Coffee reviews

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: Wild Birds Unlimited Birder’s Blend

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #14. A review in our conservation organization coffee series.

Wild Birds Unlimited Birder’s Blend. Certified Fair Trade and Certified Organic. Shade grown, as determined by roaster (see the review on other Songbird Coffees for that story) from regions that typically grow in shade (Matagalpa in Nicaragua and (Lake Atitlan in Guatemala).

Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU) is the largest franchise system of retail stores catering to the backyard bird feeding hobbyist in the U.S.  The stores are well-stocked with a lot of very high quality products, and employees, while often not bird experts, are well-trained and knowledgeable about bird feeding and its apparatus. WBU funds the Pathways To Nature grants which fund projects in the National Wildlife Refuge system, and partners with various organizations to support a number of bird conservation initiatives.

One partner is the American Birding Association (ABA), and a portion of the sales of the WBU Birder’s Blend go to the ABA, since this coffee is one in the line of Songbird Coffees, one of which we reviewed here. But since many people may first encounter a Songbird Coffee at a WBU store, we thought we’d review it separately.  It also gives us a chance to try one more in this line of a number of choices.

This was described as a light roast, but it was clearly full city, with all beans shiny with oil and medium-dark brown.  The package had no roast date, but there was a decent amount of bloom in the French press, so the beans were quite fresh.  However, this is unlikely to be the case if purchased at a WBU store, which probably don’t have huge turnover.

The first sip was pleasantly citrusy, very lively and bright. It had a nice sweetness with just a hint of caramel.  I think we were all happily surprised, and we found it better than the Panama blend Songbird Coffee.  Like that coffee, it also did turn a bit bitter as it cooled, and was better in a drip machine, as it lost some of the  brightness and liveliness in a French press. It earned 2.5 motmots, and we think it would turn at least some people on to sustainable coffee, except real cheapos.

An addendum: Curiously, the package uses a portrait of the Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), a warbler that nests over much of North America.  It winters in the southern U.S. and much of Latin America from Panama north (although there are a number of resident subspecies in the tropics).  However, it is a species generally found wet areas, including marshes, reed beds, and mangroves — typical lowland habitats –not habitats where coffee is grown.  I found only a couple references to this species being found on coffee plantations (in Jamaica), where they were actually much more common in sun coffee than shade coffee.  It is certainly not a species characteristic of coffee farms.

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews / Retail and specialty roasters

Coffee review: Audubon coffee

[For reference only…Audubon Coffee Club is now defunct]

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #13.  Audubon Premium Shade Grown Coffees. A review in our conservation organization coffee series.

The National Audubon Society promotes a small line of “habitat-friendly certified organic premium shade grown” coffees*, which are available at some supermarkets, and via their Audubon Coffee Club web site. All the coffees are Rainforest Alliance certified. They are distributed by Rogers Family Company, whose other brands include San Francisco Bay Gourmet Coffee, The Organic Coffee Co., Fairwinds Coffee, Cunningham’s Coffee, Pleasant Hill Farms Quality Coffee, and East India Coffee and Tea.  Rogers Family Company only buys beans from “farms that have demonstrated an interest in environmental responsibility” and in fact, owns at least two plantations.

Several kinds of Audubon coffee are offered: a Breakfast Blend, Rainforest Blend, French Roast and Decaf, and can be purchased ground or whole bean at the web site. Nowhere on the web site or package can you determine the country of origin of these coffees, much less a region or farm (although they may be sourced at least in part from the Rogers Family Panamanian farms). Nor do you get a choice of roast.  A roast level is not indicated on the package, but on the web site, away from the individual product pages, it notes that beans are “roasted to their fullest flavor point – a little darker than most coffees.” (Update: the web site is now much more thorough, and the coffees are now certified organic and 100% Rainforest Alliance certified.)

In my local grocery store, Audubon coffee was only available ground, at about $9.50 for 12 oz.  I purchased the Breakfast Blend, featuring the John James Audubon portrait of a Red-shouldered Hawk on the label.  An interesting (odd?) choice of bird, as many populations are not migratory, and those that do winter in the northern tropics are found in lowlands and avoid higher elevations, where most coffee would be grown.

The bottom of my package indicated it was distributed by JBR Gourmet Foods, Inc.  JBR changed its name to Rogers Family Company in late 2005.  I hoped this coffee wasn’t that old!

As luck would have it, there were many people hanging around the day we tried this coffee, so we had a lot of opinions. Most of us were unenthusiastic.  The most frequent comment was that it tasted over-roasted, burnt, and bitter.  Even fresh, it kind of tasted like coffee that had been left cooking in the pot too long.  It was quite acidic, but left a “hairy” feeling on the tongue. For the tasting panel regulars, it was not much beyond diner coffee.

Ergo, regular reviewers gave this coffee a very low score, averaging 1.25 motmots.  Two reviewers who frequently drink grocery store coffee liked it more, and their average score was 2.5 motmots. This was an interesting result, and indicates that this coffee might be a “step up” for ordinary coffee drinkers and convince them to switch to sustainable coffee.  However, I expect that many people would need to be farm more impressed to spend the extra money.  It is probably better fresher, or whole bean, but alas, I picked this up the way many people might — off the shelf of a busy grocery store.

I’d like to try this fresher, and whole bean, via the coffee club, or hear from folks who have tried it this way.

*There is some interesting history to this coffee. According to “Sustainable Coffee at the Crossroads” (Rice and McLean, Consumers Choice Council, 1999), Audubon originally sold the very first coffee using Smithsonian’s Bird-Friendly certification criteria, around 1997. It was originally roasted by Boyd’s Coffee and called Cafe Audubon. Audubon dumped it because they were not happy with the sales and marketing revenue.

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: Song Bird Coffee

songbird-coffee-new-logoUpdate: As of late 2016, this line of coffee was re-launched and is now certified Bird-Friendly (and therefore also organic) as well as  Fairtrade certified. It is still roasted by Thanksgiving Coffee Company. There are currently four varieties/roast levels.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #12. A review in our conservation organization coffee series.

American Birding Association Song Bird Coffee

The American Birding Association is a nearly 40-year-old group that caters specifically to recreational birders. In recent years, the ABA has focused more on bird conservation. One aspect of that initiative was the promotion of Song Bird Coffee, roasted and sold by Thanksgiving Coffee Company. Fifteen cents of each package sold goes to ABA education and conservation projects, and another fifteen cents is returned to the growers [as of 2016, this has been changed to a percentage of each sale].

Song Bird Coffee is sold in 7 varieties, including decaf and flavored; each package depicts a different North American breeding bird species that winters in Latin American coffee-growing regions. Most coffees are certified organic, many are Fair Trade. They are all advertised as shade-grown, although none of them are certified by Rainforest Alliance or Smithsonian even though the descriptions list “shade grown” under “Certifications.”  The web site says,

Thanksgiving Coffee uses verified shade grown coffee. This means that its CEO, Paul Katzeff, or the importer has personally inspected the farm to insure that the plants are properly grown in the shade.

Well, you all know what I think about that. Song Bird Coffees are only labeled to country of origin, but the web site provides further information. All the Song Bird Coffees I investigated do appear to be sourced from areas that typically do grow under shade. However, they are not labeled as Smithsonian Bird-Friendly, which is the only true shade certification. This is a little unsettling, especially since they are targeted at consumers who may just be entering the sustainable coffee market.

We tried the Panama Blend, in large part because it was sourced from Finca Hartmann, a farm whose coffee we have already reviewed.  This was billed as a medium roast, and the beans were on the dark side of medium brown, with a sheen of oil.  Our impression from other Thanksgiving Coffee varieties is that they tend to roast a little on the dark side, which probably helps make these so acceptable to American consumers.

We found this coffee to be substantially similar to the other Finca Hartmanns: a classic cup, soft and smooth, with no remarkable qualities.  It did not cool very gracefully, becoming a little bitter, but less so when brewed in a drip machine, which is likely how most people will drink it.  In fact, when brewed in a drip through a paper filter, it was at its smoothest and most muted.  Although none of us were blown away by it, we think people would find this a nice step up from grocery store coffee, and it could certainly win some converts. It earned 2.25 motmots.

A couple of other Song Bird Coffees have been reviewed at Coffee Review, and received higher kudos, they are noted in this list of the other varieties of Song Bird Coffee, with source information. Many birders know them by their bird labels, which are given in parentheses, along with a link to information about the bird.

*If I had to pick one of these as the most biodiversity-friendly, it would be the Guatemalan. If I wanted to avoid one, it would be the Costa Rican. Real shade coffee is uncommon in Costa Rica; about 30% of Costa Rican production is sun coffee, and about 50% more is in shade monoculture…they allow very minimal shade to be labeled “shade coffee.”  I was unable to determine a precise source for this coffee, although the importer notes the varieties are bourbon, typica (both those require some shade), cataui, and caturra (both of those used in CR for sun coffee). I’ll be writing more about Costa Rica in the future.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Quick shot: Caffe Pronto Guatemalan Maya Ixil

Caffe Pronto Guatemalan Maya Ixil.  I received this coffee from Caffe Pronto just before the holidays, so I did not have a chance to let the panel taste it, so I can’t provide the usual review.  But this coffee’s sustainability begs to have it mentioned here at C&C.  This is bourbon variety coffee, grown organically under native shade trees, and certified Fair Trade.

The Maya Ixil cooperative is located in Quiche Dept. (map), east of the popular Huehuetenango, north of Atitlan, sort of out of the way.  The coop was formed in 1998, and now 124 families have improved both the quality of their coffee and the quality of their lives. The Cuchamatanes montane areas in this region are known for their endemism, especially of amphibians.

I’m very fond of the chocolately tones in Huehues; I had a hard time detecting chocolate in this coffee. It was mild, with a distinctively silky, creamy mouthfeel, and when made in a French press, revealed just a flash of some sort of sweet, fruity taste which did not strike me as a berry flavor.  It was also very nice brewed, and maintained a pleasant taste even when cooled off. If you are looking for a very approachable, environmentally-friendly coffee that also supports indigenous people who have suffered through years of conflict in this relatively remote region, give this a try!

Africa / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: Novo Coffee’s Ethiopians

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #11

Three Ethiopian selections from Novo Coffee.

In my post about Starbucks Black Apron Ethiopia Gemadro Estate, I suggested Denver’s Novo Coffee as a source for a great variety of Ethiopian coffees.  We tried three Novo Ethiopians, and here’s what we thought.

Hache — The Hache Coop is located in Sidamo. This was one of the lightest roasts we have tried, and certainly lighter than any African coffee we have seen.  We’d describe the color as on the light side of  medium-brown, yet a few showed tiny pinpricks of oil.  The beans were fairly small, and we tried this at 9 days past the roast date, so my guess is that the oil emerged post-roast.

The smell of the beans was far less fruity than we’d expected from an Ethiopian, with only a teasing hint of fruit that is usually so characteristic of this region. Two of us thought it had a woody smell — not woodsy, but like very pleasant fresh-cut lumber, juniper was suggested by one person.  Another pegged it as smelling nutty.  With that, another panelist commented, “I don’t smell enough nuts, dare I say.”

This was a wonderfully full-bodied coffee, velvety and smooth.  Most Ethiopians are very bold and have a lot going on.  This was a less complicated coffee, but still had a background of cherry cordial candies and, when it cooled, just a hint of citrus.  Novo describes flavors of caramel, lingenberry, walnut oil, and cocoa.  None of us had ever seen a lingenberry — maybe that was the “cherry cordial” taste we picked up, and the nutty aromas were the walnut oil.

It did not mention on the Novo site whether this is a dry (natural) or wet (washed) processed bean.  Other roasters have advertised natural beans from the Hache Coop.  We usually associate dry process with a much wilder and more pronounced fruity taste, so I don’t know what to attribute the quiet elegance of this coffee to — a different process, masterful roasting, or an exceptional crop. Whatever the reason, a solid winner, and the favorite Ethiopian any of us had ever tasted.  It would make an excellent choice for somebody’s first foray into the coffees of this country, as it is restrained but still possesses the unique character of Ethiopia. 4 motmots.

Abeba — A member of the Yirgacheffe Union, Adado Coop sits close to the town of Dilla, around 400 km south of the capital of Addis Ababa. As far as we know, this is a dry process coffee. This was the coffee with the most going on, first tried 7 days after the roast date.  Like the Hache, it was a pretty light roast, with small beans.  They had the distinctive berry aroma one expects from an Ethiopian — this was tart and tangy.  There was also a spicy or peppery smell, especially when brewed.  One taster said, “My nose is tingling.”

We did not get the very citrusy pizzazz that we expected from a Yirg (described by Novo as “brilliant tangerine citrus”). The flavor remained stable from hot to cool, was medium to full bodied, with a delicate citrus flavor as well as an interesting floral tone we liked very much and struggled to identify. Novo suggests jasmine, and we also thought perhaps bergamot (although we may have been mixing up our Chinese restaurant and Earl Gray teas!). There was a lingering aftertaste which Novo described as honeydew melon, and we could in fact pick up a little Jolly Rancher flavor there. It was pretty intriguing.

The Abeba had a distinct character and was subtly assertive while still being (if we can trot out this language) approachable. A good choice for an established Ethiopian fan or an adventurous beginner. 3 motmots.

Wild Forest Tega — Kaffa.  This is the birthplace of coffee. Novo states, “As far as we know, this is the first exemplary wild forest coffee available in the U.S.”

We tried this first 11 days after roasting, the last of the three as we expected this to be the most untamed and complex of our choices, and didn’t want to go from the mellow, simple coffees of Latin America that we’d been drinking to something well removed from their straightforwardness.

With some anticipation, we opened the bag. These were larger beans, and roasted slightly darker than the other two.  To our surprise, there was no bold aroma or big fruity smells.  When ground, these beans had a rather unusual golden-orange color which also translated into the cup. The ground beans gave off a sharp, piquant smell, a bit floral?  A couple people noted a chocolate smell. I kind of thought I smelled the forest in the beans.  Sounds hokey, but it was the image that flashed in my head when I smelled them.

This coffee totally surprised us.  It was clean and bright, with no aftertaste. It was exceptionally mild, boring actually.  We tried it stronger, both in the Cafe Solo and in a French press.  It remained consistent from batch to batch; we thought a wild coffee like this might vary from pot to pot. Disappointingly, the constant was unremarkable. It was thin-tasting, with little body (sort of like tea).  It wasn’t bad, just dull. Coffee Review tasted Paradise Roasters Tega and Tula farm forest coffee, and described flavors such as orange, lavender, and pipe tobacco, none of which were evident in this coffee, presumably from nearby.  However, the reviewers also noted another lot from same farm last year was not nearly as distinctive, so perhaps there is a lot of variability. 2.25 motmots.

Novo also sells espresso roasts of the three coffees above, as well as another selection, Addis Katema from Yirgacheffe.  Novo features another origin, Panama, with nine choices, more from this country than I’ve seen offered at any other single place.  Enjoy!

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Counter Culture Honduras El Puente “The Purple Princess”

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #10

Counter Culture Honduras El Puente – Marysabel Caballero.  Counter Culture’s Peter Giuliano calls this coffee the Purple Princess “because its perfume and silkiness seem feminine and regal, and the aromas and flavors of the cup—lavender, plum, grape, incense—all seem purple.” I was eager to try this coffee.  Not only did the description seem intriguing (especially for a Central American coffee), I had not yet tried a Honduran.  Importantly, it was also shade grown — and farm owner Marysabel Caballero fosters a hectare of native forest for each hectare of shade coffee she grows.  She has 17.5 ha in coffee at this time.

Caballero’s farm, Finca El Puente, is in southwestern Honduras, La Paz department, near the city of Chinacla; coffees in this vicinity are often marketed under the name of another nearby municipality, Marcala (see map, click to enlarge).  Cataui is the variety grown.

El Puente has a great pedigree in the Cup of Excellence competitions.  It garnered third place in 2004 (under Dulce Nombre) and moved up to second place in 2005.  It slipped to 8th in 2006 (although still scoring 88.91), yet it went for a higher price at auction than any of the other winners.

This was the most subtly complex and distinctive Central American coffee we’ve tasted.  The beans smelled of chocolate — very specifically milk chocoloate, like a Hershey bar — and delicate floral tones. Like many of the coffees we’ve tried, the chocolate doesn’t come through in the cup.  Instead there is a honey-like sweetness and most interesting winey/plum/berry notes after it cools briefly.  This reminded us of African coffees.  I posed this question to Peter, and he told me that Marysabel believes her beans get this unique taste from the repeated washings she gives them with fresh, natural spring water.  Peter notes that “it is common in Kenya to soak coffee in manychanges of fresh water, and coffees that are treated this way frequently have asilky, fruity flavor not unlike the Purple Princess.”  Alas, he says this is speculation, and the mystery of the Purple Princess endures.The Purple Princess comes in at just a feather under 4 motmots, and is easily my most favorite Central American coffee so far.  Highly recommended!

Speaking of motmots, the Blue-throated Motmot, which has the smallest range of the motmots, is found in La Paz dept. Other interesting or restricted range birds found in the vicinity of El Puente are Bushy-crested Jay, Blue-and-white Mockingbird, and the spectacular Resplendent Quetzal.  The (U.S.) federally endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler winters in Honduras, including in La Paz.  The preservation of forest at El Puente takes on added importance in light of the rich bird life of the area.

You can read a review of Counter Culture’s 2005 El Puente crop at Coffee Review.

Map adapted from those at Wikipedia.

Coffee regions / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: El Salvador coffees

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #9.

El Salvador is a small Central American country with a troubled past.  It has been largely deforested, with coffee plantations providing most of the remaining “forested” areas in the country.  As El Salvador grows mainly older types of coffee — mostly bourbons and pacas — they are typically grown in shade. This has been reinforced by the many years of civil war, now over, that squelched the spread of technified sun coffee in the country.

These shade coffee farms provide critical refuge for birds and wildlife in El Salvador.  Very little primary forest remains in El Salvador, and shade coffee farms represent much of the rest of the “forested” land in the country. Coffee farms border one of the country’s most important parks, El Imposible, and they provide a a corridor to another park, Los Volcanes.  Yet coffee plots may be  abandoned or sold unless farmers can get good prices for their beans.
Examples of North American breeding birds that winter in El Salvador, and which studies have determined return to the same places each winter, include Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris, photo right), Wilson’s Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla), Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina), and Ovenbird (Seirurus auracapillus).

El Salvador has entered the specialty coffee market with a bang.  At the end of the post, you can find a number of articles about the resurgence of El Salvadoran coffee.  Here are a few reviews of some coffees for you to consider.

Counter Culture Finca Mauritania (PDF).  Counter Culture is the exclusive roaster of this Bourbon varietal from Aida Batlle’s farm on the slopes of the Ilamantepec (Santa Ana) volcano; the Santa Ana region, the red dot on the map below, is the main coffee growing region in El Salvador.  This farm has just been certified organic (it takes three years), and will be marketed as such next year.

Aida has two other farms on the volcano — Finca Kilimanjaro (PDF, which grows the popular Kenya SL28 bean) and Finca Los Alpes.

The beans had the most amazing, distinctive aroma — like opening a bag of candy.  It was variously described by our tasters as smelling like butterscotch, toffee, or brown sugar.  We kept closing up the bag and opening it up again for a whiff.  One panelist took the bag and walked away with it; we found him pacing the hall with his nose buried in it!

Try as we did — French press, drip, Aeropress — we could not coax all those great aromas into the cup.  Nonetheless, this was a fine classic coffee, with some of getting hints of honey and just general sweetness in the cup.  It was thoroughly enjoyable, and scored 3.25 motmots.  I think it might have scored higher had it not smelled so good.  The aroma just hiked up our expectations too high.  Read on, this was not the only El Salvadoran coffee that we experienced this with.

Mayorga Coffee Roasters El Salvador Santa Isabel.  Rainforest Alliance certified. The package came labeled “Altamira,” and apparently these names are interchangeable.  The Mayorga web site gives a brief profile of the Santa Isabel farm.

This was listed as a medium roast.  It was fairly dark, with all beans showing oil.  These were also very fragrant beans. The package sitting on my desk scented the air enough to make my mouth water.   There was no roast date on the package.

The coffee did not live up to the intense, appealing aroma, either.  It wasn’t bad, just unremarkable. It was full-bodied, hearty, a nice autumn or after-dinner coffee. A lighter roast may have brought out more interesting sweet, chocolate tones which we only found hinted at.  This was one coffee that was nicer brewed than in a press.  2.75 motmots.

Liquid Planet Santa Julia — This was a 2005 CoE competitor, which ended up with a score of 84.31, with the jury describing it as “floral note, round, smooth mouthfeel, sweet, syrupy, grapelike, mellow.” The entire lot was purchased by the Roasterie for Liquid Planet, which is the exclusive distributor.  The price of the lot was $4.10/lb green, a nice price well over fair trade, but does not seem to justify a retail of $25.95/lb.

Santa Julia is also in the Santa Ana region.  The farm is not certified organic or shade grown, but this farm grows Bourbon variety only (which does best in shade) and lists their shade trees as “Pepeto Peludo [Inga punctata], Avocado, Pink apple tree, among others.”

The beans were roasted just past full city, with most or all showing some oil.  A lot of us, myself included, started out this tasting process as dark roast fans, but have become lighter roast converts, so we had some trepidation.  I did not find this to taste over-roasted, or even remind me of a darker roast, but Star[bucks]ling — although he liked it — said he would have liked to have tried it in a lighter roast.  There was no roast date on the package, and we did not get a lot of fizz and “head” when we added the water to the press as we would expect with a very freshly roasted coffee.

The panel agreed on several adjectives: chocolately (including cocoa and bittersweet chocolate), slightly woodsy (especially the aroma of the beans) and full-bodied.  The richness and lingering mouthfeel of this coffee (with hints of molasses), I think, is it’s most distinctive characteristic.  I enjoyed the fullness of it (although it stayed on the tongue a bit too long, leaving a woolly rather than creamy feel).  We decided this was another perfect coffee for a crisp autumn day.  3 motmots.

Read more about El Salvador coffees:

Photo of Painted Bunting from Wikipedia Commons.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Panama Finca Hartmann

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #8.

I have been interested in trying coffees from Finca Hartmann since I traveled to Panama a couple of years ago.  Finca Hartmann is in the Chiriqui highlands in the Boquete region, and most of the land is in shade coffee.  It is a popular birding destination, and researchers are welcome (they offer a field station for use) — many associated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute have published papers on research conducted there, some with Hartmann family members as co-authors. Over 280 bird species have been recorded at the finca, and Christmas Bird Counts typically yield around 200 species.  It is an example of a finca with a great deal of concern for preservation of biodiversity that has not been certified shade or organic.  We tried several Finca Hartmann coffees from different roasters.

Paradise Roasters Palo Verde.  This coffee placed sixth in the 2006 Best of Panama competition — the same competition in which the Hacienda la Esmeralda won first prize. There are two “sections” to Finca Hartmann, and Palo Verde is the smaller, southernmost one on the property. This was a medium roast, with no oil on the beans.  I detected some sort of very sweet, fruity aroma in the beans that I found really nice.

As is typical, we tried this in the French press, Aeropress, and as a brew. Something had to have gone awry in the press, because it was pretty bad.  It fared better as an Americano from the Aeropress, and as a brew, where it was a nice, smooth, sweet, classic coffee, with a hint of chocolate.  In general, nobody was overwhelmed by it.  It was variously described as “unspectacular,” “not a lot of depth,” and one taster said, “I’m not moved by it.” I think I’m beginning to foster snobs.  2 motmots. Also available green, for which there is a review at Coffee Cuppers.

Mayorga Coffee Roasters Hartmann Estate.  This coffee was billed as a medium roast, but was leaning much darker than the Paradise Roaster selection, with all beans showing quite a bit of oil.  The coffee beans were quite fragrant, and the coffee itself fresh from the French press had a slightly fruity fragrance — a couple tasters suggested cherries.  This was a very well-balanced, smooth cup, without any distinctive characteristics, a classic cup.  “It’s just a good cup of coffee,” Nighthawk suggested.  I think a lighter roast might have coaxed some more interesting aspects out of the bean. 2.5 motmots.

Cafe Pronto Panama Boquete SHB, Hartmann Estate. This coffee was received a mere two days after ordering (truly pronto!), but had been roasted five days prior to ordering.  Thus it was 8 days old when we tried, within it’s fresh period, but perhaps “middle-aged.” Nonetheless, when the water hit it in the French Press, it produced a moderate amount of bloom, and was the hands-down winner of the three.

It was also a medium roast, with some beans showing a bit of oil.  The beans, both whole and ground, were very fragrant, sort of spicy, one of the most appealing aromas we’ve had from a Central American bean so far.  Very hot, the coffee delivered a juicy, almost mouth-watering first few sips.  It stayed just as good as it cooled, medium-bodied, with a very soft mouthfeel.  I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw this descriptor from the roaster, but it is certainly an apt adjective. Brewed, it was also tasty, but lacked some of the pleasant subtleties found when prepared in a press pot.

We could call this coffee well-balanced, but “harmonious” might be a better description.  As in many “classic” coffees, there were not a lot of flavors that jumped out.  Yet it stood out from the other Finca Hartmann’s.  Let’s call this a Classic ++ rated at 3.75  (nearly 4) motmots.

Coffee reviews / Indo-Pacific

Kopi luwak

What is kopi luwak?
In a recent post I mentioned kopi luwak, the coffee that is “processed” in the digestive tract of a civet cat (usually Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).  These animals (found in southeast Asia and related to mongooses, although they look and behave a bit like raccoons) eat ripe coffee berries.  Stomach enzymes have a subtle but apparently genuine chemical impact on the coffee beans, which are gathered as soon as possible after being passed by the civet, e.g., in the scat.

I mentioned Animal Coffee in my post, a company which specializes in kopi luwak.  I soon received a 4-oz sample of luwak beans, as well as a hunk of civet crap in lucite (left), and a brochure, all enclosed in a very attractive gift box, a really nice presentation.

Is this sustainable coffee?
I’ll get to a review of the coffee itself, but first let’s try to determine if this is sustainable coffee.

Civets eat mostly ripe fruit and seeds, but also small vertebrates and insects.  Since the civets do not eat coffee berries exclusively, luwak-processed beans are not common.  They also must be harvested from fresh scat, before rain breaks up the clustered beans/poop.  This is because 1) the elements might further change the taste of the beans, 2) the beans would be very hard to find on the forest floor individually, and 3) Animal Coffee, at least, requires the beans to come to them in scat form to be assured they are genuinely luwak-passed. So, the availability of luwak beans is limited; I’ve read that annual production is between 200 to 500 pounds (100 to 250 kilos).

Asian palm civets have a wide range throughout southeast Asia (see map). Because civets do not produce enough volume from any single location, the beans are from a variety of places — even (and probably) different countries.  Some beans will be robusta, some arabica, some lots mixed.  Distributors like Animal Coffee and Indonesian Grocery must be able to narrow down bean type at least some of the time, because both are types are available for order.  There is no way, however, to determine if the beans came from a rustic small plot, or a large sun coffee plantation dosed with chemicals. (Note that due to animal cruelty issues, most coffee certifications disqualify luwak produced coffee.)

Civets are arboreal animals, living in trees and raising young in tree cavities. This might indicate that they would require forested areas near the coffee farms where they forage. However, any bunch of trees will generally do, as these animals are quite adaptable to human activities and will live towns and villages.

What’s it taste like?
The sample I received was labeled  robusta from Sumatra.  The beans were all shapes and sizes, from the size of a BB to more typically-sized, along with shards and beans misshapen by, perhaps, their arduous intestinal journey. Their variety, a sample shown below, is also a testament to their unrelated origins. The roast was fairly dark, with most beans showing some oil.

The smell was unpleasant and discomforting, a burnt rubber/plastic smell.  It was vaguely reminiscent of the distinct aroma of other Indonesian coffees, but far more strong and offensive.  Musky I might have expected, but this smell was not animal-like it any way. It was just as pronounced and weird when the beans were ground.  It brought back memories of opening the door to the garage of my childhood home, where my dad and brother had disassembled a car and had greasy parts all over.  Yes, that’s it!  This coffee smells like used auto parts.

It tasted no better than it smelled, I’m afraid. We made it in a French press, as is our habit when first tasting a new coffee. Super hot, you were hit by the strong — ghastly — aroma, which battled with the taste.  It mattered not who won.  It was flat, mono-dimensional, and just nasty. It became rapidly and progressively worse as it cooled. It was not “crappy” tasting, it just had an overwhelmingly assertive flavor of dirty, burnt  rubber gasket.  We tasted it next to a fairly generic organic Sumatran, which was like ambrosia in comparison.

On the small chance this was an anomaly, we made it again, this time in the Eva Cafe Solo, and served it to more people, including some that were regular diner/pedestrian coffee drinkers. The kopi luwak was consistent, just as aggressively malodorous and grimace-producing as before. One of our most mild-mannered friends announced it was worse than vending machine coffee and declined a second sip.  Another was also repulsed by it, and later wrote to me: “After three light sips, I was lost and confused.  Was this from a cat’s rectum or a cat’s litterbox? I soon realized, it didn’t matter….”  Star[bucks]ling agreed it reminded him of a Jiffy Lube, and found it undrinkable as it cooled.

It’s possible, I suppose, that some batches can be good, some bad, since there isn’t enough of it to be sourced from one place. And having been shipped directly from Indonesia, which takes 7 to 10 days to the U.S., it was also not that fresh.  You can order green beans, and perhaps they’d be better.

Still, it is really hard to understand how even the freshest luwak coffee could overcome the shortcomings we experienced.  It might drinkable, but it has way too far to go to become outstanding or worthy of the price it commands. The chemical changes that take place in the digestive system of the civet are subtle — primarily, proteins are leached out. Proteins in coffee cause bitterness, but bitterness wasn’t really this coffee’s problem, so that can’t account for big improvements. Add that to the hodge-podge of beans — grown in various southeast Asian countries/regions on many different farms under different conditions — it’s just a literal crap shoot that you are going to get a great batch of coffee beans. I just can’t imagine that this coffee can in any way compare with a halfway decent bean grown and roasted with care.

The (ahem) bottom line
Ten people tried this coffee, more than our usual reviews. Some were not told ahead of time what it was, to prevent bias. I don’t think any of us had high expectations, and peculiar or unextraordinary we could have accepted.  This was wicked. None of us got past an ounce or two, which classified it as basically undrinkable.  It killed the motmot.

Nor can we recommend it on the basis of sustainability.  There is no way to guarantee the beans were sustainably grown. On a positive note, you won’t find another fecal product as attractively gift-boxed as kopi luwak from Animal Coffee.

Here are some other reviews.  There are many fans of kopi luwak, but I have to wonder if those who pay top dollar for it have to convince themselves they love it. At any rate, you will note others are also impressed with the service and packaging from Animal Coffee.

More information, including updated links:

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Paradise Roasters Bolivia Calama Marka

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #7.

Paradise Roasters Calama Marka Bolivia Cup of Excellence.

I had not actually intended on reviewing this coffee, but once a couple of us tasted it, we were so impressed we had to tell you about it. Calama Marka came in first place in the 2005 Bolivia Cup of Excellence competition, and a number of roasters (the now-familiar “Small Axe” cooperative) won the auction lot.  We tried it from Paradise Roasters, where it is also available green.

Calama Marka is a small farm, only 4.5 ha in coffee, in the Yungas region (in the central cordillera northeast of La Paz) where the majority of Bolivian coffee is grown.  This farm only grows typica, and although the farm is not certified organic, like most of the small holders that make up this area, it is passive organic and described as “nature friendly.”

The beans themselves, roasted to a medium brown without oil, had a candy-like fragrance. It was even more pronounced once freshly ground. One day, I ground a little too much, so I dumped the extra in my commuter French press to take the work the next day.  Many hours later, after only a few minutes in the car, the vehicle filled with this coffee’s enchanting aroma.

As usual, we prepared our first run in the French press.  For quite a few minutes, it evoked silence.  Finally, Risky Kingbird broke the spell.  “I am really enjoying this coffee!” he said.

It is beautifully balanced, smooth, with a lush, creamy mouthfeel.  Very hot, there is an initial juicy, citrus pulse. From first sip to last, it is full of chocolate, caramel, butterscotch, and hints of vanilla notes, especially as it cools.  You cannot come closer to a sweet, flavored coffee without adding extra ingredients.  There is an intriguing complexity that is subtle and delightful, like simple but great poetry.

There was not a hint of bitterness, not even in the last pour from the press, not even when I brewed it and left a quarter-inch in the pot to cook for a half-hour.  Every pot and cup was superior, even when the beans were past 10 days old.

