First Prize El Salvador 2007 Cup of Excellence Winner, La Montaña, to be roasted this Monday, October 15

La Montaña is a very small farm by El Salvador standards, measuring just under 14 acres. Each year since 2004 Raul Ochoa has entered his coffee into the Cup of Excellence competition. In that year he got 31 st place; in 2005 his coffee won 5 th place and in 2006 4 th . This year it is 1st place. Only farmers who are intensely committed to quality have a record like this. Mr. Ochoa pays his pickers 50% above the legal wage and the resulting sweet ripeness from hot to cold reflects that investment.

Pacamara is rapidly gaining a reputation in specialty coffee as one of the pinnacle varieties of Arabica coffee. This La Montaña lot is an extra-fine example; it is all about proportion and grace, flowing with overlapping layers of balanced sweet fruit from hot to cold. Finely woven subtle flavors of honey, brown sugar, rich, black Assam tea, malt, and stone fruits unfurl from an initial scent of pure coffee tinged with roses and soft lavender when hot. The cup has full-bodied buttery texture which fine Pacamaras are noted for. A classic Central American coffee!

Coffee Review has just given this coffee a 93 score, citing its great depth and aromatic range of sensation.

La Montaña will be roasted Full Flavor style. To order click here or call (866) GHH-JAVA. $33.95 per 12 oz.

Farmer: Raúl Ochoa Hernández
Region: Chalatenango
Altitude: 4,500 ft
Rainfall: moderate + (86.5 in)
Soil: clay loam
Processing method: washed and sun-dried
Arabica cultivar: 100% Pacamara
Size of farm: 13.84 acres

La Esperanza is a jammy ripe dark plum-saturated coffee, layered with tropical fruits, blueberry and streaks of honeyed raw sugar cane tapering into a long complex blossoming finish. It is among the finest of any Colombian I have had, an exemplary coffee revealing a peak expression of Colombian terroir .

Farmer Isaias Cantillo recounts how he went from coffee picker to farmer with an ambition to excel. To read this click here.

The La Esperanza micro-lot is pristine fresh, having been specially packaged at origin and then, upon arrival here, immediately cold-stored to prevent any aging. Taste what the international jurors tasted in Colombia during late February 2007.

La Esperanza will be roasted this Monday, October 1. $41.95 per 12 oz roasted. Please call (866) 444-5282 to make reservations or click here to order online.

Farmer: Isaias Cantillo Osa
Region: Huila
Altitude: 5,000 ft.
Rainfall: Moderate+
Soil: Franco Arciloso
Arabica variety: 75% Caturra, 25% V de Colombia
Size of Farm: 37 acres; 7.4 acres of coffee
Roast: North Italian

La Esmeralda has won the Best of Panama Competition every year since it first appeared in 2004 when it took the international jury by storm. This year it's entry micro-lot sold at auction for over $130 per pound green. Gesha, an Arabica coffee variety exported from the wild forests of Ethiopia in 1931, was introduced into Central America in the 1950's. It was a disappointment back then because its production was quite poor and so very little was grown. Then in 2004 Price Peterson and his son Daniel decided to change their coffee entry into the yearly Panama coffee competition, selecting only their Gesha variety instead of the blend of coffee varieties they had been offering up before. Gesha is now the rage.

La Esmeralda deserves great praise not only for the Peterson's original vision but for how well crafted the coffee is. Quality continues to improve. La Esmeralda's great sweetness indicates real care in picking strictly ripe fruit.

This coffee leaps out of the cup with aromatic plumes of jasmine rapidly transforming into powerful bursts of full-bodied sweet apricot, succulent mango and the most sparkling peach laced with ginger as the cup cools.

La Esmeralda Especial will be roasted on Monday, October 22. $31.95 per 12 oz roasted. Please call (866) 444-5282 to make reservations or click here to order online.

