New Guinea Sigri Estate Peaberry

For some silly reason, Papua New Guinea coffees are routinely lumped together with other Indonesian coffees, but this varietal is distinct in almost every way. The New Guinea Sigri Estate Peaberry was initially established in the early 1950's with plant trimmings from East Africa. All plantings are exclusively Arabica, concentrating on Arusha and Typica varieties, making for a truly worthy single-origin coffee. These beans are hand-picked, sun-dried, and tank fermented, making for a fruit-forward coffee with a wonderful and intense concentration of flavors.

The dry fragrance delivers beautiful polished notes of raw honey and bittersweet chocolate with just the slightest hint of dark fruit. What really stands out is that, along with its unique character, this cup preserves a mouth-feel akin to a Sumatra or Java. There's blackberry in the cup that mingles with rich, compelling chocolate. There's a wild and rustic note that reminds me of chewing unrefined, hand-pounded cacao, accented by an array of spices, from cinnamon and nutmeg to ginger. This is another astonishing peaberry with a gorgeous, clean finish. Enjoy!

Received 10/01/2013

Papua New Guinea
Sigri Estate Peaberry

Roast Color: Medium-Dark
Prep: Wet-Hulled, Sun-Dried
Body: Heavy-Bodied, Creamy Texture
Flavor Profile: Subtle Earthiness, Dark Caramel, Cinnamon Bark
Cupping Notes: In this smooth, deep cup, expect a heavy, dark caramel quality in the sweet end, with the kind of body typical of most Indonesian varietals. This is a wet-processed coffee, washing away the extreme earthiness associated with Sumatras. This is a clean, balanced coffee with just a hint of those rustic qualities celebrated in Indonesian coffee.

Kenya Mtaro Estate Peaberry

Kenya is a country whose preeminent coffee origins are rarely matched. Well-run mills and efficient trade routes all contribute to an exquisite cup of coffee. Your Kenyan Mtaro Estate Peaberry is a delicate brew, with a kind of dry caramel and spice quality, and aromas that almost remind me of fresh kettle corn. This is a refreshing East-African gem, a perfect roast to welcome the fall season.

Impeccable quality control reveals a dry fragrance laced with burned sugarcane and vanilla. Once brewed, the aromatics open up into a tart, robust character, like a well-rounded Shiraz. The delicate sweetness of this cup is supported by a medium body with a bright, clean acidity that's highly unusual for an African varietal. The dark caramel and golden raisin fades into a candied-apple finish as the cup cools down. This is a lively, complex coffee you have to taste to believe!

Kenya Mtaro Estate Peaberry

Roast Color: Dark
Prep: Washed, Euro-prep
Body: Syrupy, heavy-bodied
Flavor Profile: Subdued sweetness, cardamom, cinnamon, and anise root
Cupping Notes: The grind reveals a dry fragrance laced with burned sugarcane and vanilla. The wet aroma is delightfully tart, developing a distinctly spicy bouquet of cardamom, cinnamon, and anise root. The delicate sweetness, with the faintest hint of burned caramel and golden raisin, fades into a somewhat rindy finish as it cools.

Bolivian Organic Peaberry from CENEPROC

I've never had a season that brought so many distinctive, high-quality coffees into the shop. Last week we roasted a most unusual Nicaraguan coffee, and now we're heading a little farther South, to the Yungas Mountains for another peaberry! Your Bolivian Organic Peaberry from CENEPROC is a smooth, candied cup that delivers velvety textures and sweet, clean flavors. Known as caracols (literally "snails") because of the shape of the seed, these delicious coffee beans are insanely rare.

I have never sampled coffee like this. There is no smooth ascension to taste in this cup. Rather than a nuanced progression of flavor, what you get with this peaberry is an instantaneous, intense coffee experience. The dry aroma hints at forest herbs and oriental tea leaves. But, once brewed, a sweetness creeps out of the grounds, giving way to Swedish coffee candy, caramel, and a distinct cut of burned, caramelized sugar. Beneath the crema are hints of cedar shavings & toasted almonds. Combining dark chocolate and sugarcane with a roof-of-the-mouth, zesty acidity, this is genuinely mouth-watering coffee.

Received 09/10/2013

Bolivia Organic Peaberry

Roast Color: Medium to Dark
Prep: Washed
Body: Heavy
Flavor Profile: Nutty, bold, sassafras and ginger root
Cupping Notes: Sweet, smooth, and creamy. Reminds me of old-fashioned coffee hard candy with that delightful, lingering sweetness.

Nicaragua Caracolito Peaberry

This is an insanely special coffee, and I can't even begin to emphasize enough how incredibly rare peaberry coffees are. Representing 3% of all the coffee harvested in the world, the bulk of all peaberry varietals come from Eastern Africa (Tanzania & Kenya) and Papua New Guinea. Your Nicaraguan Peaberry is, arguably, the most unusual coffee I've ever roasted. The flavors are as smooth and delicious as the coffee is rare, filled with bright, flavorful nuances. This caramel dream is easy to love.

The dry fragrance presents a smoky vanilla quality, with apricot and dark stone-fruits. The sweet notes here are unusually pronounced, reminding me of honey-nut cereal. The wet aroma reminds me of freshly cut white cedar and, once brewed, the front end proves incredibly floral with a crisp acidity. Expect a brusque, malty, salted-caramel sweetness in the aftertaste. With an elegant mouth-feel and subtle, creamy flavors, I can't imagine anybody not loving this coffee. I only have a limited number of bags, so expect this delicious brew to disappear quick!

Received 09/03/2013

Nicaragua Caracolito Peaberry

Roast Color: Medium/Dark
Prep: Washed, Euro-prep
Body: Medium, Buttery Body
Flavor Profile: Balanced with a crisp sweetness
Cupping Notes: Exceptionally clean with a bright acidity and a brusque, malty, salted-caramel sweetness in the aftertaste. A restrained cup with an elegant mouth-feel and subtle flavor notes.

Tanzania Ruvuma Peaberry

It's my job to find the most unusual, expressive, and tasty small-farm coffees. When something exciting comes along, I love to play with the coffee, experimenting with different roasts in order to discover how best to unlock the flavors. Your Tanzanian Peaberry is definitely one of the most popular coffees I've ever served, and it's back in the shop, just waiting for you!

This peaberry varietal is incredibly unique, presenting a zingy, bright character with a pleasant, velvety texture. The cup is sweet, with a husky, light molasses quality. The wet aroma presents a crisp, zesty acidity with delicate hints of orange blossom, cherry, and floral-toned sweetness. What makes this a wonderful brew is the touch of rustic exuberance in the finish, enough to remind you where the coffee is from. As the cup cools down, the perceived body increases, making this a wonderfully luxurious coffee. What I love most, though, is the slightest hint of wine-berry and apple, which I expect is why this particular coffee is so incredibly popular.

Received 08/20/2013

Tanzania Ruvuma Peaberry

Roast Color: "Full City" Dark Roast Color
Prep: Washed, sun-dried
Body: Medium, velvety
Flavor Profile: Bright, effervescent, lively and crisp
Cupping Notes: The dry fragrance has a subtle sweetness with a husky, light molasses quality. Once brewed, the wet aroma introduces elements of orange blossom and berries.

Papupa New Guinea Korgua Estate Peaberry

Flavor profiles are often assigned by region, but I find there are always those unusual outliers to remind us how unique and varied each seed actually is. Indonesian coffees are typically known for being dark, strong, and earthy. Your Korgua Estate Peaberry from Papua New Guinea is infinitely more round, with a subdued creamy quality to it. Derived from trimmings from the famous Blue Mountain coffee trees of Jamaica, this coffee is a fantastic origin with an exceptional history.

The dry fragrance delivers a polished note of raw honey and bittersweet chocolate with very little sweetness. Once brewed, I've discovered that I'm really enjoying the velvety mouth-feel of this coffee. The wet aroma lifts out a touch of burned cane sugar and forest mushrooms, revealing genuine, old-world flavors, wild and rustic, reminiscent of hand-pounded Mexican cacao, salted caramel, and ginger. I also recommend pouring this over a bed of crushed ice to make the perfect summertime iced coffee. This is some seriously good stuff.

Received 07/02/2013

Papua New Guinea Nebilyer Valley

Roast Color: Medium-Dark
Prep: Wet-Hulled, Sun-Dried
Body: Heavy-Bodied, Creamy Texture
Flavor Profile: Subtle Earthiness, Dark Caramel, Cinnamon Bark
Cupping Notes: In this smooth, deep cup, expect a heavy, dark caramel quality in the sweet end, with the kind of body typical of most Indonesian varietals. This is a wet-processed coffee, washing away the extreme earthiness associated with Sumatras. This is a clean, balanced coffee with just a hint of those rustic qualities celebrated in Indonesian coffee.

Kenya Kirimara Estate Peaberry

Kenya is, without doubt, a country whose preeminent coffee origins are rarely matched. Well-run mills and efficient trade routes all contribute to a most exquisite cup quality. It's been more than two years since I've roasted a quality coffee from this region, and today I'm serving up something pretty special. Your Kenyan Kirimara Estate Peaberry is an East-African gem for any stripe of the coffee loving world.

Enjoy the impeccable quality control at the Kirimara Estate with the first grind, revealing a dry fragrance laced with burned sugarcane and vanilla. This sweetness subsides once water is added, when a distinctly spicy bouquet gesturing toward cardamom, cinnamon, and anise root develops. The wet aroma is delightfully tart, almost like a rounded, robust Shiraz. The delicate sweetness, with the faintest hint of burned caramel and golden raisin, fades into a somewhat rindy finish as it cools. A truly complex coffee, discover something beyond your standard, 'pleasant' cup.

Kenya Kirimara Estate Peaberry

Roast Color: Dark
Prep: Washed, Euro-prep
Body: Syrupy, heavy-bodied
Flavor Profile: Subdued sweetness, cardamom, cinnamon, and anise root
Cupping Notes: The grind reveals a dry fragrance laced with burned sugarcane and vanilla. The wet aroma is delightfully tart, developing a distinctly spicy bouquet. The delicate sweetness, with the faintest hint of burned caramel and golden raisin, fades into a somewhat rindy finish as it cools.