Beginners cupping at Kaffe 1668

I finally held a less advanced cupping than my usual complex lot vs. microlot or espresso blend tastings. We tasted 3 very different coffees, and took our time discussing the method of cupping and also our tasting notes. Here’s what we found for the coffees. We had around 20 people attend, and the favorites split evenly among the three coffees.

Thanks again to Alexander Ruas for documenting the night with some wonderful photos! He spent the week visiting from Sweden, and I was happy to arrange a great event at the new Kaffe in his honor!

1. Finca Mauritania Peaberry Santa Ana, El Salvador


Fragrance (dry): nuts, dried fruit, straw/hay, cocoa, earthy, burnt, licorice
• Aroma (wet) & Break: dark chocolate, cherries/cranberries, salty, caramel, lemony
• Brightness: medium-high
• Flavor: nuts, caramels, apricot, plum
• Body: very light
• Aftertaste: tang, salty, cashews, charcoal

This is a really interesting coffee and I definitely recommend the read about Finca Mauritania and Aida Batille’s farming practices.

2. The second coffee was Ecco Caffe‘s new Ethiopian Natural Processed Sidamo

• Fragrance (dry): berries, nuts, coffee, citrus, strawberry, orange peel
• Aroma (wet) & Break: berry pie, cinnamon, floral
• Brightness: high
• Flavor: tea, maple syrup, tropical fruit, very tart, floral
• Body: light to medium, watery
• Aftertaste: blueberries, melon

This coffee is brand new to Ecco so it was a real treat to taste it. Hopefully it will be for sale on the website soon. Here is the info that is on the bag:

Ethiopia Sidamo origin, Kemal Abdellah producer. Harvest took place from December 2007-February 2008. It was part of “Operation Cherry Red.” The coffee is from the Korito Koran/Dara Distric, grown at 1800-2200 Meters, and is certified organic.

3. The third offering was Gimme! Coffee’s Caranavi, Bolivia

• Fragrance (dry): BBQ, maple syrup, woodsy, dark, smoke, lemon zest
• Aroma (wet) & Break: pipe tobacco, wine
• Brightness: medium to low
• Flavor: orange, black walnuts, tanins, acrid indian river gangies
• Body: mouth-filling, medium to heavy
• Aftertaste: mild smoke, fog, sticky, cinnamon, pine

We were stunned when “pine” was listed on the tasting notes for the bag as well. Go NYCS cuppers. This is another interesting read, as Ceneaproc is a well-known fair trade cooperative.

Thanks to everyone who came, I hope you all had fun, and to those of you who missed it, don’t worry, we’ll be back!

~ by Anne on November 10, 2008.