Organization: Paradise Roasters, Ramsey, Minnesota
Coffee: Ethiopia Awassa Special
Reviewed: August 2008
Overall Rating: 94 points
Roast (Agtron): Light (57/85)
Estimated Price:
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Origin: Southern Ethiopia.

Notes: Most southern Ethiopia coffee is prepared by removing the fruit before the beans or seeds have been dried, producing a cleanly high-toned, often intensely floral- and citrus-toned cup. This Ethiopia is apparently a "natural" or dry-processed version, however, meaning the beans/seeds were dried inside the fruit, producing a flavor profile that is lower-toned with a deep, wine-and berry-like fruit. Like virtually all Ethiopia coffees, this striking and unusual coffee is produced by villagers on small, garden plots interplanted with food and other subsistence crops. Paradise Roasters prides itself on roasting and shipping coffee only after orders are placed. Its metaphoric mission is to bring some paradisiacal warmth from the coffee-growing south to the cool environs of Minnesota. Visit www.paradiseroasters.com or call 763-433-0626 for more information.

Blind Assessment: Sweet, fruit-floral aroma, with a distinct blueberry note and a hint of black currant. In the cup, bright fruit-toned acidity, with juicy, medium to full body. Intense sweet blueberry continues in the cup, with light hints of citrus and night flowers. Dry berry tones linger in the finish.

Who should drink it: For those who love intensely rich and fruity red table wines.

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