Mexico Organic Dry-Process Nayarit Rustico
Country:	Mexico	Grade:	Alturra	Region:	Nayarit	Mark:	Nayarit Dry-Process
Processing:	Dry Processed	Crop:	January 2008 Arrival	Appearance:	.6 d/300gr, 17 Screen	Varietal:	Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: This lot is quite unusual, not because of the region it is from or the fact it arrives late in the Central America season. It's unusual because it is a full natural, dry-process coffee from Mexico. Actually, dry-process Mexico coffees can be found in many small markets across Mexico, since it is the cheapest way to process coffee. And those can be some of the nastiest Mexican coffees you have ever tasted, full of defect black beans, rotted fruit fermented flavors, phenolic fungus taste. Ironically, dry-process coffee, done right, is much more difficult and more costly that a more technified wet-process lot. To do it right, you need to pick ripe red coffee cherry, quickly and carefully dry it in the husk, remove that peel, and then hand-sort defective beans, requiring many hours of labor. Wet-process removes defects with machines ... under-ripe cherries float, other defects are removed on the gravity separator and screening machines. To make a really good dry-process it is all done manually, by highly experienced people. Anyway, the coffee is from the same location as the Terruno Wet-Process from earlier in the season. It is from the state of Nayarit, more specifically, west of the capital, Tepic. The 260 small-holder farms in this group are clustered around Cerro San Juan, an extinct volcano, so the soil type and altitude contribute to the cup quality. Nayarit is fairly low (the city of Tepic is 3000 feet) but the volcano immediately rises to 7000 feet, providing sloped t errain with good altitude, drainage and climate for the coffee. The aromtatics of this coffee are much closer to a dry-processed Ethiopia than to any other Central America coffee; intense, rustic fruited notes, spice, and caramel sweetness. The cup, especially at the darker roast levels I prefer here, has a heavy chocolate character with traces of almond. It doesn't have great dimension, but is so intense in this chocolate aspect, it makes up for it. The dry-process seems to make the coffee have lower acidity than it's wet-process counterpart and a LOT more body. It has very heavy, oily, thick body.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.5
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		1	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Bold intensity / Heavy body, chocolate, and almond
add 50		50	Roast: Full City to Full City+ to Vienna.
Score (Max. 100)		87.4	Compare to: Ethiopia dry-process Sidamo coffees in terms of fruited character and body, Brazil dry-process in terms of body and chocolate. Be sure you like dry-processed type coffees before considering this lot.

Mexico Chiapas - La Union Coop
Country:	Mexico	Grade:	Alturra	Region:	Chiapas	Mark:	La Union Otillio Montano Coop
Processing:	Wet Processed	Crop:	August 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	.2 d/300gr, 16-18 Screen	Varietal:	Mostly Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: We have bought from this cooperative for 10 years now, including last year's "Rebuild Chiapas" lot where we paid a premium to help with hurricane recovery projects around Motozintla, where the headquarters for the coop are. This year, I visited to try to seek out particular communities of farmers that might have coffee with unique cup character, despite the fact the co-op operates by pooling coffees into bulk lots from a wide range of farmer-groups. They agreed to produce some micro-regional lots, but frankly the results were just average. It proved to me that I can't take a cookie-cutter approach in dealing with producers, constantly preaching the benefits of separating micro-lots in search of cup quality, with a 2x or 3x premium for resulting coffees. It just may not work everywhere in terms of better cup quality or in the co-ops economic self-interest. So I went pack to cupping all their pooled lots and surprisingly I came up with this great coffee ... surprising in that it is not FTO certified like 80% of their coffee. I like FTO, especially from Chiapas, but I can't pass up on a coffee simply because it lacks the certs ... so here it is, just a really nice Chiapas lot without all the decoration. Immediately this lot jumped out at me for the fruited not in the dry fragrance, suggesting banana, married to nice cocoa with nuts. Not a bad start. I find a lot of sweetness in the wet aroma, syrupy, with praline character. The cup is mild, as Chiapas is bound to be, with fairly light body (the mouthfeel is doughy in texture). But it has this same, mildly rustic sweetness as the aromatics, like raw brown sugar. In fact, this reminds me of the traditional Mexican cone-shaped sugar cakes, Panela, in the aftertaste. There's a caramel apple quality in the cup, which has moderate brightness and is fairly short in the aftertaste. It's a simple cup perhaps, but what a nice antidote to over-the-top Yemens and Kenyas and such! It's drinkin' coffee.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.4
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.6
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		3.2
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Sweetness, light body,
add 50		50	Roast: Takes a wide range of roasts from City+ to Full City to Full City+.
Score (Max. 100)		85.8	Compare to: A sweet and simple cup with interesting nut, chocolate and fruit aspects

