Yesterday was a fantastic day! I arrived at the office knowing that new crop Ethiopian Beloya and Ethiopian Aricha selections were waiting for me to sample roast. You can just imagine my anticipation as these are two of the most sought after African coffees in the world, and we had them in our greedy little coffee starved hands. Ethiopia Beloya last year was one of the highest rated coffees ever by Ken Davids at Coffee Review.com. So when I got word that my samples were here, I couldn’t wait to fire up the sample roaster and get to work.

But it wasn’t just Beloya and Aricha that excited me. We’ve also been receiving samples from Finca El Palacio in the Huila region of Colombia. We have been developing this Direct Trade Coffee for several years now and the samples received so far this year suggest that this is the best year yet for this outstanding coffee. In large part, we suspect, because we switched to a new exporter who is watching over the harvest for us and making sure the processing of each micro-lot is handled with care! We’ve been thrilled so far with the progress, and we think you’ll enjoy Finca El Palacio more this year than ever before. Arrival is still some time away, but the early returns are very exciting.

So back to the sample roasting. A couple other coffees needed roasted as well. Samples of a washed Yirgacheffe and a washed Harrar had made their way to my desk and now seemed like as good a time as any to make the comparison. Initially I was hesitant, as putting almost any other Ethiopians on the table against Beloya and Aricha is unfair, but I also liked the idea of keeping comparable coffees together. I thought “lets just see how good these coffees really are.”

All of the coffees roasted beautifully with only a slight challenge from the El Palacio samples, as the moisture content was still quite high (harvest samples). Now it’s just a matter of allowing the coffee to rest before giving them their judgment day! But as I brought the coffees into the office to share with Bryan, our assistant quality control cupper, the thought crossed my mind, why wait? I thought with a smile! Bryan agreed and off we went to cup the freshly roasted samples. Of course we knew we had plenty to cup 24 hours later as well, so this cupping was really just for the enjoyment of it. The final judgment will come later this morning.

The Next Day:

The results from yesterday were as expected!

Ethiopia Beloya Seletion Eight first brought an outstanding fragrance that was floral yet sweet with coffee blossom, perfume and hints of ripe fruit. On the break it was more complex with an almost clove like spice in the nose. This really intrigued me and left me wondering what the first sip would bring.

Ethiopia Beloya Selection One had a similarly outstanding fragrance. But on Selection One I noticed a lack of the “clove” like scent in the fragrance. We certainly didn’t detect this as a bad quality, but rather just interesting that the two selections seemed so different in the nose. Micro-lot One seemed complete, balanced and really well structured. We felt Eight was “dramatic” and had a certain flare for the blueberry.

As I paused briefly to allow the cup to cool, Bryan and I wondered aloud if it could be everything that it was last year. Will this cup live up to expectations. So far we were not disappointed, but would the cup hold up?

As I slurped the first sip of Selection One, I released a sigh of relief! You know that feeling of “WOW, finally, we found it?” This coffee was sweet, complex with a creamy body and very tightly structured, and more importantly, everything I hoped it would be. A juicy and winey cup that is complex with a long, deep finish. Wow!

Moving on to Selection Eight, the flavor profile was so different! Eight is very fruit forward but not in an aggressive manner, rather more like having a Blueberry Muffin and getting a mouthful of blueberries with every bite. Delicious but very direct. Not as balanced nor complete, yet every bit as impressive as Selection One.

Moving along the table, the washed Yirgacheffe sample truly impressed us. Clean with a sweet caramel finish. A wonderful coffee if it had not been paired with Beloya and Aricha. The Colombia Finca El Palacio again surprised us at the table. We expected a nice cup and received an excellent cup. It even held it’s own on the table. Nice rounded flavors that really complimented each other. This will be an exciting year for Finca El Palacio! Excellent work Luis!

So as an hour passed and the cups cooled with each passing of the table, we formed our opinions about the coffees. The Beloyas, One and Eight, stole the show! Aricha was outstanding as expected - but a little too fruit forward and obvious for my taste. We felt the Arichas were wonderful but you wouldn’t want more than a single cup of this coffee. A little too powerful for our line up of coffees this year. The Beloyas however have found a home in our fall line up of coffees!

We have a limited amount of Selection One and Selection Eight that we will be offering in 12oz. bags for the next couple of weeks. Get them while they last. I know I’ll be drinking a cup over the weekend at my house!

Warm Regards from the Cupping Table at PTs!

Jeff T.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under 90+ coffee reviews, New and Notable, TRAVELS TO SOURCE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.