Not only did everybody love this coffee, it got several “5 motmot” ratings. This is beautiful coffee.

But there’s more to this story…
There’s a bit of the star-crossed lover aspect to this coffee.  We have found true love, but will we ever be able to sip it again?

First, the farmer, Juan de Dios Blanco, was killed in a car crash shortly after he won the CoE.  Miguel Meza at Paradise Roasters told me that Juan’s wife is still operating the farm, but he does not know if she will continue to produce and market coffee.  Miguel was planning to visit the farm during the 2006 CoE competition, but the program was cancelled, which brings us to the next tragedy.

The coffee growing regions of Bolivia are also coca growing regions. In order to discourage coca growing and provide alternate sources of farm income, USAID has provided funding and support to promote specialty coffee in Bolivia.  Sponsoring the Cup of Excellence program was part of that effort, as the recognition and high price of winning coffees at auction are powerful incentives for farmers to improve their crops.  That the Bolivian CoE program was a stunning success is evident in the superb Calama Marka reviewed here. According to USAID, by 2003, over 5,000 families improved coffee harvest and post-harvest techniques, increasing their income by an average 38%; this in a country where 58% of the population lives in poverty.

Then the political situation in Bolivia changed, in a way that was not to the liking of the Bush Administration.  An article at Trade Aid summed it up:

Bolivia won’t be having a Cup of Excellence competition this year. Why not? Funding for the event has been provided previously by USAID, the main aid program run by the United States government, but this year USAID will not be contributing. Unhappy with the outcome of the presidential elections in late 2005 which installed Evo Morales in office instead of their own preferred candidate, the United States has
withdrawn funding as part of their wider campaign to hurt the Bolivian economy.

Promoting specialty coffee is not the answer to squelching coca production in Bolivia, but  the CoE was essentially the best and probably only way for farmers to become individually empowered (versus all their beans being mixed at a cooperative), for them to obtain the prices to truly motivate them to continue to improve their crops, and for these Bolivian coffees to get the recognition that commands attention from the coffee-buying public. This situation is really a shame, as it will do little or nothing to hinder Morales, and much to punish farmers and those of us who have discovered this wonderful coffee.  Hopefully, the Bolivian CoE will be held in 2007.  For more on the complexity and politics of coca and coffee in Bolivia, see this article in the World Policy Journal. A note from UK roaster Stephen Leighton about the cancellation of the CoE competition is at the Hasbean blog.

Other reviews of the Calama Marka:

Coffee reviews / Indo-Pacific

Coffee review: Coffees from East Timor

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #7.

In a previous post, I discussed the political situation in East Timor, and the role of coffee in the economy. I promised short reviews of several Timor coffees, and here they are.  These are all Fair Trade, organic, and grown in shade.

Counter Culture — Maubesse.  City roast, very little oil.  The beans had a spicy, smoky aroma.  Freshly brewed, it had an amazing woodsy, cedar odor.  Both Star[bucks]ling and Nighthawk immediately exclaimed that it evoked the cedar bogs of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Soon we found out that it tasted very different than it smelled.

The first few sips of hot coffee had a momentary sparkle.  After, there was a very subtle butterscotch element that lingered slightly.  But overall, we were very surprised at the simplicity of this coffee.  East Timor’s nearest coffee-producing neighbor is Sulawesi, and it, like other Indonesian coffees, seems to have a lot of character (in fact, we really didn’t like the pungent Starbucks Sulawesi we reviewed). Yet this was much friendlier coffee, without a lot of easily distinguished flavors, to our palates.  We rate this 2.75 motmots.

Sweetwater Organic Coffee Company — Maubesse.  This was the first time we tried the same source, different roaster (unfortunately, not at the same time). Billed as a full city roast, it was medium brown, with only the faintest hints of oil on the bean.

Brewed, it did not have the initial citrusy sparkle as the Counter Culture, but overall it was more distinctive.  It had the woodsy, cedary taste and especially aroma, that we are learning is characteristic of Indonesian coffees.

We decided to really bring out the character and tried it in a press.  Doing so evoked strong reactions from all tasters. Those who like Indonesian coffees liked the cedar/woodsy flavors that popped out with this preparation.  Those that don’t really care for those tones thought it tasted like bark. There were distinct leather flavors as well, apparently typical of this source but not everybody’s cup of tea (so to speak).

I don’t very often drink milk in my coffee, but since Con Leche was not available, both Kingfisher and I tried it this way, his with soy milk.  We both liked it better with milk, but it gave it a kind of chalky mouthfeel.

I’m not a huge fan of Indonesian coffees, but kept trying this every other day or so. I was amazed that it seemed each time I tried it, some other taste combination cropped up, variations on a theme, depending on how I prepared it, or even with what I considered pretty minor differences in the strength.  Some cups I thought I liked more than others, one batch was just alarming — it took Kingfisher by surprise and he exclaimed that it was terrible on the first sip.  By the time it cooled, he ended up thinking it wasn’t too bad. All in all, a testimony to the complexity of this bean.

It seemed that Sweetwater was able to bring out a little more of the terroir of this bean, which would have been an asset if there were more Indonesian fans in this tasting round. It ended up with 2.25 motmots. Also available as decaf.

Sweetwater Organic Coffee Company — Carpe Diem blend. Side-by-side with their Maubesse, we tried Sweetwater’s blend of Timor, Sumatra, and Bolivian beans.  It was also labeled a medium roast, although it looked just a tiny bit darker.  Both as a brew and in a press and Cafe Solo, this coffee had the characteristics of the Timor, mellowed just a bit by the South American bean.

It was nicer as a drip, rich and interesting. In the press, the Sulawesi, perhaps, contributed to an earthier tone than the single-source. This earthiness intensified as the coffee cooled; some of us detected a nearly musty flavor. The woodsy flavors were also pronounced, and it was a bit spicier and smokier as well. There was a cocoa/carmelly lingering aftertaste. I consistently tasted a rubber note in both of these coffees…but I liked the blend better than the single source.  We gave the Carpe Diem 2.5 motmots.

These were tough reviews for us…their complexity often left us at a loss for words, and for the most part none of us were huge fans of the distinctive flavors of the coffees of this region. If you are fond of Indonesian coffees, though, absolutely give these a try.  The timid can drink them brewed to be teased by the character, or prepare them in a Chemex, press, etc. for much more intense flavors.  We would not recommend a Timor in a dark roast…we did try a darker roast Timor from Heine Brothers prior to getting into these formal reviews, and none of us liked it.

To get a load of what the experts think, go read the Coffee Review reviews of Timor coffees (sounds like I have a stutter).

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews / Latin America / Retail and specialty roasters

Counter Culture Sanctuary Coffees

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #6.

Counter Culture’s Sanctuary Shade Grown Coffees.

Fred Houk, an avid birder and a former member of SCAA’s Environment (Sustainability) Committee, was one of the co-founders of Counter Culture Coffee.  Through his efforts, Counter Culture began marketing their Sanctuary coffees in 1997, making them one of the first shade-grown coffee lines.  Sanctuary coffees are not sold on the Counter Culture web site, but are available at many Whole Foods Markets in the eastern U.S., and in regional southeastern U.S. natural food chains such as Earth Fare, Green Life Grocery, and Weaver Street Market, as well as some independent co-ops and organic shops.  Counter Culture has plans for a future stand-alone Sanctuary web site.

Packages feature a Wood Thrush, currently still common in eastern North America but of high conservation concern because of steady, long-term population declines — down 43% since 1966 — throughout most of its range. Wood Thrushes winter in tropical forests throughout Central America, including shade coffee plantations.

CC’s Mark Overbay sent three Sanctuary coffees to try; all are certified organic.  Links are to CC’s offerings from the same origins.

  • Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Nueva Armenia — The Huehuetenango coffee region in western Guatemala is rugged and high elevation. Finca Nueva Armenia has at least 50 species of native shade trees, and I understand they are going to apply for SMBC certification soon.This was my favorite, and the first “Huehue” that I’ve tried…I understand why it’s a favorite of experts. We found it had more character than other Central Americans, including a little citrusy zing, at least in the french press, that reminded us of an Ethiopian.  We also detected a fruity flavor, perhaps apricot, as the cup cooled.
  • Mexico Pluma La Trinidad — From the region around Pluma Hidalgo in Oaxaca.  La Trinidad is the coop with over 350 members, and it is Rainforest Alliance certified.A slightly deeper roast than the other two, with some hints of oil on the beans.  This was the most rich and chocolately of the bunch, and held up best as a drip.  Using the Aeropress or Eva Cafe Solo, it also made an excellent Americano. AND, it was great iced!
  • Nicaragua Matagalpa Cafe San Ramon — In my post about Nicaragua and its coffees, I mentioned Counter Culture has a strong relationship with growers in this region through the Sister Communities of San Ramon. The farm, Finca Esperanza Verde, has an ecolodge and a butterfly farm, and like the rest of the area, is a great birdwatching destination.  The Counter Culture involvement is a perfect model of relationship coffee.  This is what we’re looking for in sustainable coffees and righteous roasters, people!A clean and classic cup.  Using press or other immersion method brings out more character in this subtle coffee, especially hints of cocoa.

Any of these coffees would make excellent daily breakfast brews. We give these Sanctuary coffees overall 3.5 motmots.

Counter Culture was Roast Magazine’s 2004 Roaster of the Year, when CCC was wholesale-only.  We’re happy CCC went retail, especially with sustainable coffees such as the Sanctuary line.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Intelligentsia Hacienda La Esmeralda Especial

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #5.

As promised in my previous backgrounder, a review of Hacienda la Esmeralda from Intelligentsia.

The beans: This was quite a light roast, just at city, medium brown with no oil on the beans.  They had a spicy odor that several of us immediately identified as smelling like pizza crust.  It was amazingly distinctive, and we thought that five of us coming up with the pizza analogy was remarkable.  Pizza crust is probably not an odor you’d want in your coffee, but rest assured, it did not taste like it smelled.  On day 2 post-roast, the freshly ground beans had a strongly floral smell, like a meadow in the hopper.  It faded quickly, and we couldn’t find it later.

Brewed: We tried this brewed in a drip on days 2 (gold filter) and 4 (unbleached paper) post-roast, and in a press on days 7 and 8.  We all agreed that the Ethiopian heritage was easy to distinguish, citrusy and very reminiscent of a Yirg.  In the press it was especially citrusy, with a mouthwatering juicy taste at first sip.

Several of us found it to be quite tea-like, in particular the aftertaste which was the most pleasant and non-coffee-like I’ve ever experienced, astringent like a good Darjeeling.  Kingfisher tasted cherries, and the Risky Kingbird could detect floral notes.  Overall, we were unable to pull out jasmine, green grape or apple, or some of the other exotic flavors experts found.  While we used a burr grinder and measured more carefully than usual, our pedestrian home gear and brewing style probably did not do this bean any favors.

We we blown away?  Not really, although some of us were pretty impressed. Star[bucks]ling thought this would be a coffee that could turn him on to a light roast. “This is the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, but I don’t know why.” Coal Tit merely said “Whoa!”  She paused.  “That’s all I have to say.”

Other opinions: In the previous post I linked to reviews of earlier crops at bread coffee chocolate yoga; here is her take on this one.

Jim Schulman of Coffee Cuppers summarized the opinions at a tasting on one of the Coffee Geek forums:

“The Geisha had the across-the-room aromatics on Wednesday, but lost steam in the subsequent days.  The taste was sweet…with musky florals and cinnamon notes when warm, cooling to a spicey apple when cool. … In general the feel was that it tasted intermediate between a typical Central and an Ethiopian coffee; and that it would not have caused the same sort of sensation among tasters if it had been entered in the Ethiopian auction.

Is this worth the price of $50 green? In terms of absolute taste, probably yes. But there are other coffees in the same league…that sell for $8 to $12 at auction. After it’s performance and reputation in
the last two years, the bidders came ready to pay any price for this now legendary coffee, and the price reflects that, rather than its superiority to the other great coffees out there.”

Bottom line: No doubt, this was a lovely coffee, and in no way do we mean to dis it here. But for those of us without trained palates — and for the average, less-careful home consumer — it was nowhere as distinctive as the hype suggests.  We would not pay $30 a pound for it, much less $100.  We think, in fact, it would be a disservice to offer this coffee to a Maxwell House drinker with the idea of converting that person to quality coffee.  They would taste it and think it was great, but to an average joe, it would not be wildly removed and in a completely different class from what they were used to. We fear they’d think that if this was an example of the finest coffee in the world, there wasn’t a real need to change from commercial coffee. And that would be a shame.

Nonetheless, we are glad we tried this. With me, it averaged 3.75 motmots, but I was the stick in the mud with this coffee.  I just didn’t get into it.  So I will exclude myself from the scoring, which leaves it with a solid four motmots, with two people giving it over 4 motmots.

When to drink this coffee (field oriented): At the banquet when you are celebrating discovering a new species.

More on this coffee:

Interest percolating for rare cup of joe, Chicago Sun-Times.

Africa / Coffee reviews

Coffee review: Counter Culture Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Ambessa

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #4.

The coffee: Mark Overbay of Counter Culture Coffee was kind enough to include a bag of their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Ambessa with my last order. Yirgacheffe is an area in the southern Ethiopian Sidamo region. Like most other Ethiopians, it is grown on small, diverse forest plots, organic and shade grown. Beans here are said to be small and elongated, with a unique flavor. This coffee is wet processed, then sun dried.

The beans: The roast was lighter than we’ve seen in other Ethiopians, with some chaff still showing in the crack of the beans, a medium roast or city/city+.

Brewed: We were expecting huge, complex flavors after the Rocket Sidamo, but that was a dry-processed coffee.  This coffee was far more subtle, with flavors than just danced on the tongue and melted away.  While most of us found it bright, clean with a touch of wine or citrus, the flavors were so fleeting it was a little hard for us amateurs to get a handle on them.  It lingered a bit, with a buttery mouthfeel.  Star[bucks]ling was the first to distinctly taste raw honey.

This coffee might be better as espresso, as indicated by messages on the Home Barista Forum. bread coffee chocolate yoga also struggled a bit to get all the fruit flavors in the cup brewing the Ambessa, although she used a Chemex and french press, not a drip.  We are sorry that we didn’t try it as espresso, and that due to our conflicting schedules we were unable to sample it until nine days past roasting.

Other opinions:
Yirgacheffe coffee is often described as having jasmine and other floral notes, and being sweet and honey-like. The Counter Culture description reads:

The pronounced lemon-blossom-honey flavor is accompanied by other tropical fruit flavors, like mango. The floral character of this coffee is overwhelming, and brings to mind roses and honeysuckle. The fruity nature and light body of this coffee make it the perfect summer coffee.

bread coffee chocolate yoga used the terms winey, tea-rose floral,  citrus, and carmelly-honey-syrupy.   Sounds like we had the elements, although they were not as pronouced as we would have expected.

A Coffee Geek forum member found lemon blossoms, roses, and honeysuckle.

Bottom line: I came across a handy reminder at Coffee Cuppers: “Great coffees come in two varieties: those which taste like coffee, and those which don’t.”  These are considered classic coffees.  We considered the Ambessa a classic coffee.  At least for us, it didn’t have a lot of unusual flavors or characteristics, but it was a very enjoyable cup. We’re rating this 3 motmots.

When to drink this coffee (field oriented): Our association with raw honey indicates this is a bright brew to enjoy after a day at the bee hives harvesting the summer crop of honey.  Do not try drinking through a bee suit.  It just plain doesn’t work.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Hacienda La Esmeralda Jaramillo Especial

I will be writing in the future about the Cup of Excellence and the Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality award programs for specialty coffees, and the role they can play in bringing attention to small farms, roaster relationships, and quality sustainable coffees.  Another one of these competitions, which it is timely now for me to mention, is the Best of Panama competition, sponsored by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama. For the last three years, one farm has placed first in this competition, Hacienda la Esmeralda, in Chiriqui province on the slopes of Volcan Baru in western Panama (click map to enlarge).

This story is exceptional in several ways.  First, the bean and coffee are unique.  Second, this coffee has set records at auction, with the 2006 lot being the first green coffee to sell for over US$50 a pound green and US$100 a pound roasted.  I’ll give a little background here, because the cash-poor but burningly curious C&C coffee tasting panel raided their piggy banks and sprang for a half-pound of Esmeralda from Intelligentsia.

The Esmeralda Jaramillo Especial story: Hacienda La Esmeralda was purchased by the Peterson family in 1996. Previously, different coffee varieties had been planted about the farm, which has altitudes range from 1,450 to 1,700 meters.  Daniel Peterson cupped beans from all over the farm, and discovered the pleasant citrusy flavor present in the mixed beans from the farm as a whole were being flavored by some outstanding beans from a 50 hectare plot in one small valley at the high end (1550 m) of the farm: the Esmeralda Especial.

The microclimate of this valley is quite cold.  The bean is an arabica variety called Geisha or Gesha, a long-bean type with Ethiopia heritage brought to Panama in the 1960s via Costa Rica. It is low-yielding — 50 to 100 (60 kg) bags a year — in part because of the long “internodes” or space between the beans. It is likely a combination of the climate, bean, and (wet) processing that brings us this unique cup.

Auction price history: The Esmeralda set price history in the 2004 online green coffee auction, sponsored by the the Specialty Coffee Association of America. That lot sold for US$21 a pound and was huge news in the coffee industry (the average lot goes for about US$4 a pound). This year the lot, of five 60-kg bags, sold for US$50.25 a pound.

The lot was purchased by the Small Axe Coffee Alliance (Sweet Maria’s, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters, Groundwork Coffee Company, and the Norwegian company Kaffa).  The first out of the gate with a public offering of roasted coffee was Intelligentsia. Sweet Maria’s offered the green beans as a set along with beans from the second and third place winners, Bambito Estate and Carmen Estate.

The farm and environmental sustainability: Hacienda La Esmeralda is Rainforest Alliance certified, and their coffee won first place Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality in 2004 and 2006. The farm is not certified organic, and does use glyphosate as a herbicide, and some fertilizers, according to the “Sustainability” portion of its web site. Use of pesticides is not specified, but it sounds like they are usually avoided.

The page indicates that there are about 75 large trees per hectare which add to the leaf litter of the coffee plants, and there is a photo of coffee growing under shade in their photo gallery. The farm does not prune trees during bird nesting or migration season.

As an ecologist, I would like to comment on a statement on the page: “A producing farm undoubtedly has a higher animal biomass than virgin forest as well as a higher photosynthetic rate. It is producing’ — it is not in a resting equilibrium as is a forest.”

Animal biomass is not a relevant yardstick of sustainability (although I don’t know if that’s the point that was being made, necessarily). Here’s why: A cattle pasture, with cattle, would have animal biomass that far exceeds tropical virgin forest of comparable size, but one could hardly say that is a makes it a better or more sustainable use of the land.  Likewise, photosynthetic rates themselves alone don’t have a lot of meaning. Fast-growing plants have higher photosynthetic rates, which are also influenced by light, temperature, vapor pressure deficit, and carbon dioxide.  Fast or slow, one is not “better” than another. And I’d venture to say that a tropical forest — any forest for that matter — is never at a “resting equilibrium” but is always dynamic, and always “productive”!  I’m inclined to take exception to the statement “Enormous tracts of virgin forest have little to do with sustaining people…”  As “the air conditioner of the earth,” tracts of virgin tropical forest sustain us all through many important ecosystem functions.

That being said (and whatever the intent), this is not obviously not sun coffee, it is RA certified, and the web site does note other environmentally-friendly practices. Stay tuned for our impressions of this highly-touted bean!