Thursday, November 27, 2003


phoning it in to the counterculture

yesterday i had the greatest experience: a phone-in cupping with all the awesome people from counterculture. we were tasting their holiday blend. they had the ability to cup the component coffees -- i just had the blend itself.

so i set up my little 3 cups, ground some coffee, boiled the water, and slurped and spit along with them via speakerphone from my own kitchen at home. this was such a blast; i wouldn't have thought it would be so effective long-distance. but it was so great we talked about getting webcams and doing it regularly.

they are redoing their website in january, and after that i think it would be awesome to have massive online cuppings via net meeting, speakerphone, webcam, all that. would you readers be interested? if so comment below, and i'll try to put one together for everyone. . .

the final scores for the blend ranged from i believe 82 to 90. i gave it an 85! what thrilled me about this coffee was that i had already had it for a couple of days. when it was brand-new, i thought i detected a little leather in the aroma, which gave me a bit o' pause.

but by today the coffee was a few days older, and that component in the blend seemed to have faded a bit. the coffee peter et al were using was about 12 hours old.

what i thought was really interesting was that when one of the counterculture people was tasting the component coffees, they themselves noted a "leather strap" feeling! aha! the light bulb went off over my head. . . .

here are my cupping scores for this coffee using the form in scaa chief ted lingle's cupping handbook, which is all i had around:

fragrance/aroma: 8
acidity: 3.5
flavor: 7
body: 6
aftertaste: 8
cuppers points: 2.5 (i liked it better now than when it was
absolutely brand new!)
plus 50!

i would describe this coffee as a light vienna roast, but peter g., the roaster, said it was their full city. i believe he told me the whole-bean agtron value was 47.

i would describe this coffee as sweet, with a low-medium acidity, as well as a sweet spice fragrance (a mix of green and black cardamom; this is a way to say there was something spicy but a little powdery about it; cindy chang described it as "like paperwhite narcissus flowers.").

when i broke the crust and did my thing, i immediately got a big malty/cereal note, with bakers chocolate, and some black currant in the aftertaste.

it was amazing to me how what was apparently in the individual component coffees got modified by the blending process. it was definitely a case of the whole being greater than the parts. . .

after the cupping, peter sent me the low-down on the component coffees. his email descriptions are so great, i'm just popping 'em in:

'Organic Mexico Pluma "Hidalgo"

From the famous Pluma growing region in Oaxaca, Mexico comes a coffee of remarkable depth and character. Shade grown, organically produced and certified Fair Trade, our Mexico Pluma has it all: a deep body, smooth, fruity flavor, and a big, full aroma. This is a great example of the magnificent coffees we now see, at long last, coming from Mexico.

Sustainable farming techniques and quality practices produce coffees of real distinction, and coffee roasters like us are glad to pay the farmers a big premium for these fine coffees. This creates even more incentive for quality, and special coffees like this are the happy result.

The La Trinidad Co-op, a collection of about 350 family farmers, produces this wonderful coffee in Naranjas, Oaxaca, where the warm morning sun and cool afternoon rains produce hard beans of rare sweetness and balance. When we visited the town, we were surprised to find the coffee sun-drying on the rooftops!

A brilliant and drinkable coffee, this is the perfect choice to enjoy with breakfast or during a long Saturday morning. This year's crop has a beautiful fruity note, reminiscent of sweet grape and coffee blossom.

Organic Timor "Maubesse"

Southeast of Java, in the Indonesian archipelago, lies the island of Timor. Ideally situated for coffee cultivation, Timor's climate and rich soil create coffees which, at their best, are world-class examples of the classic Java type. Timor is unique in the coffee world: farmers in Timor have traditionally shunned modern farming techniques, instead opting for traditional, sustainable practices.

This has made the island ideal for Organic coffee production, and Timor has really made the most of this. A huge proportion of the Timorese crop is Certified Organic.

Timor coffees also are unique in their quality. During a time when quality levels in many of the Pacific coffee growing regions were decreasing, Timor embarked on a very successful mission of improving coffee quality. Today, the classic, clean, full, spicy taste which once characterized the finest Estate-grown Javas is only available from Timor.

In 1999, in a dramatic political referendum, East Timor declared its independence. In May, 2002, it was officially recognized as an independent state by the United Nations. Its new government is democratically-run, and hopeful for a great future.

This organic coffee is at once sweet and spicy, with toasty aromas and a nutty aftertaste. Some acidity and a good body make it a perfect coffee for blending, especially with African coffees.

Organic Nicaragua Matagalpa "San Ramon"

In 1993 the Durham - San Ramon Sister Communities project began as an attempt to build awareness, friendship, and cooperation between San Ramon, Nicaragua and Durham, North Carolina. The project focuses on ways to exchange ideas, information, and resources between our community and a struggling coffee-growing community.

One of the initial goals of the project was to promote the region's coffee and help provide a market for it. For years, we have participated in this project by roasting coffee grown in San Ramon and sold in Durham.

San Ramon is near the city of Matagalpa, the capital of what is considered to be one of the finest coffee growing regions in Nicaragua. The region's coffees can be spectacular: lush notes of fruit and spice peeking through a sweet, soft body.

In the spring of 2000, at the invitation of the Sister Communities Project, we visited San Ramon and saw a world of potential. A number of small organic farmers had organized into a co-op, and some were doing the incredible amount of hard work it takes to produce a spectacular coffee.

So we got involved, and over the past few years we have continued to visit, interact, and do our part to give the feedback the farmer needs to produce great coffee. Most of all, we committed to buying great coffees if the farmers produced them. This year, the relationship paid off.

We cupped the coffee of each of the 33 organic producers in San Ramon. Of these, 10 lots stood out as magnificent Nicaraguan coffees. These 10 lots come together to make our Nicaragua San Ramon coffee this year. Here's a list of the farmers names, we are so very proud of their coffee and want to thank them each for their hard work:

Cafe San Ramon Producers 2003
Henry Mendoza, Hector Davila, Francisco Escobar Corea, Felix A. Davila, Carmelo Lopez Diaz, Pedro Valenzuela Mata, Francisco Rivera Castillo, Pedro Haslam, Hamilton Rivera, and the Yucul neighborhood farming group. '

thanks again to the counterculture folks! i have to repeat, this kind of experience is one of the benefits of being an scaa consumer member. . .

posted by fortune | 11:58 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments