles (FNC), small lots
are cupped separately and combined to create micro-regional "appellations," with
distinct flavor profiles. Cauca coffees have always been a favorite mine,
usually offered as more generic Popayan lots (since Popayan is a major
commercial center in Cauca for coffee), but not from the smaller outlying
regions. Tierradentro and Inza are small towns located on the Eastern
side of the highest range of mountains in Colombia, the Cordillera Central,
basically the Andes! The area is known for ancient archeological sites
and ancient burial grounds, a very rugged and beautiful terrain. Tierradentro
and Inza are the small central towns that define the area, with less
than 20,000 in population. The average altitude for coffee production
in this area is 1750 meters. Most of the coffee farms are smallholders
with less that 2 hectares each. I always like the deep, hefty, fruited
Cauca cup profile, but some went a bit too far and tasted ferment. Here
we have a more refined take on the Cauca cup profile. It is indeed winey
and sweet, fruited, and has some complex aromas and flavors. I find some
interesting desert aromatics going on here (sweet bran muffin in the
fragrance, carrot cake in the wet aromatics). For fruit, there is raisiny
aromas, plum (like plum-wine) cup flavors, and apple and grape in the
aftertaste. So basically, there's a lot going on here ... and strangely
at the same time this cup seems sweet and straightforward! It adds up
to a kind of bewildering charm, maybe some of it in the cup and some
in the beholder of the cup. In any case, this is a coffee that comes
forward with a lot of clean fruit, and maintains a certain crispness
in the flavors (not an acidy crispness, more just a clear definition
of the cup flavors). Think about this cup or don't, it's enjoyable either
way! |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9.1 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.3 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity / fruit, sweetness, wine |
 |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87 |
Compare
to: Cauca cup character, but more refined than the borderline fermenty
Popayans of the old days. By the way, Excelso is a screen size designation,
but what matters is the preparation of coffee and the absence of defective
seeds, in which this lot rates very well! |
| Colombia
Huila - San Jose de Isnos |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate |
Region: |
Southern
Huila District |
Mark: |
San Jose
de Isnos |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
Late January
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
1 d/300gr,
16+ screen |
Varietal: |
Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
4 |
Notes: San
Jose de Isnos is a town equidistant from Pitalito and San Augustin in
Southern Huila. It is between the ranges of the Cordillera Central and
the smaller Cordillera Oriental, and the coffee producing region ranges
from 1700 meters to 1850 meters. San Jose de Isnos is at 1750 meters
itself, well into the higher altitudes of specialty coffee production.
This microregion was one I cupped in Colombia last year, and (while it
was very good), it didn't jump out at me. Same was true for the arrival
samples I received in Oakland last year. Now, with this years crop my
reaction was 180 degrees opposite. I was cupped quite a few Colombias
on the same table (mostly Huila and Bucaramanga coffees, including the
Palestina we had last year), and was really impressed in general; when
I got to this coffee I was blown away. Wow, what character! The dry fragrance
is sweetly fruited, with raisin, berry and plum. It has a light mollasses
overtone, and that comes through in the wet aroma too, but there is a
spicey, piquant accent added. The cup has a resinous, chewy character
(one of the first times "chewy" has made sense to me!) It's
thick, dense, and the darkly fruited notes provide a lot of depth; plum,
raisin-currant, and berry. It finishes sweet, all tenor and base note
in the finish. If it was wine, this would be a Syrah with all the plummy
spice, viscosity, and depth. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
4.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9.2 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.7 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / Fruited notes, resinous, dense |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+.
My sample roasts were City+ and FC and both were fantastic. It has this
deep tonal range at C+ so you don't have to go dark to enjoy the dark
fruited qualities (in fact they will be ebbed by the roast taste). That
said, it's a forgiving coffee that will do well under a variety of roast
treatments. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
88.7 |
Compare
to: Although this is a Huila, it reminds me of the fruited, dark-toned
Cauca coffees of a few years ago. |
| Colombia
Organic Reserva Don Telmo |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Grade |
Region: |
Burcaramanga (Pie
de Cuesta y Los Santos) |
Mark: |
Reserva
Don Telmo |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
January
2006 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4
d/300gr, 16-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
100%
Old Bourbon Varietal |
Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.3 |
Notes: Reserva
Don Telmo comes from a special plot on the Mesa de los Santos farm.
Mesa de los Santos (MDLS) is a pioneer in sustainable coffee agriculture:
it is also the first farm in Colombia to produce and export specialty
organic coffee. But the farm predates it's Organic certification by
many years: it was founded in 1872! While a traditional Hacienda layout
in all respects, Mesa de los Santos (MDLS) has also been agressive
in improving their ability to grow, mill and esport the best quality
high grown (1650 - 1750 m) Colombian coffee. In fact they recently
won a competitive World Resources Institute venture capital award for
bio-diverse business, an effort coordinated by owner Oswaldo Acevedo.
This coffee is produced with the same great care and organic practices
as the MDLS with the exception that it is all old-world Bourbon cultivar.
To keep this special lower-yield coffee separate, Oswaldo cultivated
the trees in a distinct area, and tracks these lots as they are processed
in the farms own wet-mill and dry-mill. This allows for total control
of the final results, with all the growing, care of the trees, harvesting,
fermentation, washing, drying, milling and grading optimised for this
specific cultivar. I have cupped the "Reserva" for 2 years
now, but it does not have some of the fruit-forward character and roundness
as the MDLS Caturra/Typica lot I select. This year, instead of comparing
them, I cupped them separately. What happened? I fell in love with
each; they are simply different coffees with different cup character.
While I am a sucker for the fruity MDLS, I found the Reserva Don Telmo,
when judged on its own merits, to truly possess classic "Bourbon" cup
character. It is a more austere cup, more structured on the palate,
with crisp acidity, and well defined edges. Where the MDLS gushes with
fruit, the Reserva Don Telmo strikes the centerline of the tongue and
stays to it, with spicey suggestions and, yes, compact fruit tones.
It has a chocolatey bittersweet tang to it, dried black currant, and
undertones of hazelnut and almond. These form a matrix of brilliantly
clean, well-defined coffee flavors; something I call "classic
cup character' because this is what cuppers appreciated so much about
the Centrals for the early part of the 20th century, before the age
of canned instant dreck. When I taste this coffee, I can imagine the
first New York coffee merchant that enjoyed a Bucaramanga, and demanded
more! If it was as good as this Reserva Don Telmo is right now, he
would be insane not to. |
Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.6 |
Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.5 |
Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.0 |
Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.7 |
Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Roast: Again,
this coffee can take a wide range of roasts from City+ to FC+ to a light
Vienna. I like the chocolate bittersweets at FC or FC+ (the later with
a few snaps of 2nd crack beginning). It works out well nomatter what
you do! (well, within reason) |
|
add
50 |
50 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild / Balance and depth |
|
Score
(Max. 100) |
85.6 |
Compare
to: Like really good classic Colombian coffee |
| Colombia
Narino -Caracol del Abuelo |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Peaberry |
Region: |
Narino
(Southern) |
Mark: |
Caracol
del Abuelo
(Grandpa's Peaberry!?) |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
November
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
.4 d/300gr,
Peaberry#1 screen |
Varietal: |
60% Caturra,
40% Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.4 |
Notes: The
Caracol del Abuelo originates with the same coffee as the large bean
Reserva Del Patron and the Narino del Abuelo that we have carried in
the past. Caracol means "Peaberry" in Spanish and that is exactly
what this is, the Peaberry that is separated from the lot as it runs
through the screening machine at the dry mill. (Caracol means essentially "circular" (circulo)
too but also is a name for Snail, which, given the crease in the peaberry
coffee seed, makes a lot of sense). The Narino region is in the extreme
South, and boasts some of the highest coffee-growing altitudes in Colombia.
It is also a bit hard to source a really good Narino coffee because Starbucks
buys such a huge amount of the crop from this area for one of their "featured" special
reserve coffees. Fortunately, the relationship between hacienda La Minita
and the del Abuelo Narino mill predates Starbucks influence in the region,
and we pay higher prices for this coffee than Starbucks ever would! Good
coffees from Narino have a slight citric tang to them, a very clean cup,
piquant, but balanced too. That would describe the Caracol del Abuelo
very well. It's a mild, citric cup, which has some neat raisiny aromatics,
turning to brighter Golden Raisin in the flavor, and mild lime citric
qualities. The aromatics outweigh the finish (which has an oaky note),
but when roasted a bit longer there is a nice chocolate that develops. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity / Lively aromas, delicate cup flavors |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: My
review notes are based on a City roast, fairly light, where the lime-citric
quality and roast flavors are nutty. Roast it to FC and roast shifts
to chocolate, and acidity is buried a bit under darker roast notes. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.3 |
Compare
to: Classic delicate Narino coffee |
| Colombia
Huila - Los Idolos de Bellavista |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
(Excelso EP) |
Region: |
Bellavista,
Isnos, Huila |
Mark: |
Los Idolos
de Bella Vista coop |
| Processing: |
Wet Processed |
Crop: |
September
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
15-17 Screen |
Varietal: |
60% Yellow
Caturra, 40% Red Caturra |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.8 |
Notes: Los
Idolos de Bellavista is a group of 50 smallholder coffee farmers that
banded together to form a coffee coop in the face of dropping coffee
prices. With a focus on mutually improving quality and offering their
coffee to the market as a unique micro-regional lot, the hope was that
the group could obtain a better price. The Bellavista group is in the
Municipality of Isnos, in the southwest of the Colombian state of Huila.
Bellavista is an area where most of the coop members live, and means "beautiful
view." (Which is why there are Guatemalan and Costa Rican coffees
also called Bella Vista - there are many "beautiful views" in
coffee areas!) Isnos is famous for its archaeological ruins, namely‚ El
Alto de los Idolos and El Alto de las Piedras, both UNESCO World Heritage
Sites and home to sites created by the San Agustin culture in pre-history.
From archeology to coffee, the special thing with this group is that
each of the 50 lots is cupped separately as a quality control step, before
combining them. All are grown very high up: 1400 - 1800 meters. And all
are sun dried in sheltered patios (that protect the coffee in case of
unexpected showers). All that is a fine background story, but the reason
we bought this lot was the cup; it is a fantastic Colombian coffee. If
you look at all the descriptor entries on our new quality flavor wheel,
you can see the abundance of sensory points. It has a great dark fruit
quality in fragrance and flavor, plum with raisin and fig hints. There's
a dark resinous pungency in the cup, paired nicely with caramel sweetness.
And there is an almost winy aspect here, not like punctuated Kenya winyness
but a deep Merlot quality. I found best complexity at Full City, but
don't take it too much darker or carbony qualities overtake the fruits. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium+ intensity /deep flavor aspects of fruit, sweetness,
wine |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City+
to Full City is ideal, see review . |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.6 |
Compare
to: This Huila cups a bit more like the Cauca/Popayan coffees.
Great depth of character. |
| Colombian
Huila - Oporapa Micro-region |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
16+ Screen
Excelso |
Region: |
Huila,
Oporapa Micro-region |
Mark: |
Oporapa
district, Fairfield Trading |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
May 2005
Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Typica and
others |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Some
introductory comments are needed: a long time ago some chump decided
that better coffee came from larger coffee beans. Colombia was in the
audience that night, took it all in, and developed a system of pooling
all coffees together in lots based on bean size. Thus we came up with
Supremo and Excelso in the better grades of Colombian (there are also
UGQ and FAQ which are seductive acronyms for Usual Good Quality and Fair
Average Quality, but those don't concern us here). Being a coffee behemoth
and slow to change, Colombia has been reticent to change the system that
they impose on farmers, exporters, and roasters until recently, although
it makes no sense. Bigger coffee seeds from bigger coffee cherries don't
mean better flavor, as much as a bigger cup of coffee tastes better (the
7-Eleven logic?) What does make coffee quality improve? Besides good
standards of farming and preparation, it is the unique region, the soil,
the altitude, the weather, and the care the farm puts into the plant.
