For the first time in a couple years I did not attend the Best of Panama coffee competition in Boquete Panama - just too many trips scheduled and too busy here at home-roasting-central. So the next best thing is to get the samples and roast them in my own lab (er, more like the cupping closet since its a bit overcrowded and small these days). But we also gathered at Royal Coffee's elegant and spacious cupping room to evaluate the coffees prepared on a JB sample roaster, as opposed to my own air roast samples.
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This was just a small, friendly, casual cupping to evaluate
the coffees and think about bid amounts on the day before the competitive
auction. There was one table of coffees (8) and another 3 on the counter,
totalling 11. We cupped them all in one flight, with 4 cups prepared of
each sample. For me, there were 2 standouts, 2 that were quite good, 6
that were okay, and one that was baggy and off -how did that get in there?
The two standouts neded up being the #1 and #2 coffees, the Jaramillo
and the Leru, which we bought in conjunction with Stumptown Coffee from
Portland.
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Robert Fulmer, bossman at Royal Coffee, looks over the first table of Panamas |
Duane of Stumptown Coffee in Portland "breaks the crust" on a cup. |
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Scott Reed stirs and sniffs ... at the same time! |
Bob moves in close for the smell |
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Luscious lighting at Royal's fancified cupping room, which makes mine look like a janitor's closet. |
 More of the same - hey, I was learning to use my new digital camera. |
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Bob ... again. Actually it was a small turnout of 6 people - Steven Leach from Diedrich and Ken Davids were no-shows. Duane was the star - he flew down from Portland just for the cupping. |
Blurry yet somehow sort of disco. Stumptown and Sweet Maria's bid together in the auction on the two most impressive coffees, the #1 Jaramillo Especial from Finca Esmeralda, and the #2 coffee "Leru" which is a Lerida Estate lot processed by Cafe Ruiz mill. |
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Scott Reed, thinking with a spoon. Note the placement of the spittoon.
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Shaggy dog - watch the hair, Duane. If you are in the Portland area, Stumptown is definitely a place to check out. They roast locally, buy really good green coffee, and have expertise in espresso. And a pretty nifty web site too. |
Read about the #1 coffee, Panama Jaramillo Especial
Read our Panama Cupping Review Page
-Tom
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Sweet
Maria's Coffee Roasting Tip Sheets |
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| Sweet
Maria's Coffee Brewing Tip Sheets |
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| Further Reading | The
Complete Sweet Maria's Coffee Library Page - Coffee Travel Pictorials, New Product Reviews, Roasting Pictorials, Etc! |
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| Interesting
Coffee and Coffee Roasting Web Sites - Links to Home Roasting Web Sites, Coffee Industry Sites, Great Coffee Books, Etc! |
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| Coffee Book Recommendations | ||
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Sweet
Maria's Coffee Cupping Reviews |
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