Cupping Notes by Roel & Jazzy J

A lot of coffee’s coming in from Knopes and a little delivery from George Howell’s terroir, Roeland and I had a little time Wednesday to cup them all. Here’s the lot:

1^st up was the Gichathaini, Nyeri, Kenya, north Italian roast. It is amazing what a different roasting profile can do to a bean. First of all, the color of the beans looked the same as any medium roast so it was expected that it would cup like a usual Kenya. But this was not the case, very low in this cup. (Over) ripe blackberries, some caramel also some dirt.

2^nd was La Montaña, Chalatenango, El Salvador, full flavor roast. Roeland noticed very malty notes on this one, I thought it had more nuttiness with nut peel. Good balance between honeyed sweetness and lemony acidity crisp and clean.

3rd was a little bit more exclusive Marco Aurelio's Villa Flor, Nariño, Colombia, full flavor roast. Columbia was the star in last year’s WBC, always exiting to taste, a lot of surprises, so expectations were high on this one. Very complex and hard to describe, mango and tropical fruit notes, very sweet and clean. Low acidity. One very big feature is that this is a 2007 crop, I didn’t notice it until I read it in my mailbox just now! George Howell used frozen vacuum sealed bags to keep this one fresh, it clearly works.

4th was Kirigu Estate Kenya from Knopes coffee roasters. A lot of Knopes’ coffee came in last week, this one may be the best, at least for cupping. Extremely crisp raspberry acidity with sugar cane sweetness. Blueberry all around. Red wine, but creamy after all. We will expect more excellence from this roaster in the future.

(for this Kenya : also watch In My Mug by Steve L.)

Jazzy Jeff & Roel Zoekt Boel.