I am a positive thinker when it comes to coffee, but this month's sampling of fifty decaffeinated blends from thirty of North America's finest specialty roasters tested my optimism. Almost every month our reviews reveal impressive new coffee possibilities powered in part by a fresh generation of specialty coffee roasters and coffee producers. Typically our monthly surveys turn up multiple samples
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Decaf Colombia Las Serranias
Decaffeinated using ethyl acetate, a solvent derived from fruit or (with this coffee) sugar cane. The relatively benign nature of this solvent accounts for the term "Natural Processed" on the packaging. Formerly Coffee Klatch, Klatch Coffee is an award-winning small-batch roasting company based in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry is a former United States
Micro to Macro: Southern California Coffees
This month's cupping of forty-two coffees from seventeen southern California roasters hints at a drama that is currently enlivening the coffee scenes of other American metropolises: Newer, smaller roasting companies that put more focus on medium-roasted small lots of precisely sourced coffees are pressing older, often larger companies that produce darker-roasted versions of more generic origins
Ethiopian Sidamo Ardi
Grown in the Guji region of Sidamo Province, this Ethiopian coffee is a dry- or "natural-" processed coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit was removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. This coffee won first place at the 2010 Ethiopia Taste of Harvest Competition. Formerly Coffee Klatch, Klatch Coffee is an award-winning small-batch
Mysterious No More: Sumatra Coffees
Ever since specialty coffee pioneer Alfred Peet popularized Sumatra coffees on the menu of his famous Vine Street store, their pungently fruity, earthy/musty profile has attracted a loyal following among American coffee lovers. Along the way they have been regularly tagged "mysterious," a word also often applied to the seldom-visited Indonesian island they come from. Well, mysterious no more, or
Sumatra Bodhi Peaberry Grade A Mandheling
Consisting 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. Mandheling is a term variously used to describe a growing region surrounding
Fourteen Covers of a Classic Tune: Mocha Java Blends
Around 1740 Europeans had a rather limited menu of coffees to choose from: Mocha, the world's original commercial coffee from what is now Yemen, and Java, a recent introduction by the Dutch from their colony in the Pacific. Inevitably, these two coffees came together to form the world's first blend. In the years following, other, now more famous, coffees from Latin America began to fill out
Mocha Java
This version of the ancient Mocha-Java blend combines a genuine Java from the government estates of East Java with two different Ethiopia "natural" or dried-in-the-fruit coffees, both of which represent variations on the original Yemen Mocha component of the blend: one from the Harrar region of Ethiopia and a second from the Amaro region of southwestern Ethiopia. Formerly Coffee Klatch, Klatch
El Salvador Pepinal Bourbon
From the Las Mercedes farm, the 2006 El Salvador Cup of Excellence winner, this lot is made up entirely of the heirloom Bourbon variety of Arabica. Formerly Coffee Klatch, Klatch Coffee is an award-winning small-batch roasting company based in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry is a two-time United States Barista Champion. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call
Kenya Githiru
Despite national coffee leadership marked by confusion and recent social disorder, Kenya cooperatives continue to produce some of the world's most elegant and distinctive coffees. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won both the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships brewing a Coffee
Half Way to Napa? Panamas 2009
The compact coffee growing region of western Panama, rising on the slopes of the 11,300-foot Volcan Baru, is in many respects ideally configured to develop into one of the world's coffee versions of Napa Valley. The region is compact, ideal for coffee growing, and almost all of the production is performed by classic medium-sized, family-owned farms of the kind that best equate with the wine idea
Panama Elida Estate Natural
Produced by the award-winning Elida Estate, is a dry- or "natural-" processed coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit is removed, as is the case with the wet-processed or "washed" coffees more typical of Panama and Central America. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer,
Panama Elida Estate
This is a wet-processed or "washed" coffee produced by the award-winning Elida Estate. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won both the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships brewing a Coffee Klatch espresso blend. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
The Devil’s in the Details: Bird-Friendly and Shade-Grown Coffees
Suppose the following: You look out your window and see a suddenly appearing flock of song birds. Or perhaps you hear their familiar, melodic burbling first, then see them. For many of us this is a precious moment, particularly so because we often know that these flitting, vulnerable creatures are only making a brief stopover before moving on until (hopefully) making a return next year. Those who
Ethiopia Organic Wondo Bonko
Certified organically grown. Yirgacheffe coffees are grown without chemicals on small family plots interspersed with food plants and fruit trees. Unlike most Yirgacheffe coffees, this one is dry or naturally processed, meaning the beans or seeds were dried inside the coffee fruit rather than dried after the fruit residue was removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" Yirgacheffe
El Salvador Las Mercedes
From the same trees as the 2006 El Salvador Cup of Excellence winner, this lot is made up entirely of the heirloom Bourbon variety. This coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified, meaning it was produced following sustainable ecological and socio-economic criteria developed by the Sustainable Agricultural Network, a coalition of independent, environment-focused non-governmental organizations. Coffee
Holiday Gift Coffees 2008: The Rare, the Exceptional, the Weird
Just to be clear, this is not a "10 best coffees of the year" article (or 50 best, or 150, or whatever number of bests an editor intends to dazzle us with). We've reported on many superb coffees over the past year, but by now most of them are a memory. We concentrated on coffees that can be bought now and enjoyed close to their peak in flavor and freshness. Our goal was to turn up coffees that
Ethiopia Beloya Nine
A dry-processed or "natural" coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. Beloya Selection Nine is a specially prepared and selected lot of dry-processed coffee from the Yirgacheffe region exported by S.A. Bagersh. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los
Panama Elida Natural
Produced by the award-winning Elida Estate, this is a dry-processed or "natural" coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit is removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won both the 2003 and 2007
Unassuming Beauty: Coffees of El Salvador and Honduras
Leaders of El Salvador's growing specialty coffee sector are quick to point out what they feel are the particular strengths of their origin. First, large plantings of coffee varieties particularly respected for their flavor and character, and second, generally impeccable preparation of those varieties. This month's cupping of nearly thirty El Salvador coffees from twenty-two American specialty