Tuesday, January 24, 2006


tragic news

today i promised to tell you about yesterday's c.o.e. bolivia winner, since we had just made the acquaintance of the farmer, juan de dios blanco. and i still will describe it for you today.

but first i want you to remember juan's beautiful words from yesterday and keep them in mind. because alas it's with the deepest shock and regret that i must tell you what i have just learned this morning -- that juan was killed last week in a tragic car accident.

susie spindler of the c.o.e. is currently in central america, and we hope that when she returns she will post more information on the c.o.e. website. at that time, we also hope she will have details as to how we can help the blanco family -- his widow, his poor children.

drinking his beautiful coffee is the only connection we have with him right now. surely his family remains in all our prayers.

andrew roasted this pound of juan's coffee on jan. 19. so this morning it was 5 days old; as is usual with andrew's ecco, it is roasted in his usual northern-italain style.

the beans display a light sheen, but show no visible oil. what i'd call a full city+ roast.

i brewed this in the vac pot as usual: 60g./2.1 oz. fresh ground coffee to 1 liter/33 oz. water. total brew time was about 4 mins. 30 secs.

got your scaa flavor wheel? here goes!

the dry grounds presented the most lovely sweet floral scent, one with what reminded me strongly of orange-flower water. alas, i couldn't get this delicate note into the cup; maybe i need to experiment with the grind a little more.

my first sip of this coffee gave me a very strong caramel-y, syrupy, butterscotch-y impression. the aftertaste was definitely lightly chocolate.

i found this to be sweet and full, hovering on the edge of nippy in taste. altho' the vac pot tends to diminish body by its nature, i thought it had a fair body when i swirled my spoon through it in mary p's venetian-gondola motion.

what needs to be emphasized is how clean this cup is, and how nicely balanced.

i have no doubt this high clean-'n-balanced character is why the coffee was given a 93.5 by the professional tasting jury.

by the end of breakfast, i decided that actually i might prefer this coffee with a pinch of raw sugar. i thought it enhanced that butterscotch note.

with a splash of light cream, the hovering nippiness was reduced, but the aftertaste became a bit more pronounced.

so i think this is just a gorgeous coffee to drink black, with sugar, or with cream and sugar. highly recommended!

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