Wednesday, November 12, 2008


yemen to die for

for the past week i've been living on — let's face it — oren's yemen mocha haraaz. just open the bag and the whole beans smell like blueberry jam.

oh, that is all good.

the fresh grounds keep that gorgeous blue going. oren loves to chemex all his beans, but honestly this is another one i prefer in the cafetiére (a.k.a. french press to you!), as it benefits the body so.

when i pour the hot water in, the bloom of this ultra-fresh coffee's just intense, like shaking a liter of coca-cola. wowza! is that stout or coffee?

at the second pour, after the first bloom subsides, the careful nose can detect many defects or taints. but oren's mocha haraaz is clean, almost surgically so.

i suppose this might disappoint the true romantic cupper, who thinks all yemen should have a hint of the clay roof on which the coffee dried, and that mysterious historic mixture of straw basket bathed by donkey sweat as the farmer brings it down from the high mountains to sanani. ah donkey sweat!

get out your scaa flavor wheel: oren calls this coffee's taste bright, but unh-unh, i think it's wine-y. and i'm pleased by its strong caramel aroma. the coffee's also impressively smooth, again, an artifact of the press brewing, i think.

of course this coffee's completely organic, doesn't even need to be certified: for the simple reason these tiny yemen farms are just too remote for agribiz trade 'hos to get there and the farmers are frankly too poor to afford any chemicals even if said shysters could arrive.

when it comes to that last point, we coffee lovers really shouldn't feel to good about it, so when you see o's charging US$19 a pound, don't be afraid to open your nose and pay through it. the coffee's worth it, and the farmers deserve it.

you'll be glad you did. a delicious, delicious coffee.

posted by fortune | 7:38 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments