Brazil Fazenda Chapadao de Ferro Peaberry

Blind Assessment: Quietly complex, crisply sweet. Dark chocolate dominates in aroma and cup, complicated by suggestions of nut – almond, walnut – and an apricot-like fruit. Soft, round acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Chocolate in particular lingers in a long, flavor-saturated finish.

Notes: Processed by the pulped natural method, in which the skin is removed from the coffee fruit immediately after picking but the seeds or beans are dried with the sweet pulp, or fruit flesh, still adhering to them. This sample consists entirely of peaberries, a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops only a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided beans. Peaberries produce a somewhat different (often better) cup than normal beans from the same crop, from which they may or may not be separated during grading. Panther Coffee is a Miami-based wholesale and retail roaster specializing in the careful selection and small-batch roasting of fine coffees. Visit www.panthercoffee.com or call 305-677-3952 for more information.

Who Should Drink It: Acidity is functional but gentle and backgrounded while dark chocolate and nut notes dominate, making this a complex but comfortable coffee for those who find coffees from East Africa or Central America too forceful or bright.