Saturday, May 08, 2004


o. . . my. . . heavens. . .

yes, friends, perfection is possible. i've fallen off the horse. that glowing light in the sky isn't metatron.

it's the gentle warmth emanating from what may be a flawless cup of coffee, oren's guatemalan cobán. and dear long-time readers, you know from patient reading i don't even like central american coffees.

that's why i'm describing this as your basic conversion experience. let's roll the linglese from the scaa flavor wheel and the nez du café.

unfortunately this coffee isn't labelled with an estate. so all i can tell you is that it's a cobán shb, but i'm assuming it's oren's usual one you can buy in his store.

from the bloom in cupping it, i think it's about 4 days old. i'd call this bean a full-city roast, with a light sheen, but no actual dots or pinpricks of oil.

it's a rich, smooth-bodied coffee, of amazing beauty and complexity. the fragrance from the dry grounds smells like heaven. ok, cardamom and jasmine/tea-rose.

then we get into the flavors of basmati rice and honey, modulating into a lovely dark caramel and intense vanilla syrup thing. . .

hot, the cup seemed sweet and mild. cool, the light & pleasing brightness (a.k.a. acidy) became more apparent. i'd call it the nicest kind of nippy.

i was just stunned at the loveliness of this coffee. it smelled so good mr. right, who drinks only lattes, and then only on the weekend, actually considered having a cup! imagine: the diet coke drinker -- pondering a cup of real coffee!

i would say this coffee equals my two absolute favorite drip coffees, the yrg and sumatra from don schoenholt's gillies.

i rushed to make this in the cafetiére (a.k.a. french press). my kitchen filled with an intoxicating lovely fresh coffee scent.

i poured myself a cup, added the standard tablespoon of light cream and a demitasse spoon of turbinado sugar. now, that was heavenly.

the turbinado sugar and milk brought out the candy quality in the coffee and i had 2 cups. i don't like central american coffee. . .will someone catch that darned horse?

or as don schoenholt himself says: "i consider oren's daily roast to be a treasure of new york's coffee bar culture."

posted by fortune | 6:34 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments