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88

Cartel Coffee Lab

El Salvador Finca Los Planes Lote La Lagunita

Roaster Location: Tempe, Arizona
Coffee Origin: Chalatenango Department, El Salvador
Roast Level: Medium-Light
Agtron: 57/73
Est. Price: $19.00/12 ounces.
Review Date: December 2010
Aroma: 7
Acidity: 7
Body: 8
Flavor: 8
Aftertaste: 8

Blind Assessment

Some difference emerged here between co-cupper Wendy De Jong (87) and Ken (89). The main divergence may have been owing to roast; Ken apparently tolerates lighter roasts more than Wendy does, who observes s “This super clean and bright coffee finished with a slight grainy note and thinness that could be addressed by more roasting experiments.” Ken, on the other hand, found pungent berry and tart cherry notes that for him reflected the fresh, pleasing flavor of the coffee fruit itself as framed by the lightish roast. There was some agreement, however: on the up side both Wendy and Ken praised the cleanly tart character, silky mouthfeel and solid finish; on the down both found some hints of fading in the green coffee.

Notes

A prize winner in the 2009 El Salvador Cup of Excellence (www.cupofexcellence.org) competition, where as a green (unroasted) coffee it placed thirtieth out of hundreds of entries, attracting a score of 84.28 from an international jury. Produced on the Los Planes farm from trees of the Bourbon variety at an elevation of approximately 5,300 feet by farmer Sergio Edmundo Ticas Reyes. With two locations in Arizona, Cartel Coffee Lab is a youthful coffee roasting company, with the belief in “uncompromising quality, extreme simplicity, global consciousness and local community.” Visit www.cartelcoffeelab.com or call 480-225-3899 for more information.

Who Should Drink It

Those who enjoy the tart cherry and pungent berry character of a lighter-roasted coffee of the Bourbon variety, though this 2009 harvest is discreetly showing its age.

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This review originally appeared in the December, 2010 tasting report: Prize-Winning Coffees from Latin America

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About the Author: Kenneth Davids

Kenneth Davids is editor, chief writer and co-founder of Coffee Review. His latest book, 21st Century Coffee: A Guide is an unprecedentedly thorough survey of specialty coffee in all of its aspects, authoritative yet engaging. He has been involved with coffee since the early 1970s and has published three earlier books on coffee, including the influential Home Roasting: Romance and Revival, now in its second edition, and Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing and Enjoying, which has sold nearly 250,000 copies in five editions..

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