First place winner in the 2007 El Salvador Cup of Excellence competition. La Montana farm, in the northeast corner of El Salvador near the border with Honduras, is planted with Bourbon, Pacas and Pacamara varieties of Arabica. This lot is comprised entirely of the Pacamara variety, a cross between the giant-beaned Maragogipe variety and Pacas, a selection of the heirloom Bourbon. Pacamara has
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El Salvador Finca Los Lainez
The fields of Finca Las Lainez are planted entirely in the heirloom Bourbon variety of Arabica. A prize winner in the 2008 El Salvador Cup of Excellence (www.cupofexcellence.org) competition, where as a green (unroasted) coffee this lot attracted a score of 89.31 from an international jury. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident
The Budget Aficionado: Top Value Single-Origin Coffees
When we made a decision last year to do an article aimed at finding great coffees at rock-bottom prices, we had no idea that the publication of this article would coincide with one of the most dismal times in recent American economic history. Our intention then was simply to find some bargain coffees to balance the more expensive selections that were beginning to dominate ratings at Coffee Review.
El Salvador 100% Bourbon
Available in a one-pound valve bag at $9.95. Bourbon is a prestigious, heirloom variety of Coffea Arabica; El Salvador is fortunate to have considerably more plantings of Bourbon than most other Central American coffee producers. 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
The Rainforest Alternative: Twelve plus One Rainforest-Certified Coffees
It has been well over ten years since the Sustainable Agriculture Network launched the Rainforest Alliance Certified program for coffee. Unlike the more widely publicized Fair-Trade certification, which is principally a socio-economically focused certification aimed mainly at helping democratically-run cooperatives of small-holding, peasant growers achieve better prices for their coffees,
Panama Esmeralda Lot 9
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 from trees of the botanical variety "Gesha" or "Geisha" grown on farmer Price Peterson's Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama has for
Panama Carmen Estate
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. Carmen Estate is among the most distinguished of Panama's many fine coffee farms, with a string of successes in green coffee competitions.
Kenya Peaberry Kii
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. 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
Costa Rica La Minita
Specialty coffee pioneer Bill McAlpin's La Minita Estate Tarrazu was in many ways the original estate coffee, a coffee that twenty or so years ago breathtakingly raised the bar for green coffee quality and distinction. As this version confirms, it remains a benchmark for purity, balance and classic clarity of cup. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles
Single-Origin Espressos 2008
Those new to espresso connoisseurship may be surprised to learn that producing this dense, aromatic beverage from coffee of a single origin rather than from a blend of coffees from different origins is a mildly controversial practice. Traditionalists argue that the espresso system extracts flavor-bearing components from coffee so efficiently that a single coffee from a single origin is not
“S” as in Sexy: New Specialty Offerings from Brazil
The fact that at least half of the American roasters submitting coffees for this month's cupping spelled Brazil with an "s" - the Portuguese-Brazilian spelling - may be symptomatic of what has happened of late to the reputation of high-end coffees from that country. The spelling implies that these are not your old-fashioned, low-grown, stolid Brazils of years past, but Brasils with an "s" -
Brazil Fazenda Boa Vista
Processed by the traditional Brazilian natural or dry method, meaning the coffee was dried with both skin and fruit still adhering to the bean. From the Carmo de Minas growing region, an area relatively high in altitude and cool in climate, which may account for this coffee's balanced but quietly powerful acidity. A sixth-place winner from a field of approximately one thousand green coffees at a
Brazil Fazenda Cambara
Processed by the pulped natural method, meaning 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. From the Carmo de Minas growing region, an area relatively high in altitude and cool in climate. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose
Colombia Micro-Lot Wilmer Delgado
From the farm of Wilmer Delgado, grown at an elevation of 6,000 feet from trees of the caturra variety. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area featuring small lots of exceptional coffees and whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships and placed second in the 2007 World Championship
Juan Valdez’s Progeny: Micro-Lot and Other Fine Colombias
This month's cupping of coffees from Colombia confirms that this giant among coffee producers has successfully turned at least a portion of its industry from supplier of immense quantities of good-but-not-great generic "100% Colombian" coffee to prized source of smaller (sometimes tiny) lots of subtly distinctive specialty coffees. Handsome symbol Juan Valdez and his photogenic mule are being
Colombia Micro-Lot Humberto Gonzales
From the farm of Humberto Gonzales and part of the Las Mingas project, a green coffee quality competition in southern Colombia supported by several leading small North-American roasting companies. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area featuring small lots of exceptional coffees and whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won the 2003 and
Ethiopian Aricha Seven
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. Aricha Selection Seven is a specially prepared and selected lot of dry-processed coffee from the Yirgacheffe region exported by S.A. Bagersh and air shipped to the United States by Joseph Brodsky's Ninety Plus Coffee
Ethiopian Worka
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. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships and placed second in
Best of Panama #3 Elida Estate
A prize winner in the 2007 Best of Panama competition, where as a green (unroasted) coffee it placed third out of hundreds of entries, attracting a score of 90.2 from an international jury. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area whose resident barista and trainer, Heather Perry, won the 2003 and 2007 United States Barista Championships and placed
Esmeralda Especial Panama
Coffee from trees of the botanical variety "Gesha" or "Geisha" grown on farmer Price Peterson's Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama has for the last several years consistently broken records paid for a green coffee: A 2007 lot sold at auction this for an extraordinary $130 per pound. This lot of Gesha is from the same fields, crop and variety as the record-breaking auction lot but was sold outside