Colombia - 2006 Cup of Excellence - La Virginia
$20.00/lb
Farmer: Olga Lara
Over at Ecco, Andrew is roasting this coffee right now for drip. No, I did not try to pull it as espresso!!! I only had half a bag to cup out and we really enjoy just breaking the crust in the cup like they do at the roasterie. I struggled a bit to find good descriptors. The fruit was a clean, not quite tannic in flavor, and I was thinking of these clean sweet pears I had growing up. The kind you have to store before they ripen enough to eat. Picked off the tree, they are crisp like an apple but too tough to enjoy. I also got this sugary, not quite caramel flavor as this is an intensely sweet coffee. It's kinda subtle but oh so nice. Andrew's roasts always have a little cocoa of some kind underneath in a soft manner that clears as the cup cools. Overall, I think Ben said it best... It's like a chewy sweet sugary candy with some dried fruit in there.
Andrew's notes on this "This gem snagged third place in the First Harvest Colombia CoE competition, but was our first pick when cupping the top lots! We were smitten by its tantalizing cocoa aromatics and unforgettable balance. Flavor highlights feature bing cherry, apricot, Muscat grape and a creamy Tupelo honey finish."
Right now I am patiently waiting for new shipment of Yirgacheffe from Terroir. Rumors are they will have an exceptional Yirgacheffe that will be great as an SOS. You can dose it to 16g and pull it under a better range of temps. I would love to see some espresso from them that has play. Where you could change the dose and get slightly different flavors or work the espresso through a variable temp range.
Food for thought anyway.
-Jaime
