a sweetmarias weblog

Many new coffees! We have the first arrivals of our Central America Cup of Excellence lots, with a mix of spendy top 3 coffees and some “sleeper” lots that are more reasonably priced. Top of the price heap is the first place Guatemala Cup of Excellence #1 - El Injerto, a sublime floral and citric lot of pure Bourbon coffee. The Nicaragua Cup of Excellence #3 - El Cipres is proof that Dipilto region produces soem of the most nuanced, delicate-yet-complex coffees in C. America. The Nicaragua Cup of Excellence #17 - San Antonio is from a small woman-owned farm in Madriz, and has a unique chocolate character with herbal and flroal hints. Coming soon (next 2 weeks) are the Honduras CoE lots, and then the El Salvador CoE lot. I am excited about the unusually named El Salvador “The Juan Francisco Project.” It’s a dark horse lot I found at the 2006 CoE Competition that split the jury, but I felt strongly that the fruited character was special and good, so we are working with the farmer to offer his coffee unblended and solve his special coffee processing challenges. Read the review for the details. Another coffee that has me all worked up is the Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley DP. It is actually from Yirgacheffe region, carefully dried on screens without water fermentation, and sorted to the best standards. The cup is amazingly fruited, with floral and citrus highlights. And last but certainly not least, near the end of the Kenya season with this awesome coffee, from the esteemed Nyeri district, Kenya AA Auction Lot 438 - Hiriga; sweet citrus from start to finish. And we have a new arrival lot of Costa Rica Dota Tarrazu Hermosa to boot.