|
Country:
|
India
|
Grade:
|
AA
|
Region:
|
Malabar
|
Mark:
|
Monsooned!
|
|
Processing:
|
Dry Proc.and Monsooned
|
Crop:
|
97/98?
|
Appearance:
|
2d/300gr
18/19scr
|
Varietal:
|
Who Cares
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frag/Aroma:
|
1/ 1
|
Notes: My Malabar Poem (no, it doesn't rhyme)
* If Zombies drank coffee ...it would come from these swollen pale
moon-beans.
* If Zombies drank coffee ...they would crave the funereal spice, pepper
and hearty must in this brain-numbing, deep, thick, somber cup.
* If Zombies drank coffee ...they would haunt the warehouses where
Malabar coffee is interned for a season of monsoon humidity and made somewhat
unholy-looking evermore.
* If Zombies made espresso...they would use at least 15% Monsooned
Malabar to lend undead funk to the cup ...or if they were real macho zombies
they would drink it as straight filtered coffee and NOT wash out their
mouth afterward, as I do!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acidity:
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body:
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flavor:
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aftertaste:
|
6
|
Roast: City if you dare, Full City for maximum
drinkability, and no darker or you lose the funk.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall:
|
19
|
Compare to: liquor of the gods or sewer water,
depending on who you ask. I love it, and think everyone should try it!.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Country:
|
India
|
Grade:
|
AA
|
Region:
|
Mysore
|
Mark:
|
Kent Cultivar
|
|
Processing:
|
Washed
|
Crop:
|
98
|
Appearance:
|
0d/300gr
17scr
|
Varietal:
|
Kent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frag/Aroma:
|
1/1
|
Notes: A wonderful mild coffee with rich, deep acidity that reminds
me alternately of red wine and black cherries. The body is outstanding,
but overall it might be a bit dull if you are used to Estate Kenyas and
musty Sumatras. Never the less, there is something deep and luxerious here
...I actually cupped it against the Mavis Bank Estate Jamaican, and it
holds up very well in the cup against a coffee that's 5x the price. (Not
suprising though, against a Mountain coffee). But if you buy milder coffees,
Mexicans, Colombians etc, geez ...give this a try! You cant drink Yemen
Hirazi every day!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acidity:
|
6.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body:
|
6.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flavor:
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aftertaste:
|
5
|
Roast: City is great, Full City is fine, dark
roasts make it indistinguishable.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall:
|
18.5
|
Compare to: Lush, deep, mild (low-acid) coffees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Country:
|
Sweet Maria's Moka Kadir Blend
|
Grade:
|
4,5
|
Region:
|
Harar, Sidamo, Yemeni
|
Mark:
|
MAO Horse, YSC
|
|
Processing:
|
Dry
|
Crop:
|
98/99
|
Appearance:
|
1d/300gr
14 to 18 scr
|
Varietal:
|
Heirloom Arabica Moka
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frag/Aroma:
|
2/2
|
Notes: This is a powerful blend of coffees from the Red Sea area at
I have created for exotic espresso shot or filtered coffee with me than
a touch of antiquity present. It incorporates three excellent Dry-Processed
coffees that contribute to a huge body, strong bittersweet chocolate roast-taste,
and intense fruity aromatics. Since all are Dry-Processed and have nearly
equivalent denties and moisture contents, thiis an acceptable pre-roast
blend (as opposed to blending coffees after roasting them separately).
Further, none these coffees roast to a uniform color individually, which
is part of their character and complexity in the cup. My purpose here is
to offer a precisely blended coffee I love, and save you from buying 3
coffees separately. But if you want 3 lbs of this,wish to do it yourself,
the Top Secret Formula is 1 pt. Yemeni, 1 pt Harar Horse, 1 pt.
Ethiopian DP Sidamo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acidity:
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body:
|
8
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flavor:
|
8
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aftertaste:
|
8
|
Roast: Full City+, or Darker. Like other DP N.
Africans, roasts are uneven. Let the "vanguard" beans enter 2nd
crack, and the laggds will be at City stage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall:
|
25 |
Compare to: eating a bar of bitterweet chocolate
while sniffing flowers, or wild, DP, natural North African/Yemen coffees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blend:
|
Sweet Maria's
Espresso Monkey
Blend
|
Coffees:
|
Brazil
Sumatra
Ethiopian
Panama
|
|
Processing:
|
Mostly DP
|
Crop:
|
98
|
Appearance:
|
14-16 screen
|
Varietal:
|
varies
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frag/Aroma:
|
|
Notes: My favorite espresso blend intended solely for pump and piston
type espresso extraction. This is a sweet but punchy little cup, and roasted
farly light it is a shock to the palette, but has great body and a smooth,
sweet, stunning aftertaste. The joke behind the name: I imagine a fancy
roaster charming a client in the cupping room, effusing about their "Master
Roaster" and "Master Blender" and "Master Cupper",
all in the trade for decades of course. Then I imagine the scene in their
warehouse where hired apes rip open bags of green coffee and randomly hurl
handfulls into the hopper for roasting. In other words, there's a lot of
BS in the coffee trade, and blending is NOT really a noble art ...it's
done to save cost and disguise coffee defects 80% of the time.
The Irony? I have never worked so hard to develop a blend as this one,
designed to cup well at a full range of "espresso" roasts, and
developed as a pre-blend (all coffees roasted together to same degree of
roast). Am I going to tell you exactly what is in it? No! I am feeling
a bit snobby today! Another tip: use my blend as a base for your experiments
--add 10% Monsooned Malabar, or 10% good Robusta to alter the cup. (PS:
Robusta availablility from Sweet Maria's is provided on a need-to-know-basis
:-)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acidity:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flavor:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aftertaste:
|
|
Roast: I like this blend best when the roast
is stopped while second crack is extremely rapid, and shows no sign of
slowing down. But this may be too acidic for some. It works quite well
roasted to the point where 2nd crack slows, but has not yet ended. Roast
to the absolute end of 2nd crack, and you might as well be drinking Robusta.
I believe strongly in a 24-36 hour resting period before use for espresso
extraction! But it wont kill you to use it sooner...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall:
|
|
Compare to: Darn fine espresso. This was cupped
exclusively as espresso, not traditional cupping, so cupping numbers are
omitted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blend:
|
Sweet Maria's
French Roast
Blend
|
Coffees:
|
Mexican
Sumatra
Nicaraguan
Panama
|
|
Processing:
|
Mostly Washed
|
Crop:
|
98/99
|
Appearance:
|
16/17 screen
|
Varietal:
|
varies
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frag/Aroma:
|
|
Notes: My favorite blend designed to endure the rigors of dark roasting,
and produce excellent pungent tastes, attractive bittersweet/carbony flavors,
great body, and a bit of sharp sweetness to boot. Body is so important
to a darker roast. Extended roasts incinerate body, and a thin cup of burned
water IS NOT what french roast coffee is about! You do not want to fully
burn up all the sugars, you want some degree of bittersweet, overlayed
on the carbony charcoal tones of the burned woody structure of the bean
itself. You want something still volumnous, and something sharp that stings
you a bit down the center of the tongue. Well, at least if you do want
these things, then we share common ground, and you might like my blend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acidity:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Body:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flavor:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aftertaste:
|
|
Roast: I like this blend best roasted to the
point where 2nd crack slows, but has not yet ended. Roast to the absolute
end of 2nd crack, and you might as well be drinking roasted radish. I believe
strongly in a 24 hour resting period for darker roasts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overall:
|
|
Compare to: Watch out Peets, I got your number!.
This was cupped as a dark roast, cupping numbers omitted.
|
|
|
|
|
=Co-op -grown 
=
Eco-Certified 
=Fair Trade 
=
Shade-Grown