10 Best Coffee's of 2011

Different year, different theme.
We had a lot of coffee's from Roastery's all over the world. Never tasted so many brilliant coffee's as in 2011.
Although we didn't mind the other years, I think it's very difficult to really judge a coffee well by only bag, even if it's a 1k bag.
So only Caffenation coffee's this year.

We had some ups and down. Not only in our coffees, also in our roastings. It was only by easter our espresso roasts were really hitting the spot on a consistent basis.
For the filters it even took a couple months longer, but then my boys Jazzy Jeff, Mc Roeland, Birdy Bert and Sickboy Jurgen seemed to be unstoppable.

The Five most memorable Espresso coffee's of 2011 were :

1) El Salvador Miralvalle COE lot #8. A coffee with a lot of faces, but always clean, complex, aging very well and easy to pull. Most remarkable flavor : Candied Fruits.
2) Burundi Burimba. Not the most stable one, but on its best, the best. Very deep, full flavored coffee that was really triggering peoples buds. Flavor # 1 : Fruity Spices. (does this exists?)
3) Rwanda Rwabisindu. A very versatile coffee and therefor the perfect fit for our Aeropress Championships, but even more outstanding on espresso and also part of the LGB around easter. Most dominating flavor : Lemon!
4) Malawi Mzuzu. It made its first appearance around May, to come back - half force - in November. A Geisha that was liked immediately by almost everybody.
Most remarkable flavor : Vanilla.
5) Zimbabwe Pezuru : Probably surprising for most of people, cause we only had it in very briefly. It also came in a bit on accident, since I thought i ordered a new bag of Zimbabwe Salimba, and I first used the Pezuru for our Mokka Man Blend, but that one batch as SOE was a big surprise. Clean and powerful and very typical Eastern Africa acidity. (Blood) Orange upfront.
And fresh AA crop will arrive at our warehouse next week!! Something to look forward to.

Then the filters. It was a Kenya walk over in 2011. Lots of nice Ethiopians, Tanzania's, Centrals and a super popular Zambia (Munali), but the Kenya coffee's were only (briefly) stoppable by this famous Panama.

1) Kenya Thunguri. It wasn't number 1 at the cupping table, but that one Sunday in Milan at the WAC it gave everything we (and the judges) ever wanted. Most special about this coffee was the combination of sweet fruit en green vegs - very, very special!
2) Panama Esmeralda. Not their best lot, and yes, it is over priced, but how full flavored was this coffee!? No, not the first week, but then it slammed us all. Most special flavor : Pomegranate.
3) Kenya Mwiria. This coffee was number one in our clients popularity charts. It felt like every single person that bought a bag of this bean came back for more. Hopefully back in the program for this year and hopefully the ripe Red Cherry flavors are back in it.
4) Kenya Karimikui PB. We just missed the AA version and didn't really like the AB, but the Peaberry had it all. A stunning coffee at a 'normal' price. "We Want More. We Want More"!! Caramel in the house.
5) Kenya Kiria. Our current Kenya and as spectacular as the others. It's like a liquid tropical fruit basket juice. But even more : Strawberry (full) Yoghurt. Yes.

I want to end up with mentioning the Costa Rica Zarcero fell short in both lists. It desserved a Top 5 I think, but it's still a bit young at our menu. Call it a top tip for the beginning of 2012 and, together with the Kiria, still available thoughout Jan and Feb.

HAVE A VERY NICE NEW YEAR AND STAY TUNED FOR MORE COFFEE NEWS IN 2012.
CIAO
ROB