Farmer: Price and Daniel Peterson
Region: Boquete
Altitude: 5,200 ft.
Rainfall: high
Soil: ?
Arabica variety: Gesha
Size of Farm: 123.6 acres, 3% of which is La Esmeralda Especial
Roast: Full Flavor

We have a very limited supply of the famously popular 2006 Maria Santos Los Sauces coffee available on a first come basis. This somewhat controversial “stash” was secretly squirreled away by an not-to-be named employee - Maria Santos enthusiast, for a rainy day. Now that the rains have finally come to New England, we're roasting this last of the 2006 crop today, October 11 th , which we expect to be gone my Monday, so order now. Available while supplies last.

Los Sauces fans will be pleased to hear the new crop for 2007 is “on the water” as we write this, and should be available again in November, and is another outstanding crop from Maria Santos.

We have transitioned to the newer Technivorm brewers, called the CD Moccamaster models. These are the same outstanding brewers you are used to with a slightly smaller foot print on your counter.  Internally and functionally, they are identical, using very high quality components from Europe . 

These 1,475-Watt machines brew at the correct temperature of 200˚ F every time from start to finish, unlike others which are not powerful enough. A full pot of coffee brews in 6.5 minutes flat; it is simple to use, easy to maintain and comes with a one year warranty. We carry two models of the Moccamaster CD, one with a glass carafe (Model # 9932), and one with a vacuum stainless thermal carafe (Model # 9580). The Technivorm was designed by Gerard-Clement Smit, who was awarded this year's Technician Award by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe.

We recently tested the Technivorm against several current home brewers, and plotted the actual performance results here. As you can see, the coffee groundsin the Technivorm reach the proper extraction temperature fastest, and hold it there for the entire brew time, and they also finish first. Unlike other brewers, they maintain the proper extraction temperatures regardless of batch size.

We include a free thermometer and scoop with all models. Order yours here.

A real burr grinder is the gateway to making full-flavored fresh coffee with maximum sweetness. Getting the right uniform grind is critical to producing great coffee - you want to extract all the sweetness while holding back harsher notes due to over-extracted finer particles. The Virtuoso does the best job on the market in this price class and offers a wide selection of grinds to suit your brewer's needs. Click here for more information and to purchase. Time to junk the blade grinder for convenience and accuracy!

With this brief overview I begin the story of how quality coffee is produced, from seed to cup.

There are three key stages of production. The first is farming , which principally involves nurturing coffee plants in a tropical environment and culminates, nine months after flowering, with the harvest. The second stage is the processing of the raw, green coffee seeds which we call “beans;” this involves removing the two seeds from the fruit, drying them to a stable moisture content, sorting them, to assure quality consistency from cup to cup and storing the coffee before shipping. The second stage ends when the coffee is shipped to the roaster. The third and last stage, roasting , involves long-term green beantorage, roasting, packaging, and brewing of the coffee beans into a beverage, ready for consumption.

A fine coffee should be clean tasting, sweet (not sugary), and aromatic. Before reaching our cups, however, coffee goes through a long and perilous journey of transformations. There are many decision points through all three stages of production where quality can be irretrievably lost and often is. At the farm level, for instance, it can be forfeited in the choice of the seed, or in the decision of where the coffee plants will grow, or in caring for the plant, or in the harvest. Processing and finishing involve many more quality decision points. The consumer can even purchase a masterpiece only to destroy it in the brewing, the final decision point! There is the potential for the world to produce a lot of very fine coffee. Sadly, quality is usually sacrificed due to error or cost considerations. Chronic low coffee prices paid to farmers throughout most of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have held back coffee's full potential to delight consumers.

In the next newsletter we will begin reviewing in more detail each of the stages of coffee's road to quality.

Please call (866) GHH-JAVA to reserve a place, limited seating!

Flat Rate shipping program continued…indefinitely

Due to popular demand, and your support, we have made the Flat-Rate Shipping program permanent

$4 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a commercial address;
$5 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a residential address
via UPS Ground service.

For more than 7 coffee items, just add $1 per bag.

All other types of shipment are at standard rates.

Please help us continue this well received program by changing your ship-to address to a commercial address , and help to reduce green-house gases. If you would like us to modify your ship-to address to a commercial one, please e-Mail instructions to Jenny@terroircoffee.com or call us at (866) GHH-JAVA.