Most specialty Africa coffees sold in North America are from Ethiopia and Kenya, the two most distinctive coffee origins in the region and arguably in the world. However, coffee is grown in substantial quantities all along the string of mountains and plateaus extending south from Ethiopia and Kenya. Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe all produce interesting, at times
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La Lucie Zimbabwe
Historically Zimbabwe has been the premier coffee origin of southern Africa, admired for its moderately acidy, sweetly fruity coffees. La Lucie Estates is a leading producer of Zimbabwe coffee, exclusively growing the admired SL 28 variety, the cultivar of arabica that produces most of Kenya's finest coffees. Klatch Coffee is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area
Sumatra Blue Batak
Blue Batak is a particularly refined version of the traditional style of Sumatra coffee. 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 United States Barista Championship brewing a Coffee Klatch espresso blend. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Ethiopian Shilcho
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 United States Barista Championship brewing a Coffee Klatch espresso blend. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Cupping the Andes: Southern Colombia, Bolivia and Peru
Coffee growing regions strung along the rugged Andes from central Colombia south through Peru have much in common: high growing altitudes; a reliance on sturdy, simple varieties of arabica like typica and caturra; small-holding farmers whose struggle to produce fine coffee is challenged by daunting transportation problems and sporadic social and political conflict. As in so many other places in
Colombia Huila Supremo
Growing areas east of the Andes in the southern Colombia Department of Huila are particularly admired for their fine coffees. Supremo is the highest grade of Colombia coffee based on fewest physical imperfections and largest bean size. 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 United States
Holiday Blends and Other Gift Coffees
Creating special blends and offerings for the winter holidays is a long-standing coffee tradition, and, well, a cool retail opportunity for roasters. It's a natural: nights are long, mornings are dark, days are cold, and coffee is a good thing. Coffee roasters tend to meet the winter holiday challenge in several ways. One is crafting special holiday blends, usually going for heavy body and
Original Christmas
Coffee Klatch is an award-winning small-batch roasting company in the Los Angeles area with a recently established but quite distinguished record as coffee leader and innovator. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Readers’ Choice Espressos
Well, special readers. The majority of the espressos reviewed this month were nominated by the roasting companies that produced them. I assume that a roaster knows what his best products are, so it also may be logical to expect these espressos to impress. Most did. Of the twenty-eight we tasted, nine scored 90 points or better. Here are reviews of some of the highest rated or most
Ethiopian Hache
This is a dry-processed or "natural" coffee, meaning the beans are dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. As with the finest dry-processed coffees from Ethiopia, the fruit fermented slightly and sweetly during drying, contributing a wild but elegant chocolate-blueberry character. Coffee Klatch is an award-winning
Breakfast Blends 2006: An American Tradition Goes Cosmopolitan
What is a "breakfast blend"? The word and the idea come from a seemingly long-gone era in America when pancakes, diners and endless refills were the norm rather than quaintly retro exceptions. In 2006, what can American specialty coffee consumers expect from the term - and from the coffees? If the twenty-six nominal breakfast blends I sampled this month in collaboration with distinguished
Breakfast Blend
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 United States Barista Championship brewing a Coffee Klatch espresso blend. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Readers’ Choices: The Lush, the Classic, the Ultra-Dark
Our annual readers' choice article often represents an unintentional though perhaps inevitable mini-survey of specialty coffee trends and countertrends. Among this month's twelve top-rated reader-nominated coffees are several that echo the latest developments in the specialty world. Two, for example, are fine examples of the latest coffee type to excite American roasters and aficionados: dry or
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Bella Kara
A dry-processed or "natural" coffee, meaning the beans are dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or "washed" coffees. A prize winner in the 2005 Ethiopia ECafe Competition (www.ecafefoundation.org) competition, where as a green (unroasted) coffee it placed fourth in the dry-processed category, attracting a score of 89.52 from an
Better than Ever: Boutique Espressos
What's a boutique espresso? How about a coffee designed for espresso brewing produced by a very small roasting company for local customers ranging from neighbors to nearby cafes and kiosks. In my most rigorously Platonic version of this definition, the people doing the roasting are ex-baristas (professional espresso machine operators) who got fed up with brewing someone else's coffee and
Belle Espresso
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 United States Barista Championship brewing Coffee Klatch's Klatch Espresso. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more information.
Sumatra
Marvelous aroma, alive with vanilla and wood tones, but the cup settles down to a heavy smokiness unrelieved by lift or sweetness. Hints of dry chocolate turn tobaccoish in the finish. The Coffee Klatch is a small roaster and cafe-retailer founded in 1993, with a loyal following in Rancho Cucamonga and other points east of Los Angeles. Visit www.klatchroasting.com or call 877-455-2824 for more