Blind Assessment: It is interesting. The solid, rather simple profile is centered on a deep, mouth-filling, pungent richness. Buried in the pungency is an odd but not unpleasant note that I don't quite remember tasting in coffee: a sort of dry saltiness.

Notes: An interesting coffee, with a deep, mouth-filling, pungent richness. Buried in the pungency is a sort of dry saltiness. Bill Siemers reports that the company's retail best-seller overwhelmingly is a Colombia Supremo. "Twenty years of Juan Valdez have definitely made an impact on the coffee consumer," he points out. Nevertheless, he says that he submitted this popular blen

Who Should Drink It: The best-seller factor:This could be pure romantic projection, but to me this blend has New Orleans written on every bean. The peculiar deep pungency vaguely reminded me of the heavy, peppery character of chicory, the added component in traditional New Orleans coffee. New Orleans may be one city in the country where local tastes in food and beverages still hold their own against the great globalizing culinary pastiche.