We just received the new crop lot of Rwanda Duhingekawa Women’s Cooperative coffee from this Fair Trade group, and it has the same balanced, slightly citric profile as last year’s great delivery. Read more about their unique group here. We also have the classic Sulawesi Grade One Toraja, a traditional semi-washed Indonesia with great bean preparation (few defects, and oddly, almost no chaff when roasting). And I am off to the SCAA conference in Minneapolis. Actually, Josh and Derek are coming too, so watch out Minnesota! Maria and the crew are holding down the fort and keeping the orders rolling.
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
New crop Central American lots are starting to come in. The first new crop Guatemala is from Fraijanes: Guatemala Finca La Florencia 100% Bourbon, a classic, balanced old-cultivar cup with surprisingly dense body. We also have a very limited amount of Jamaica Blue Mountain. Okay, not really. The JBM from Jamaica has cupped out flat as a board this year, but we have Hawaii Kowali Blue Mountain (JBM Cultivar) grown by this excellent small family farm in Kona.
this is pretty much the highest level of hand-sorting, when coffee is visually sorted at a desk, not a conveyor, and not just machine color-sorting. You see this a lot in Guatemala. In one day, a person might do just 50 Lbs. of green coffee. It’s another of the behind-the-scenes tasks between the tree and the cup that is too often taken for granted.
Yemen Coffee Bonanza! It’s a first; we currently have 4 distinct Yemeni coffee selections at Sweet Maria’s, and one tea. Yes, tea … coffee tea … made from the dried skins of the coffee fruit! It’s called Yemen Qishr Tea and is a very unique experience. These Yemeni coffee lots are clean and balanced compared to selections from the past, and at least 2 (Ismaili and Sharasi) result in some of the best Single Origin Espresso I have had this year! Yemen Mokha Ismaili is spicy, lush, velvety, and a bit more earthy than the others. It’s the best Ismaili in 2 years. Yemen Mokha Mattari has winey fruit and chocolate, my favorite brewed cup. Yemen Mokha Sharasi is a lot I found in Yemen last November, delicate, fruited, refined, and an incredible SO espresso. We have other arrivals too: Indonesia Flores “Jade” is unlike the previous offers from this tiny island, rustic, intense, more Sumatra-like. Speaking of Sumatra, we have a great Sumatra Organic Mandheling that cups better than the numbers indicate. Read the review. And here’s robusta you can drink as a French Press brew! (Although we still recommend it chiefly for espresso blend use: India Robusta- Jeelan Estate Sitara.Â
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