So as a new direction, one that makes sense for Colombia, we have these
new micro-regional lots. (Estate coffees rarely make sense in Colombia
because each farm is too small to produce a lot that can be milled distinct,
and shipped separately). So we could call these "micro-pooled" lots.
Using cupping techniques (mostly with a mobile cupping lab) small regions
are identified that have special cup character. It might be centered
around a town, it might be one particular hill or valley. Size is ignored
to a greater degree, but the coffee is carefully prepared to remove defective
seeds. In this case, the coffee is from the South-Central district of
Huila, from the area adjacent to the small town of Oporapa. Altitudes
here hover around 1600 meters, making this a very high altitude Colombian
coffee. This cup is sturdy from start to finish, with exceptional intensity
for a Huila coffee. It has above-average body, a good weight to the mouthfeel,
and the aromas are brown bread and (it sounds bad but it isn't) fresh
leather. There's a fruitiness in the cup, papaya-like, with a touch of
winey East African character. The cup has pungency, good roasty bittersweetness,
and a long aftertaste. Balanced, and (a word I return to for Oporapa)
...sturdy. |
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.3 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium intensity / Great body, a sturdy and intense
coffee for a Huila |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: I
like City. I like Full City. I like a light Vienna. This is a versatile
coffee and you can do what you want with it and achieve good results.
At a City roast it cups a bit darker in terms of roast taste, so consider
keeping it a shade lighter than you usually might. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.2 |
Compare
to: A potent take on a Huila coffee, with more body and bass-note
flavor |
| Colombian
Huila - Palestina Micro-region |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
16+ Screen Excelso |
Region: |
Huila, Palestina
Micro-region |
Mark: |
Palestina district,
Fairfield Trading |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
May 2005
Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Typica and
others |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Some
introductory comments are needed (skip this part of you read the full Oporapa review):
a long time ago some chump decided that better coffee came from larger
coffee beans. Colombia was in the audience that night, took it all in,
and developed a system of pooling all coffees together in lots based
on bean size. Thus we came up with Supremo and Excelso in the better
grades of Colombian (there are also UGQ and FAQ which are seductive acronyms
for Usual Good Quality and Fair Average Quality, but those don't concern
us here). Being a coffee behemoth and slow to change, Colombia has been
reticent to change the system that they impose on farmers, exporters,
and roasters until recently, although it makes no sense. Bigger coffee
seeds from bigger coffee cherries don't mean better flavor, as much as
a bigger cup of coffee tastes better (the 7-Eleven logic?) What does
make coffee quality improve? Besides good standards of farming and preparation,
it is the unique region, the soil, the altitude, the weather, and the
care the farm puts into the plant. So as a new direction, one that makes
sense for Colombia, we have these new micro-regional lots. (Estate coffees
rarely make sense in Colombia because each farm is too small to produce
a lot that can be milled distinct, and shipped separately). So we could
call these "micro-pooled" lots. Using cupping techniques (mostly
with a mobile cupping lab) small regions are identified that have special
cup character. It might be centered around a town, it might be one particular
hill or valley. Size is ignored to a greater degree, but the coffee is
carefully prepared to remove defective seeds. Palestina is centered around
the town of the same name (not sure of the history of this unique name,
biblical or cultural?) This cup has a dynamic, sparkling brightness in
the aromatics and the cup flavors. It has lighter body, and perhaps a
lower overall intensity than the Oporapa lot, but also more lively on
the bright end. This is more typical of a really good Huila. There's
an fruit in the cup that falls between peach and mango, and lingers through
in the finish. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
2.8 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.6 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild-Medium intensity / light body, sparkling brightness |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
roast preserves the bright fruits |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.6 |
Compare
to: A classic Huila cup, better than the pooled Huila lots for
sure! |
| Colombian
Nariño del Abuelo |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Grade/ Excelso |
Region: |
Nariño |
Mark: |
|
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
Late
August 2005 arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 16-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
60%
Caturra, 40% Typica |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.0 |
Notes: The
Nariño del Abuelo originates with the same coffee as the large
bean Reserva Del Patron that we have carried in the past. As the coffee
is separated, the large 18+ screen coffee goes to the Reserva, and the
16-17 screen seeds, goes to the Narino Del Abuelo. I had heard rumors
that the smaller seed preparation actually out-cupped the large bean
Reserva due to the botanical variations of all the seeds in the coffee.
There's a good case that can be made for variety of screen sizes, including
peaberry. Just as a vintner blends grapes from different elevations and
exposures within the vineyard, the varied seed sizes represent a wider
spread of coffee in their physical and chemical qualities. Is it possible
this draws out more dimension in the cup? From judging the Reserva vs.
the Abuelo, I would say "yes!" As with the reserva it is "heart
of the crop" coffee from selected Narino estates. This means that
certain areas of certain top smallholder farms are harvested to comprise
this coffee. It is a limited production, and the cup has great body and
depth. Unfortunately, Starbucks buys so much coffee from the Narino region
for their featured Narino offering, it has changed the way coffee is
produced there, but luckily it has not changed the Narino del Abuelo!
There is a modicum of acidity to balance out the deep, milk-chocolate
flavors and a hint of aromatic woodiness. The aftertaste is moderately
long, and the coffee can take a very wide variety of roasts that emphasize
a different dimension of the cup: brighter and fruitier in the lighter
City roast, mildly chocolatey at Full City, more pungent at Vienna. |
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.0 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.0 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
2.0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild intensity / Balance |
| Add
50 |
50.0 |
Roast: Full
City, although this coffee takes a wide latitude of roasts. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.3 |
Compare
to: Like really good Colombians with a little more brightness.
Tolima Colombians, San Augustin Colombian, ones with heavier body. |
| Colombia
Cup of Excellence -Pradera Esperanza |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Cup of
Excellence |
Region: |
La Pradera,
Tarqui, Huila |
Mark: |
Cup of
Excellence, Pradera-Esperanza farm |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
Late June
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0 d/300gr,
16+ Screen |
Varietal: |
50% Caturra,
50% Variedad Colombia |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3 |
Notes: Fierce
competition in the very first Cup of Excellence Auction for Colombia
- but I was not going to lose this precious lot of coffee. The cup was
more complex, deep, big on the palate, than any other lot on the table.
For a coffee from the Huila district, it reminded me more of the big,
expansive, deep ripe cup profiles of Popayan coffees I used to find.
As a judge at the Competition, this coffee jumped out at me in every
phase of the cuppings, and in the finals I rated it higher than the top
three coffees. The farm is in La Pradera, near Tarqui. It is a micro
farm, just 2.5 Hecatres. I was not able to visit there, but this is the
background from the Colombian Coffee Federation: "Abel Bermeo is
a single, 39 year old coffee grower. He lives with his parents (Alicia
and Alvaro), he has 10 brothers and he is the youngest. He studied until
5 year of elementary school. 25 years ago, he started working with coffee
crops. Currently, he has 3 lots. The names of the lots are: La Esperanza
[ the winning farm], El Mirador, and Buenos Aires. He fertilizes three
times per year with 1.4 kg per hectare. He makes a cultural control of
insects; he doesn’t use pesticides or herbicides." Yes folks,
that's where your coffee comes from, and with the premium we paid for
this lot, Abel gets about 85% of the sale cost, which would be at least
7x what he usually gets. CoE really awards the winning farms in a very
direct way. I enjoyed the light roasts of this coffee, with an amlost
custard and caramel (Flan!) sweetness to them, but it was the Full City
roasts that captured the depth of the cup. Fragrance and aromatics are
deeply fruited, and have a dark nuttiness to them. In the cup, there
is chocolate and almond, a undertone of plum which came off in some cups
more like blackberry, and a oily body. (Almond oil was a descriptor I
wrote several times on the cupping form). But it was the overall impression
of the cup, of this broad, fat, expansive cup profile, something I wanted
to hold in my mouth, circulate, think about, that was more important
to me than any single flavor attribute. For this, a +1 cuppers correction,
and the hope you enjoy this cup as much as I do. Play with the roasting,
because the lighter roasted Coty+ cup, while not as deep, has a different
range of character to it, but give this Full City a whirl around your
palate too. |
