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This is truly the motherlode. CCC sent me five amazing coffees to sample last month and all were simply home runs. Here’s my notes on each.
Aida’s Grand Reserve Special Microlot, Finca Mauritania, El Salvador, $32.50 / 12oz.
A super premium coffee, and definitely worth the price, This is the coffee equivalent of Oculus or Grange in the wine world. It’s an all peaberry coffee that was cupped and microloted by Aida and CCC’s chief cupper and buyer, Peter Guliano. They started selling this in very limited editions on January 15, 2008, but if you hurry, you should still be able to get some.
Tasting notes: I was tasting everything in this as the coffee mellowed and cooled down. Notes of bittersweet chocolate, cherry and if you can believe it, cantelope – nice, juicy, sweet – dominated at the start, but lots of spicy, peppery flavours intermingled. I had this as a press, vac pot and aeropress, and each method presented some special unique things in the cup. Totally blown away, and when I was through the 12oz, I wished I had 36oz more.
At $32.50, it’s not cheap to the layman, but a bargain to those who appreciate great coffee.
Finca Mauritania Peaberry, Finca Mauritania Pulp Natural, Finca Mauritania Pasa.
These three coffees are to be sold in a three pack by Counter Cuture Coffee, but are not listed on the website as of this writing – best to call them at (888) 238-5282 for details. I have no idea on the price, but would guess it would be around $40-$60 for the three pack.
These are the other amazing microlots offered by Aida Batlle and Counter Culture. They each present some very unique tastes based on different sorting, picking, and pulping methods.
The Peaberry Microlot was close the the Grand Reserve in terms of taste profile, though it’s obvious that the Grand Reserve is the ultra premium – this one’s just the premium. I got a lot of fruits and vanilla on the initial aroma of this coffee and chocolate, red fruits, and a fairly bright, dancing acidity on the tongue. Vanilla returned in the aftertaste, and it was just a great coffee experience. Highly recommended.
Pulp Natural – from what I understand, one of the many experiments that Ms. Batlle has been involved with on her farms, and this resulted in a very fruity deep, heavy body coffee that I think just about everyone who likes coffee can appreciate. It’s much more earthy than the other offerings here, but still maintains the sweetness level that the Mauritania coffees are known for. There is a cherry bomb throughout the taste – start, middle, aftertaste.
Pasa – another experiment from Finca Mauritania – this one is following the (Australia’s) Mountain Top “Bin 35” model a bit. The cherries used to produce this coffee were left to raisin (I think Mountain Top lets this happen on the tree, while Ms. Batlle did it after they were picked). The result is something quite different – so much so that Counter Culture recommends this as an after dinner coffee, “perhaps in a snifter”.
In my tasting notes, I got plums and cherries with a bit of earthiness in the aromas, followed up by – yes – raisins, cherries and chocolate in the cup. Superbly deep body, low acidity, huge mouthfeel and a very pleasant aftertaste. If there ever was an after dinner coffee, this is definitely in that league. It’ll be interesting to see where this coffee production style goes in the next few years, but right now at least, it’s a knockout.
Kuta Waghi Valley, Papua New Guinea, Counter Culture Coffee, $9.95 / 12oz
I can’t believe the price of this coffee. At $10, it’s a complete steal. It should be $20 or more, based on what it delivered to me in my cup. But then again, this coffee’s target tastes are everything I love in good coffees – deep chocolate, lots of cherry and red fruits, low acidity, and huge body. That’s what the bag said, and here’s what my cupping notes say
Tasting notes: Aroma is off the charts – I’m getting chocolate and red fruits, and chicory spices. In the cup – this is a syrupy, deep body coffee. There’s a melange of tastes from hints of chocolate (I think it’s more from the aroma) to nuts and red fruits and a bit of citrus without any acidity. Like hints of those tiny Christmas mandarin oranges, just barely there as it cools. There’s a very lingering, buttery coating aftertaste that makes you want to savour it for some time. At $10, this is a must buy.
About the Author
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.