Coffee reviews

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Coffee review: Caribou Coffee Roastmaster Reserve Panama Maunier

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #27.

Caribou Coffee’s latest Roastmaster Reserve is Panama Maunier, from Panama’s Boquette region in Chirqui province.

Caribou indicates this is an estate coffee, named for French flower grower and former owner Monsieur Gilbert Maunier de La Espriella. Things have become a bit more complicated since Maunier sold the farm in 1985 to Plinio Ruiz, founder of Casa Ruiz SA, a well-known producer, processor, and coffee exporter in Panama.  Other Casa Ruiz brands include La Berlina or Finca Berlina and Panamaria.

Ruiz added more land adjoining the Maunier Estate, as well as processing beans from neighboring farms. From the multiple sources I consulted, including the Casa Ruiz site itself, “Maunier Estate” coffee comes from a number of farms, not just one estate. The last several years, Maunier Estate coffee has placed in the Best of Panama competition. It’s possible these competition/auction lots are isolated from the original Maunier farm, but given Caribou’s volume, the Roastmaster’s Reserve is no doubt the standard multi-farm blend sold under the “Maunier Estate” brand.

Maunier grows 40% caturra, 30% bourbon, and 25% typica at 1400 to 1700 meters. Much of Panama’s coffee is grown in a fairly sustainable manner. Another Casa Ruiz web site states that their coffees are grown in an environmentally-friendly manner under shade with little or no chemicals (several of their brands are, in fact, organic). I was not able to unearth any specific further details on their growing methods.

On to the coffee. This is a light roast (a “3” on Caribou’s 1-10 scale), a wise choice for Central American coffees, whose delicate flavors are easily erased by more aggressive dark roasts. Even so, I braced myself to distinguish and describe yet another mild-mannered Central American. Other than the crazy geisha, we haven’t had much to say about most Panamanian coffees, which have the “classic” coffee profile.

Caribou’s Maunier is no exception. In a nutshell, it was actually more boring than many other Centrals; I would describe it as fairly one-dimensional. It wasn’t bad, really, it just didn’t have any spark to speak of and not many sweet chocolately tones one usually finds in these coffees.

Also unlike any Central I can recall, rather than a bright, light body, the Maunier seemed much heavier, nearly syrupy when prepared in a French press. Clearly, this wasn’t a result of a dark roast. We thought perhaps instead we’d been a little careless in preparation, but this was one characteristic that stood out over repeated tastings. Later, I reviewed the various cup profiles on Maunier, which described it as floral, herbal, somewhat spicy or winey, and acidic — and with heavy body. While we got some interesting floral and “bubble gum” aromas from the beans and ground coffee, in the cup the Maunier was rather generic, save for this full-bodied mouthfeel.

It is this rich body that I think will appeal to many ordinary American coffee drinkers, who tend to not appreciate subtlety and seem to like sturdier coffees. There’s nothing offensive about the Maunier. Folks not looking for anything intriguing or unique will find Caribou’s Maunier to be a classic, straightforward coffee with a body that will stand up to cream, sugar, or other additives. We were a little uninspired, and gave it 2.5 motmots.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Brown Coffee Co. Finca Vista Hermosa

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #26.

I first read about Guatemala’s Finca Vista Hermosa in Roast Magazine, in a series written by Edwin Martinez, Diary of a Grower. FVH is the Martinez family farm, and it was interesting to get a first-hand look at various aspects of coffee growing. Edwin also writes a blog about FVH. FVH has to have one of the most visible Internet presences of any coffee farm in the specialty coffee world!

FVH is in northwest Guatemala, in the Huehuetanago region. The growing area of the farm is around 35 ha, and they have just added some additional plots. Altitude ranges from 1600 to 2000 meters. Although not certified, FVH is “is ecologically sound and healthy, a model for many shade grown and organic plantations” according to the web site. I’ve gleaned from various sources that weeds are controlled the old-fashioned way (machete), a flock of sheep contribute natural fertilizer, and photos depict a jungle-like setting.

FVH coffee is used by ANACAFE (the Guatemalan coffee trade organization) to represent the Huehue region at trade shows, etc. FVH has won many awards, most recently placing 8th in the 2007 Cup of Excellence. The Japanese snapped up the CoE lot, but other lots of FVH coffee are available. Here we review:

Brown Coffee Co. Guatemala Huehuetanengo, Finca Vista Hermosa.

We chose Brown Coffee Co. because they have a great relationship with FVH, much of which is outlined in owner Aaron Blanco’s blog, the Coffee Press. In fact, to commemorate that this is the 50th anniversary of FVH, Brown put out a pretty cool t-shirt honoring this fact. It’s not easy for a smaller roaster like Brown to have direct relationships with growers, and they are to be admired and supported for their efforts. The whole Brown philosophy and manifesto is also right up our alley.

Brown’s crop comes from a section of the farm called El Eden, a pretty rugged plot with much intact natural habitat. It was a light roast, which we have concluded is a must to bring out the subtle flavors in Central Americans. The beans had an intoxicating aroma, with a hint of spice; one person also smelled fruit, perhaps cherry.  In the cup, it was another classic coffee –with notes of chocolate and caramel — and felt a little fuller on the palate and richer than many Guatemalas we’ve had. This was one of the sweetest Centrals we’ve ever tasted. Sweetness is not surprising in a Central, but we all noted the very long finish, which we tend to associate with Asian, African, or more complex coffees. That lingering sweetness gave the FVH a depth that we found pretty unique and very enjoyable. 3.25 motmots.  Here’s another review of Brown’s FVH, at Barisimo. And P.S. — Brown’s service is outstanding.

As an aside, now that we’ve reviewed over 30 coffees (yes, this post says #26, but short reviews are usually not numbered), something is obvious. There are a few dogs at 2 or fewer motmots, very few exceptional coffees at 3.75 or above, and a whole lot bunched up in the middle. Not only is the process of reviewing coffee this way (= amateurs!) really subjective, but providing a lot of ratings between 3-3.5 isn’t especially useful.

It is my hope and goal that much of the value in these reviews lies in the background information provided about the origin/region, farm, growing methods, and roaster. It’s my way of educating consumers on how to make responsible, sustainable choices, and highlight sources of coffee to seek out — or avoid. It’s the most time-consuming part of writing these reviews, and quite unusual (unique?) in the realm of coffee reviews. So don’t just go by motmots alone — the other stuff is just as important!

Coffee reviews / Indo-Pacific

Coffee review: Papua New Guinea coffees

Recently, I posted a backgrounder on Papua New Guinea coffee. One of my favorite coffees is Allegro Coffee Roaster’s PNG Sigri Estate, which is not reviewed here because the crop ran out and it was unavailable at my local Whole Foods Market. In fact, it’s my understanding that PNG coffees are best when the beans come from the peak of harvest. So these reviews should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, as this time of year last year’s crop (2006) would be a bit long in the tooth anyway.

First up is The Roasterie’s Kimel Estate, from the Eastern Highlands. This coffee was closest to a Sumatran of the three we tried. It was fairly heavy, sort of tannic and earthy, but not quite as in-your-face as a Sumatran. Very hot, it had sharp notes, but as it cooled the dull leathery tones emerged; I describe these woody/earthy flavors as wet cardboard, which sounds a little more unpleasant than it is.  We found this wasn’t a subtle, sweet coffee, and would be more of a hit with people who like more aggressive tastes. We gave it 2.5 motmots, but our take on this was at complete odds with the description at Coffee Review. Take two reviews and call us in the morning.

Ecco Caffe’s Purosa Estate is an organic coffee that is not technically from a single estate, but from small holders in Western Highlands. This coffee was very bright with a surprising citrus zing when hot.  It was full-bodied, and as it cooled it got a bit syrupy, rustic, and earthy. We found this generally very interesting, with many little flavors hitting the tongue throughout. 3.25 motmots.

Last up was Counter Culture’s Red Mountain, from the Waghi Valley in the Western Highlands. (Caveat: I know this was the last batch from the crop.) The most curious thing about this coffee was that the taste gave us no hint of origin. It was closest to a classic Central American, pleasant and subtle, but with few other distinguishing characteristics. All of us got a fleeting zesty sparkle on the first hot sip; like a shooting star it quickly faded into the dark night. Like the other PNGs, it was medium-bodied, but a bit lighter than the others, further obscuring a sense of source. 2.75 motmots.

These coffees were all over the page. It’s actually one of the things a couple of us really like about PNG coffees — they are a bit mysterious and hard to pin down, you just don’t know what you might get in the cup.  But given the age of the coffees in these reviews, we’re going to revisit PNG coffees when roasters start getting their 2007 crop because none of these lived up to what we have enjoyed in PNGs in the past. Stay tuned.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Allegro Coffee Santa Adelaida

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #25.

We enjoy reviewing coffees from El Salvador, a country which has lost over 90% of its native forest cover, with 80% of its remaining tree cover represented by shade-grown coffee. Be sure to check our previous backgrounder on El Salvador coffees, which includes several reviews and the importance of the country to birds, with a number of links. Our latest tasting from El Salvador is Allegro Coffee Roasters Santa Adelaida.

Santa Adelaida cooperative is located south of San Salvador, in the Balsamo mountains near the San Salvador volcano, at an altitude of about 1200 meters. Nearly all the 500 members grow the bourbon variety on approximately 650 hectares.

In 2003, Allegro chose Santa Adelaida as one of their High 5 recipients. The High 5 For Farmers program provides support directly to the farms where the organic coffee is produced by providing $10,000 to growers to complete much needed community based projects in education, health care, agricultural programs and farm development.  The 2003 project helped the co-op recover from hurricane damage.

The coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified and certified organic, and can be purchased at Whole Foods Markets.  It was a light roast, and provided a snappy, juicy start, followed by medium-bodied sweetness.  Tasters detected hints of maple candy and caramel.  It had a really nice, creamy mouthfeel and a lingering finish.  It was a classic Central American, with just enough nuances to be considered a bit more interesting than many others from similar origins and making it our favorite El Salvador to date!  3.75 motmots.

See also Coffee Review’s 2003 review, when it scored 88 points.