Abel Bermeo (center, back) and family
Abel attending to a tree on his 2.5 Hecatre Esperanza plot. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
9 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.6 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
9 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
1 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium-Bold intensity / A broad cup, darkly fruited. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: I
like Full City (see the description). |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
87.5 |
Compare
to: A potent take on a Huila coffee, with more body and bass-note
flavor |
| Colombian
Mesa de los Santos |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Estate
Grade |
Region: |
Santander,
Burcaramanga Pie de Cuesta y Los Santos |
Mark: |
Mesa
de los Santos, Organic-Shade Grown |
| Processing: |
Wet-processed |
Crop: |
January
2005 Arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 17-18 Screen |
Varietal: |
Typica/Caturra |
|
|
Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.5 |
Notes: Mesa
de los Santos is a pioneer in sustainable coffee agriculture: it is
also the first farm in Colombia to produce and export specialty organic
coffee. But the farm predates it's Organic certification by many years:
it was founded in 1872! While a traditional Hacienda layout in all
respects, Mesa de los Santos (MDLS) has also been agressive in improving
their ability to grow, mill and esport the best quality, caturra varietal
Colombian coffee. In fact they recently won a competitive World Resources
Institute venture capital award for bio-deiverse business, an effort
coordinated by manager Oswaldo Acevedo. The coffee is what great Colombian
was 20 years ago: caturra cultivar is used rathar than the inferior,
high-yield, diseasew resistent Variedad Colombian. The farm altitude
is a repectable 1650-1750 meters. And rather than following the typical
Colombian sorting regimen of Supremo and Excelso preparations (which
average out good coffees pooled with mediocre coffees into the lowest
common denominator) this is a single farm, "Estate" preparation,
wet-milled on the farm instead of a third-party beneficio. There were
some problems with the cup on the first arrival of this coffee this
year, so we chose to pass. It's not that there was anything wrong -
but it wasn't what I think of with the MDLS cup, it seemed a bit flat.
I guessed that there might have been transportation problems and the
coffee was damaged; it was true, the container was delayed leaving
Colombia I found out, and this might have diminished the cup character.
So we waited for this arrival and here it is ... the real MDLS
cup. It had great Bucaramanga cup character; it reverberates with subtle
spicey and fruity notes, excellent medium-heavy body, and in the darker
Full City+ roast there are great bittersweet flavors. This represents
the best of what Colombia can produce. In fact, I roasted some of this
to take to a guy from Medellin, Colombia that I play soccer with, just
to show him what a really good Colombian coffee should taste
like!
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.2 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.8 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Roast: Full
City. With this shipment I prefer a heavier roast than last year's mid-crop
harvest. I feel like City roast is a little under-developed in flavor,
but FC or FC+ has a really deep, ripe cup! MDLS requires slightly more
roast time than comparable coffees -it's best to set the roast time a
bit high and shut it down manually at the exact degree of roast you want... |
| add
50 |
50 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild to Medium/ Balance and depth |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
86.3 |
Compare
to: Like really good Colombians with a little more brightness.
Tolima Colombians, San Augustin Colombian, ones with heavier body.
You can learn more about the farm and their innovative ecological programs
at http://www.cafemesadelossantos.com/ |
| Colombian
Huila Supremo |
| Country: |
Colombia |
Grade: |
Supremo
18 Screen |
Region: |
Huila |
Mark: |
Supremo
JA Valencia Mercedes
|
| Processing: |
Wet
processed |
Crop: |
January
2005 arrival |
Appearance: |
0
d/300gr, 18+ Screen |
Varietal: |
Not
Known |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.5 |
Notes: We're
proud of the Estate coffees we have from Colombia, but this doesn't stop
me from cupping the regular Excelso and Supremo lots that come along.
