Organization: Paradise Roasters, Ramsey, Minnesota
Coffee: Costa Rica San Marcos Micro-Lot
Reviewed: July 2009
Overall Rating: 93 points
Roast (Agtron): Light (65/96)
Estimated Price:
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Origin: Tarrazu growing region, central Costa Rica.

Notes: This micro-lot is comprised entirely of the heirloom variety Bourbon from Hector Bonilla's El Beneficio, El Llano, and La Casa farms. The roast is a melange, half light and half medium-dark. 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: Co-cupper Andy Newbom (94) admired this pungent yet lushly sweet Bourbon slightly more than Ken (92) did. Certainly Andy found more ways to describe its engaging contrast of lush sweetness and almost savory spice. For Andy "root beer, lemon peel" in the aroma, "fruit leather" in the acidity; a "complex blend of tangerine and cinnamon oil, clarified butter and sweet red pepper rounding into guava and gooseberry" in the cup, plus "hints of cocoa nib." The finish impressively resolved the pungent/sweet paradox running through the profile: "astoundingly clear and bell-toned" for Andy; "long, sweetly flavor-saturated" for Ken.

Who should drink it: Those who enjoy resolved complexity.

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