(no subject)
Holy hell.
I just received a package from Stumptown Coffee down in Portland. In said package was a half pound each of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Grade 2 (that's not a review of the actual crop, that's last years crop from a different roaster...), Rwandan Musasa, and El Salvador Las Nubitas 2004 (From the last bag on earth of that crop!).
That's a fucking exciting package.
Before trying any of these I had to do some cleaning. But after completely stripping down and scrubbing away at my grinder and machine, backflushing, soaking, rinsing, etc. etc. I finally dialed in my grind with the last of this week's Yemen and then pulled a shot of the Las Nubitas.
First off, a little bit of backstory on this coffee. This coffee very narrowly took 3rd place in the El Salvador Cup Of Excellence competition, loosing out to the extremely highly regarded San Francisco farm (2003 Cup of Excellence winner) by .03 points. All 22 bags of this coffee that were produced in 2004 were sold as a single lot to Stumptown Roasters and Intelligentsia Roasters for $6.70 a pound, for a total price of $22,110.00. Stumptown received 6 bags of this outstanding coffee and has been using it in their signature blends throughout the year as well as consuming it for employee use. To the best of my knowledge, this coffee was never offered to the public. I received a 1/2 lb roasted four days ago from the last batch of the last bag of the 2004 crop.
Ground, this coffee had a dry almost dusty fruit aroma with notes of tamarind and what to my mind is egg. I pulled this coffee as a 26 second 1.6fl oz shot of espresso to try it out. This coffee has a brilliant lemon zest brightness that hits you up front, followed immediately by the creamy milk chocolate mid-tones. As the coffee settles on your tongue the wonderfully sweet fruity acidity develops with a tart cherry/peach tang as the chocolate notes become more intense and spicy. Most interestingly, towards the end of the flavor profile a distinct rum flavor comes through, combining wonderfully with the fruit. The mouthfeel is at once coating and light, going down quickly but completely covering the tongue with flavor.
This coffee is quite simply amazing. A truly top shelf coffee. It has the wonderful fruity acidity that I love so much in African Coffees and yet the balance towards the top middle and the rum like tang combined with light milk chocolate are so quintessentially Latin American.
I can't wait to try this coffee in the French Press. And most of all, I can't wait to try the Rwanda Musasa. If it's anywhere near as good as the Rwanda Karaba, I'm in for a real treat.
I just received a package from Stumptown Coffee down in Portland. In said package was a half pound each of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Grade 2 (that's not a review of the actual crop, that's last years crop from a different roaster...), Rwandan Musasa, and El Salvador Las Nubitas 2004 (From the last bag on earth of that crop!).
That's a fucking exciting package.
Before trying any of these I had to do some cleaning. But after completely stripping down and scrubbing away at my grinder and machine, backflushing, soaking, rinsing, etc. etc. I finally dialed in my grind with the last of this week's Yemen and then pulled a shot of the Las Nubitas.
First off, a little bit of backstory on this coffee. This coffee very narrowly took 3rd place in the El Salvador Cup Of Excellence competition, loosing out to the extremely highly regarded San Francisco farm (2003 Cup of Excellence winner) by .03 points. All 22 bags of this coffee that were produced in 2004 were sold as a single lot to Stumptown Roasters and Intelligentsia Roasters for $6.70 a pound, for a total price of $22,110.00. Stumptown received 6 bags of this outstanding coffee and has been using it in their signature blends throughout the year as well as consuming it for employee use. To the best of my knowledge, this coffee was never offered to the public. I received a 1/2 lb roasted four days ago from the last batch of the last bag of the 2004 crop.
Ground, this coffee had a dry almost dusty fruit aroma with notes of tamarind and what to my mind is egg. I pulled this coffee as a 26 second 1.6fl oz shot of espresso to try it out. This coffee has a brilliant lemon zest brightness that hits you up front, followed immediately by the creamy milk chocolate mid-tones. As the coffee settles on your tongue the wonderfully sweet fruity acidity develops with a tart cherry/peach tang as the chocolate notes become more intense and spicy. Most interestingly, towards the end of the flavor profile a distinct rum flavor comes through, combining wonderfully with the fruit. The mouthfeel is at once coating and light, going down quickly but completely covering the tongue with flavor.
This coffee is quite simply amazing. A truly top shelf coffee. It has the wonderful fruity acidity that I love so much in African Coffees and yet the balance towards the top middle and the rum like tang combined with light milk chocolate are so quintessentially Latin American.
I can't wait to try this coffee in the French Press. And most of all, I can't wait to try the Rwanda Musasa. If it's anywhere near as good as the Rwanda Karaba, I'm in for a real treat.