Mexico FTO Oaxaca Pluma
Country:	Mexico	Grade:	HG/SHG	Region:	Oaxaca Pluma	Mark:	CEPCO Cooperative, Fair Trade and Organic Cert.
Processing:	Wet-Process	Crop:	May 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	1.4 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	Typica apparently (unverified)
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: Bright and unsweet. We're not talking about a person here, but this Fair Trade, Organic Oaxaca coffee. It doesn't sound like a flattering description (for a person or a coffee … who wants to hang out with someone who is intelligent and nasty?) And as far as a coffee goes, sweetness is the prized cup quality that comes only with the highest grown, best-processed coffees. But bitterness is indeed a key to the coffee beverage, not unpleasant, alkaloid-astringent bitterness, not rough bitterness, but good bitterness. The best comparison is worn out, but we must use it again: chocolate. Why is dark chocolate so appealing and baker's chocolate so awful to taste directly? That is the role of sweetness in coffee; so let me rephrase and say this is bittersweet in the best of ways, like good 70% Cacao bittersweet chocolate. To achieve this youa re going to need Full City to FC+ roast range, perhaps light Vienna if you want a tangy, carbony touch too. Now that I have focused on the chocolate roast notes, I want to mention another aspect of this cup: the intensely pleasant nut tones at City + roast level, and this is where the brightness is at a peak. If you stop the roast at this stage, there is a toasted almond quality to the cup, in both the aromatics and the cup flavors. There is more brightness here that other Oaxaca coffees I have cupped this year, hinting at it's high altitude origin, and perhaps a general "up" trend in Oaxaca coffee this season. That brightness "roasts off" a bit at FC+ roast, but at City roast the cup cools to a citrus skin accent. There's also a very fine pine resin aromatic in the City + roast, something I have found rarely in Kona coffees.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.7
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.7
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.7
Body - Movement (1-5)		2.9
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild-Medium intensity*/ Nutty and chocolate bittersweet tonality, brightness *Note: Intensity much greater at FC roast
add 50		50	Roast: Oaxaca coffees take a very wide range of roasts: C+ for toasted almond roast notes, FC+ for a more bittersweet chocolate- themed cup.
Score (Max. 100)		86.2	Compare to: Great, balanced Oaxaca, with hints of Kona and Nicaragua (Madriz, Nueva Segovia)

Mexico Oaxaca Pluma -Don Eduardo
Country:	Mexico	Grade:	HG/SHG	Region:	Oaxaca Pluma	Mark:	"Don Eduardo", Calvo Export
Processing:	Wet-Process	Crop:	May 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	1 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: This cup stood out on the table of Oaxaca coffees because of sweet fruit in the aromatics, and a winey touch in the cup. It's interesting because when blind cupping against many similar lots, this aspect is so pronounced, but on it's own it becomes a more subtle part of the cup character. (Perhaps this is another distinction between "tasting" and drinking coffee! Yes, in a way tasting is quite different then simply enjoyign a cuppa joe, since you are comparing fine details in similar coffees, and using a method and focus that isn't part of the daily coffee ritual.) But the fruited note, and winey cup character is there indeed, and gives subtle dimension to the cup, be it in a blind tasting or a 12 oz mug. The aromatics have good nut and chocolate bittersweetness (FC roast). A good Oaxaca isn't overly sweet, but more like a semi-sweet chocolate, and this cup has that character. Tangy bittersweetness pervades the cup from start to finish at FC roast, while the lighter roast has a filbert nuttiness to it. This coffee can take a wide range of roast, and show balanced flavors throughout. As it cools the perceived brightness is greater, but not out of range of the other cup flavors. Tasting the various roast levels, I can't help feel justified at thinking (once again) that Oaxaca is the poor man's Kona, or should I say the smart man's Kona. Here we have pure Typica cultivar (like Kona), balance, chocolate tangy notes, fruited and winey hints, medium body, mild cup character overall. Those are all the things we find in the highest tier of Kona coffees.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.7
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.4
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.6
Body - Movement (1-5)		3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity/Balance, Tangy bittersweets (FC), fruited and winey hints.
add 50		50	Roast: This lot takes a very wide range of roasts: FC to FC+ is perhaps my favorite, a few snaps into 2nd rack even, but the lighter roast has great filbert nutty roast taste too.
Score (Max. 100)		85.8	Compare to: Really good Oaxaca, in my mind, bears resemblence to the best of Kona. This cup reminds me of that, again.

see our pre-2000 Archive and our 2001-2002 archive

Nicaragua Matagalpa - Pacamara Peaberry
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Matagalpa	Mark:	Mierisch Estates
Processing:	Wet-Processed	Crop:	June 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	0 d/300gr, 19+ Screen PB	Varietal:	Pacamara (Pacas x Maragogype Cross)
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.2	Notes: Pacamara in itself is an oddity ... this large bean is grown on few farms since the requirements to process it, and tolerance for this low-yield cultivar are both rare. But here is something even stranger: Pacamara Peaberry. And beyond the shape of the seed, the coffee has a unique cup character from a standard Pacamara lot. Some background: Pacamara is a distinct cultivar of Arabica coffee, more specifically it is a subtype of the large bean Maragogype and Pacas, a natural hybrid from El Salvador. Maragogype is called the "elephant bean" for its incredibly large size, and is a spontaneous variation of Typica. Now, bean size per se has nothing to do with cup quality: a bigger seed doesn't make a better cup. But the argument for Maragogype and Pacamara is that the tree produces fewer cherries and flavor is more concentrated. I have tasted some very bland Pacamara that was lower grown, so this isn't always true. And hey, once you grind it up it all looks the same! On the other hand I have had some coffees that had outstanding cup qualities, surpassed all the rival samples in blind cupping, and just happened to be Pacamara. Pacamara coffees are often pooled from a small region of growers, since each independently would not have enough to form a lot. So in a sense, these are like pearls in a bed of oysters, and even in local markets of coffee-producing areas they sell for 3x to 4x the going price. This unique Peaberry lot has cup qualities that are brighter, more dynamic, and unusual than the flat bean Pacamara lot from which it is derived. Mierisch family farms has Pacamara chiefly on the Limonocillo farm in Matagalpa, and they grow enough to save the very small percent of Peaberry just for us. In fact, there is a floral note that reminds me of the longberry Ethiopia-derived Gesha coffees from Panama, not in the citric aspects of the Gesha, but in exotic secondary flavors. It harkens to the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe floral dimension; I feel I could fake this cup profile by blending a really good Central with a Yirgacheffe or wet-process Sidamo. But why do that when you can get the same cup from a pure, single-farm cultivar. What a complex and nuanced cup! An unusual smokey sweetness pervades in the cup from start to finish. There's ripe fruited notes, mango skins, and spice. When the cup is hot, there is zesty sweet red pepper, a dash of black pepper pungency, a sweet mild tobacco note, and that nice ripe fruity note. The aromatics are pronounced; sweet, syrupy and a touch herby. The cup flavors have an unusual sweetness to them, floral at first and then sage, cola (and a bit of smokiness). It's not one of those simple, sweet clean Centrals, and it isn't one of those weird earthy Indonesians, but this coffee has a different kind of funky cup character ... but somehow it works and the flavors knit together quite well. Roasting, as with other Pacamara and Maragogype coffees, should be attended to carefully since the large bean will not move in the roaster the way other coffees do.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.9
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		3.3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.8
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		1	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity / Unusual cup flavors and aftertaste
add 50		50	Roast: I like the City roast the most - very dynamic cup flavors. But even the light Vienna roast had plenty of "origin character" as did the 2 FC roasts I did.
Score (Max. 100)		88.3	Compare to: A very different coffee from Centrals in general due to this unique cultivar. This is a unique lot, with exceptional cup character.

Nicaragua Limoncillo Estate - Java Longberry
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Matagalpa	Mark:	Limoncillo Estate
Processing:	Wet-Process	Crop:	June 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	.2 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	Traditional Java Seedstock
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.4	Notes: This is an exotic selection: grown in Nicaragua, pure old-type Java cultivar. How did this come to be? The story is a bit piecemeal, but here is how it goes. There was a private coffee research labratory that had experimental gardens, including a selection of traditional Ethiopian and Indonesian cultivars. During the unstable political years in Nicaragua, it went out of business. A coffee farmer who happened to know the main researcher there was aware they were working with old heirloom longberry seedstock, but did not have access to the seeds ... well, until the place shut down. Then somebody surprisingly showed up at their door with 20 Lbs of prepared coffee seed, no questions asked, marked "Variedad Java". What a risk! Planting an unknown seed stock without knowing the full results of the lab testing. But that's exactly what happened, and the results are quite extraordinary and, as I mentioned before "exotic". Why? The cup character is unlike any other Nicaragua coffee I know of, especially in the light roast when you get a complete representation of the "origin flavor" of this coffee, unmasked by roast. You will notice immediately the unusual seed shape: a longbean form with tapered ends, almost like a football (uh, US football). This is actually unlike modern Java offerings that are hybrids, and more like old Java seedstock originating in Kaffa, Ethiopia, and traveling a circuitous route via Holland to the "East Indies" in the hands of the Dutch. And you may know, it was the Dutch that planted all that coffee in Java! This cup is very unusual for a Nicaragua, and not a Java either, but something new formed from the two influences. There is the slick, heavier body of the Java, the low acidity, and some of the nutty notes in the lighter roast found from that Indonesian island. But there is a sweetness(very subtle, as the cup cools) and brightness (very moderate) not found in Java coffees. It is more balanced. There is a mild lime note that adds zest to the cup, and a slight smokey quality in the finish, as the cup comes down in temperature. Overall, it's mild and balanced, but I find it a unique example of the confluence of cultivar and origin influences upon the final cup.The dry fragrance is sweet, and has an undecideable fruit suggestion in it, as does the wet aroma. When I break the crust in the cupping process, a distinct green tea note comes forth, as well as green fruits and starfruit. In the cup, the dominant flavor is lime! But what a unique citric zest, because it is not directly tied to the acidity in the coffee: this Java is not that acidic. It is, plain and simple, a lime cup flavor. The body in the cup is very oily and thick. I experimented with darker roasts (Vienna) and felt the roast taste became carbony, while the special fruited flavors were completely masked. FC roasts were nice, but I still feel that the light-bodied-but-fruited City roast was my favorite.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.6
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.3
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.9
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium to bold intensity / at darker roasts - complexity, body, ripe fruit and chocolate
add 50		50	Roast: I like Full City+, for brewed and press coffee, and a bit darker too (Light Vienna, about 15 seconds into 2nd crack). The Full City espresso is intense and maybe too bright.
Score (Max. 100)		86.3	Compare to: Distinct from typical Nicaraguan coffees: longberry Java cultivar

Nicaragua Cup of Excellence - La Esperanza
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Jinotega	Mark:	CoE #9, 2007 Competition
Processing:	Wet-Process, Sun-dried	Crop:	Sept 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	0 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	100% Caturra
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.8	Notes: From the start, this coffee was my favorite of the 30+ lots in the international competition for the 2007 Nicaragua Cup of Excellence. The dry fragrance and aromatics were dynamic, the cup had vivid brightness but also body and balance. I re-cupped the top 10 blind and again, this was the one. This small farm is called La Esperanza and it is in the Jinotega area. It is owned by Rosa Yannete Rivera Siles and her family, and has it's own modest mill, sitting in a near-virgin forest by a natural reservoir. The dry fragrance had such a specific form of chocolate; there's a Fannie May that smells just like this, a chocolate creme. There was also toasted hazelnuts and cocoa powder. The wet aromatics have that same zingy chocolate quality, with an unusual volatile aromaitic component, a bit of cayenne and a citrus peel zest. The cup was in-line with the aromatic signals I was receiveing; and abundance of chocolate from the roast taste, crisp and bittersweet. And in the finish that same unusual combined zest of citrus and spice. (I still get hints of cayenne: if this seems strange consider there is a great chocolate bar out there from Dagoba with cayenne and cocoa nibs blended in ... it's excellent). With a true City roast, there was a lot more citric sweetness to the cup, but I prefered this FC roast for the clean, agressive chocolate quality. The aftertaste is long and persistent, and there are sweet bourbon vanilla notes that are fleshed out in the end. The cup is straight-ahead in some ways (ie chocolate from start to finish), but nuanced too. I enjoyed this cup because it is so in character with what a great Nicaragua coffee is (it has true "origin character") and exhibits it in such a crystal clear way.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.9
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.8
Body - Movement (1-5)		3.4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.9
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		2	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity / Intense and well-defined chocolate, citrus and spice hints
add 50		50	Roast: Full City is ideal here. A City roast is excellent too, yielding great citrus brightness
Score (Max. 100)		89.6	Compare to: Very fine, clear, well-defined Nicaragua cup.

Nicaragua Placeras Estate "Miel"
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Matagalpa	Mark:	Las Placeras Estate
Processing:	Pulp Natural (Brazil Style) Process	Crop:	June 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	.1 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.2	Notes: Placeras Estate is located in Matagalpa, and is not exceptionally high altitude ... but it is a true estate with a complete mill on site. What this means is they are able to experiment in processing using new techniques, and the pulped natural Brazil method is a perfect match for the lower-acid Placeras cup profile. . "Miel" (meaning honey) is rare (and risky) in Central America. When it was good, this coffee had great body, a husky sweet "wild-honey" cup with moderate acidity. It is great as a brewed/press coffee, it is great as straight espresso (if the brightness/acidity in the cup can be moderated by roasting technique), it is great in espresso blends, especially with top quality Brazils. To do this method, you pulp the skin off the coffee cherry, and without removing the fruity mucilage layer, sun-dry the remaining seed on raised beds, called air drying or African beds in other places. The long contact the fruit has with the parchment layer changes the character of the green coffee inside the parchment, and has this unique effect on the cup. The result is a very balanced cup with great body. This is such a nice coffee, with moderate acidity, with a ripe fruit sweetness, and deep-toned balance in the cup. It's not wildly unusual, but what I like to call "good house coffee." In other words, if I had a coffee house, I think I could serve this all day long and the widest range of customers would be greatly pleased. Why? It has a bit of everything. It is balanced, it has sweetness, it is not too acidic, and it has good body. The dry fragrance has cedary-sweet character, and this turns into a wonderful beeswax quality in the wet aromatics. Cup flavors are served up against a background of a medium thick body, with a rustic hint in the sweetness (a la Brazil): lightly malted barley, sweet hay, maltose, raw honey. I really enjoy this moderately floral, herbal, minty aftertaste.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.3
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.5
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		4.2
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.4
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity / Malty, honeyed, low acid, balanced
add 50		50	Roast: I like City + for brewed, and Full City+ works too and a bit darker too (Light Vienna, about 15 seconds into 2nd crack). Okay - you get it, this coffee works on several levels, and at different roasts. The Full City espresso is intense and maybe too bright.
Score (Max. 100)		86.0	Compare to: Distinct from typical Nicaraguan coffees: similar to Pulped Natural Brazil coffees. This is a unique coffee for single origin espresso or for an espresso blend component.

Nicaragua FTO Esteli - Miraflor Coop
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Esteli, Nueva Segovia	Mark:	Miraflor Coop, Prodecoop
Processing:	Wet-Process	Crop:	April 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	.4 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen	Varietal:	Typica, Caturra, Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: The Miraflor cooperative farmers group is unique in many ways, but certainly their location is one of the most outstanding aspects. They are located inside a nature preserve, and their organic coffee farming operates in sync with the goals of the land preservation that surrounds them. The group of 55 small farmers that form the coop have their own wet mill, performing the traditional depulping and fermentation of the coffee fruit onsite. Then they take the coffee to the Esteli area, to the mother-of-all-coops, Prodecoop, for final dry-milling, sorting, screening and bagging. Miraflor is probably the best-known farmer coop at the mill, among US green coffee buyers, for the consistently fine cup character. The dry fragrance is very sweet, nutty, almost candy-like, at the City+ roast stage. I admit, I tested this coffee only at the , C+ and FC range, no darker, because the cup results seem so suited to a lighter treatment. Adding water, the wet aromatics have an additional milk chocolate sweetness, as well as the nut from the dry fragrance, and a malt-like sweetness. The lighter roast cup has an excellent peach-apricot fruit to it, a almondy, nutty tonality to the roast taste, and candy-like sweetness. In the finish (and as the cup cools), it turns to a red apple sweetness to me. The body is light-to-medium, which suits the delicately balanced cup. Delicious, refined; this is really a dynamic and delightful coffee. I gave it +2 for overall City+ roast appeal.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.7
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.9
Body - Movement (1-5)		2.9
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.9
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		2	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild to Medium intensity / Sweet aromatics
add 50		50	Roast: City+ is ideal here. Expect relatively light roast surface color for the degree of roast you aim for ; this coffee doesn't color too darkly.
Score (Max. 100)		88.8	Compare to: Very fine Nicaragua cup, with an interplay of nut and fruit. A fairly bright tonality overall. I gave it +2 for overall City+ roast appeal.

Nicaragua FTO Lozahoren (Dipilto)
Country:	Nicaragua	Grade:	SHG	Region:	Dipilto, Nueva Segovia	Mark:	Losahoren/Lozahoren, milled by Prodecoop Cooperative
Processing:	Wet-Process	Crop:	September 2006 Arrival	Appearance:	.4 d/300gr, 17+ Screen	Varietal:	Caturra
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.4	Notes: This lot of coffee was part of an effort to re-cup special, small lots that (for some unknown reason) were bounced out of a certain coffee competition. The Losahoran coffee Dipilto immediately jumped out at me on the cupping table, and when we flipped over the cards to reveal the farms/origins of the lots, I recognized this one. It was the No. 5 coffee in a previous year, and is from Pablo Vanegas in the Dipilto region of Nueva Segovia. I admit, based on the cup, and having judged Nicaragua this year, I was kinda shocked this coffee didn't make it, because I feel it might have done exceptionally well. But sometimes it just takes 1 bad bean in 1 cup in the prescreening, and a coffee is out. Anyway, the Dipilto coffees are receiving a lot of attention, and done extremely well in the competitions, because of their bright, snappy acidity that makes the cup quite lively, and delicate fruit notes. That is a perfect description for the Lozahoren lot I am cupping here ... in other words, this coffee has excellent origin character (you can call it "terroir", if you like). Here we have crisp, malty dry fragrance, with nut and toasted grain hints, transformed into a really unique wet aroma in the cup: sweet rye. Cup flavors are snappy, with that very delicate but persistent acidity giving the cup and effervescent sparkle. It has a definite floral character in that brightness; paperwhite lily. The body is fairly light, and peach tea tones underscore the sweet grains which, for me, suggests a really excellent, well-hopped brown beer character.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.6
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.6
Body - Movement (1-5)		2.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		1	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity/elegant, light-body, bright, nuanced
add 50		50	Roast: City+ is recommended; this is a mild cup and roast taste eclipses the floral and delicate aspects of it.
Score (Max. 100)		86.5	Compare to: Dipilto is unique among Nicaraguan coffees - less body, less chocolate, more brightness, more sweetness.

Panama SHB Las Victorias
Country:	Panama	Grade:	SHB	Region:	Boquete Area, Chirqui Province	Mark:	Las Victorias
Processing:	Wet-Processed	Crop:	November 2007 Arrival	Appearance:	.2 d/300gr, 18 Screen	Varietal:	Caturra, Catuai, Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5)		3.6	Notes: Las Victorias is a small farm in the Boquete district of Panama, home to some of the best award-winning farms. In fact Las Victorias (sometimes called La Victoria too … why?) has won a few awards itself including a 91 point rating on a coffee review site. I too think it is that good, but we don't give out 91's very casually. Still, this late-arriving lot might be one of the best Panamas of the year, ranking well alongside Carmen 1800+ meter, Los Lajones and others. The fragrance of my C+ and FC roasts have such a great malty sweetness, with just a hint of light molasses. Wet aroma is like fresh-from-the-oven sweet brown bread, hold the rye. There's a bit of dark caramel and chocolate. Dark sweetness ... you get the gist of it. Body is not often the first thing in a great coffee that impresses you, but the body (especially for a Panama) is very viscuous and appealing. There's a winey sweet fruit here too, pungency and bittersweetness (FC roast) , that lingers into a long aftertaste. That adds up to a fairly complex flavor experience as each sensation passes in waves, overlaying flavor upon flavor on the palate. I get a hint of banana, then anise/caraway seed, dark brown sugar, and a very intense "coffee-like" bittersweetness in the finish. I know,"coffee-like" is an unacceptable descriptor for coffee. Well, how come you can use it for Burgundy wines??? I jest, sort of. We define one thing in terms of other things, and not in and of itself. I guess that's how language works, or at least how a dictionary works. But nonetheless the finish has that heavily-extracted coffee bittersweet complexity, and lasts quite long.
Wet Aroma (1-5)		3.6
Brightness - Acidity (1-10)		8.6
Flavor - Depth (1-10)		8.8
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5)		3.7
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10)		8.8
Cupper's Correction (1-5)		0	Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium-bold intensity / Intense and complex
add 50		50	Roast: Full City for the most complex cup flavors
Score (Max. 100)<