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Paradise Roasters

Ethiopia Kaffa Forest

Blind Assessment: Very complete aroma: pungently acidy but sweet-toned, with fat banana-like fruit and chocolate hints. In the cup gently round, rich acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel, and distinct orange, lavender and fresh pipe tobacco notes with a little chocolate lean toward the finish. Excellent flavor persistence in the long, complex finish.

Notes: From the recently established Tega and Tulla farm in Kefa (traditionally Anglicized as Kaffa) Province. Kefa/Kaffa is reputed to be the botanical birthplace of Coffea arabica, the species that until the 20th century produced all of the world's commercially traded coffees and still produces all of the great ones. Whether this particular Kaffa coffee owes its character to coffee types that go back to the beginning of coffee history may be difficult to confirm, but for certain this particular lot is subtly but distinctly different from any other coffee type I have ever cupped. Although I need to add a caveat: another lot from the same farm I cupped last year was not nearly as distinctive. 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.

Who Should Drink It : Those who want to be in on the birth of what may be a new, or perhaps rediscovered, Ethiopia coffee type.