Brazil Fazenda Aurea Serra do Slaitre

In my experience, Brazilian coffees have been a little easy to overlook. The reason for this, of course, is because Brazil produces more coffee than any other country in the world. That being said, coffee remains the second-most traded commodity in the world, and the specialty coffee market in Brazil has been growing quickly in the high plains region of Serra do Salitre. This estate-grown Brazilian Fazenda Aurea is a semi-washed arabica that delivers a milk-chocolate creaminess and lush, velvety textures. This is an exceptionally well-balanced varietal, and I'm very pleased to be roasting it for you.

Small-farm coffees from Brazil are known for their nuttiness and mild acidity. Expect deep roasty flavors that lean towards caramelized sugar and bittersweet chocolate. The first thing that I noticed when the first roast came out of the drum, was that these beans smelled exactly like warm, freshly-baked chocolate brownies. The dry grounds have a distinctly malty aroma. There's also a hint of sweet vanilla pipe tobacco, like walking into a humidor. In the cup, there's the flavor of confectioner's chocolate and the burned sugarcane taste, like the singed sugar crust of a fresh crème brûlée.

 

This cup is smooth and delicious, with notes of almond and caramel that serve to round-out the flavors. This is a delightful brew with a soft and appealing profile, great depth, and controlled flavors that reveal perfect cherry selection and meticulous milling practices.

Java Taman Dadar

From the Kayumas Estate

I can't begin to tell you how important the island of Java is to the history & development of coffee. In fact, this is the origin of specialty coffee as we know it. Up until a century ago, coffees from Java commanded prices up to fifteen times the standard price elsewhere. And your organic Java Taman Dadar, a name which translates to "the flower garden", was grown among the most legendary of all Indonesian coffees. The Dutch, having smuggled live coffee cuttings from Africa, began growing coffee shrubs on the island in the 17th Century, and coffee was exported on a global scale ever since. It's no coincidence that the word itself, java, is synonymous with the dark, caffeinated drink we all love so much..

This is a much more traditional Indonesian coffee than the Java I was serving earlier in the year. This Taman Dadar is a wet-hulled coffee that is tank-fermented before milling, resulting in a round, robust cupping experience. The dry fragrance sets the tone for this cup's character, hinting at white cedar and anise root. This has a bit of unsweetened chocolate in the nose and, once brewed, has the earthy intensity and heavy body one would expect from a volcanic, Indonesian brew. As the cup cools, the earthy, terra-cotta quality sweetens a bit, revealing an undercurrent of fennel spice and fermented blackberries. This is a complex, low-acid coffee with a hugely developed character, a rich history, and a lingering, smokey finish. This, my friends, is Java!

As coffees from Java traveled along trade routes West toward Europe, traditional Java encountered a radically different coffee at the port city of Mocha; although our Ethiopian Guji Natural Sidamo isn't from Yemen, it's flavor profile is very similar. If you blend the Java with the Sidamo, fifty-fifty, you can make your very own Mocha-Java blend. 

Grower Certified Organic, and Rainforest Alliance Certified

Mexico Pluma Real Loxicha Estate

Coffee production in Mexico is deeply traditional, in which the fruit pulp is stripped from the coffee seed and the coffee is washed & sun-dried. Of all the micro-lots I've sampled from south of the border, this Organic Mexican Pluma Real from Loxicha Estate is tremendously satisfying. Sharing a border with the Huehuetenango, Guatemala, coffees from the southern regions of Mexico present a number of similarities. In general, one can expect Mexican coffee to be lighter-bodied and mild-mannered, with subtle sweetness and a stunning bouquet of lively aromas.

The dry grounds have an expected hazelnut aroma, but it's much more dry and spicy than I'd imagined. Adding hot water lifts up smells of baking spices and unrefined sugar; this coffee drinks just like eating a gourmet spiced chocolate. Cinnamon toast, fresh oats, and burned sugar dominate, with that nutty accent on the palate. What I think I love the most is the unexpected difference between the dry fragrance and brewed flavors. There's the aroma of a light-brown toast & fresh-cut hay, but the flavor of unsweetened Mexican chocolate with a dry caramel & molasses finish. This is clean, snappy, easy sipping coffee. Enjoy!

Costa Rica Berlina Honey Microlot

One of the things that I find so wonderful about Costa Rican coffee is it's even-handedness and consistency. This week, however, I've decided to revisit something a little different. From the very same famers I visited a few years ago, your Costa Rican Berlina Honey Micro-Lot is a wild and satisfying experience. This is a lower-yield coffee, extremely rare, dried slowly in direct sunlight. It's a gorgeous roast with a floral, almost hoppy nose, a sweet profile, and a creamier body than anything I've encountered from Central America before.

This micro-lot is unusual because it's an "African Style" (pulped natural) coffee, in which fruit pulp is left to dry on the seed. This coffee is exquisitely balanced, using highly-refined, first-world cultivation methods, but with an old-world spin that yields sweeter flavors reminiscent of a dark cola beverage. Think of something in-between a sassafras root cola and ginger beer, infused with apricot & plum. This possesses a bright acidity and a clean, lingering finish, with pleasurable flavors from beginning to end. There's also a delicate earthiness that's quite unusual for pulped naturals, but it's that touch of ginger and spice that makes this one of the easiest sipping-coffees available.