Blind Assessment: An interesting coffee that provoked a wide range of reaction. Everyone agreed that it was a soft coffee with medium body. The controversy centered on the flavor complex at the heart of the profile, which elicited characterizations ranging from "delightfully spicy" and "richly chocolaty" to "harsh, burned and disturbing" and "burned seaweed, or something I had in a sushi bar(!)." Scores also varied wildly. The nays didn't outnumber the yeas, but the naysayers nayed with more conviction than the yeasayers yeaed, culminating in a low average score. Readers who like low-acid profiles may want to try this coffee anyhow. At a moderately dark brown or full-city roast I suspect the controversial flavor complex will lose its slightly hard edge and turn definitively complex and rich.

Notes: Interesting, soft coffee with medium body, eliciting a wide range of descriptions, from "delightfully spicy" to "burned and disturbing." Originally reviewed by a panel as a green coffee. Kaanapali Estate markets four varieties or cultivars of coffea arabica. Yellow Caturra is one of these. Caturra is neither traditional heirloom variety nor hybrid; rather it is a relatively recent selection (1935). This Yellow Caturra is wet-processed by