After all, the Estate coffees need to be better in the cup, no just by
the fact that they have a fancier name. And once in a while a coffee
offered as a non-farm-specific Colombian is really nice, and here it
is! This coffee is from the Huila region, an origin we haven't stocked
in about 4 years. The coffees are usually a little fruity with a light
body, but since Supremos are usually pooled from many farms in the region,
the resulting cup suffers from the effect of the "lowest common
denominator". Well, this coffee isn't as generic as all that: it
is from a specific group of farms and a specific exporter that has offered
some very nice coffees in the past, but each lot is different and some,
even from a particular source, can be quite average. This is a Supremo
screen size of 18/64ths and up (bean size does not matter in terms of
cup quality!!!). The cup has flavors like a spiced tea: apple, cinnamon,
muted clove flavors. The thing is, I have had a few cups of this coffee
that were, well, extra special. There were transitory flavors and aromas
that were like sprinkled dry cocoa, super aromatic. This has the typical
lighter body of a Huila compared to other Colombia origins like the Cauca/Popayan
coffees. I know that the fruitiness in this cup is a particular coffee
cherry scent that you can pick up if you visit a wet-mill on a farm,
the sweet fruit as it, but that's not exactly the flavors I think about
when I cup this coffee. It has great balance overall, a mild cup, a real "crowd-pleaser". |
|
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Body
- Movement (1-5) |
2.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0.0 |
Roast: Full
City: the cup can be a bit sour at the light end of city, and definitely
holds up to a heavier roast. In fact, this cup is excellent well into
the Light French stages. |
| add
50 |
50 |
Compare
to: This is a traditional, excellent Huila cup profile, clean,
fruited, lively! |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
84.8 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Mild to Medium / aromatic, balanced |
| Congo
Kivu Peaberry |
| Country: |
Congo |
Grade: |
Unsure! |
Region: |
Kivu, Eastern Congo |
Mark: |
Kivu "Katana" Peaberry |
| Processing: |
Wet-Processed |
Crop: |
Nov 2006
Arrival |
Appearance: |
.8 d/300gr,
PB 15-17 Screen |
Varietal: |
Unsure |
| Dry
Fragrance (1-5) |
3.6 |
Notes: It's
been 7 years, but here we are with a Congo coffee again! The problems
with securing a source for Specialty grade coffee from the Kivu region
(East Congo) are innumerable. Politics and the struggle over mineral
wealth are at the top of the list, and farmers are the first to be displaced
when unrest comes to the region. So we hope the offering of this very
nice lot of Congo symbolizes the greater stability that has come to the
area since the cease fire has been in affect, and the democratic elections
held this month. Because this is an early attempt at offering Congo coffee
again, and there is more development needed in terms of improving the
milling and processing of the coffee, it does have a more rustic cup
character than you find in the finely processed Rwandas from just across
the border (and the lake, Lake Kivu). But I find the cup compelling.
The dry grounds are intense, with fragrant cocoa, nut (macadamia nut),
and vanilla notes. Add water and the rustic beast comes out a bit: fresh
tobacco, wet earth but still a sweetness (molassesy) resides there. The
cup is bright, as an East African coffee should be, but there is that
unpredictable wild note too. Again, fresh tobacco with an earthy twist
is the best descriptors for it. It's a little hidey, as a Yemen is, but
there are delicate tea notes (Darjeeling), and even a trace of floral
sweetness too. It lands somewhere between a more refined African coffee
(Kenya) and a rustic Indonesia (Mandheling). For those who like either
of these coffees, you will find something to hold your interest in this
cup, as well as the fact it holds up well to a darker roast level. |
| Wet
Aroma (1-5) |
3.4 |
| Brightness
- Acidity (1-10) |
8.5 |
| Flavor
- Depth (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Body
- Mouthfeel (1-5) |
3.5 |
| Finish
- Aftertaste (1-10) |
8.4 |
| Cupper's
Correction (1-5) |
0 |
Intensity/Prime
Attribute: Medium Intensity/ Cocoa |
|
| add
50 |
50 |
Roast: City
+ to FC+: I actually find it more intense in the lighter roast, but like
the heavy bittersweet chocolate of the darker FC+ too. |
| Score
(Max. 100) |
85.8 |
Compare
to: Somewhere between bright, cleaner African coffees and funky,
earthy Indonesians. |
