Light, North Italian-style roasts for two of our Limited Edition special reserve coffees will be the order of the day for the next two weeks. 

Slightly darker roasts (than our Full Flavor) work particularly well with espresso machines and French press - and any method by which sediment is produced.  And for those who brew with paper drip filters, as I do, if the chiseled flavor bursts of our Full Flavor roasted Special Reserve coffees were too blazing for your palate, then this North Italian roast style is a more shaded portal by which to explore these two monster coffees.  Here are the two coffees scheduled:

La Esmeralda is a spectacular product of terroir, craftsmanship and the powerhouse Arabica coffee bean variety Gesha, exported from the wild forests of Ethiopia in 1931, introduced into Central America in the 1950's, where it languished like a Panamanian Sleeping Beauty because it was not productive enough, and which has, upon awakening three years ago, risen in all its bedazzling glory. Since first taking the international jury by storm in the 2004 Best of Panama Competition, it has taken first place every year since. This year its selected micro-lot sold at auction for over $130 per pound green. For Terroir Coffee drinkers who felt they needed a special pair of "protective sunglasses" with our Full Flavor roast presentation, this may be the roast version to try. For espresso folks, prepare for bedazzlement!

La Esmeralda deserves great praise not only for the Petersons' 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 29. $31.95 per 12 oz. 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

First Prize El Salvador 2007 Cup of Excellence Winner, La Montaña, to be roasted Monday, November 5th!

This La Montaña lot is like essence of coffee itself. It has perfect pitch! La Montaña is all about proportion and grace, flowing with overlapping layers of lively yet 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 a sensuous full-bodied buttery mouthfeel.

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 31st place; in 2005 his coffee won 5th place and in 2006 4th. This year it took 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 a variety of Arabica coffee plant produced very large beans. Despite their extra size they are dense and packed with flavor notes when carefully produced. Pacamara is rapidly gaining a reputation in specialty coffee as one of the pinnacle varieties of Arabica coffee.

La Montaña will be roasted North Italian Espresso style. To order click here or call (866) GHH-JAVA. $35.95 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

VSE coffees represent very small lots of pinnacle quality coffees that, because of limited supply, are not sold on an everyday basis.  Please click here to see the schedule through the end of the year.

We have run out of Nguguini from the 2005 crop and are now about to start roasting coffee from our 2006 crop Kahindu Cooperative, a great coffee I last had the pleasure to offer back in the early 1990's when I had The Coffee Connection. Kahindu has 725 members, all small farmers. This small lot is of very fine quality with classic lively sweet dense blackberry and black currant notes throughout and a very clean finish. Click here to purchase - or call us at (866) GHH-JAVA. $13.95 per 12 ounces, Full Flavor Roast.

Farmer: Kahindu Cooperative
Region: Muranga
Altitude: 5,700 feet average
Rainfall: low = 43 in per year average
Soil: red volcanic loam
Processing method: washed and sun-dried
Arabica cultivar: 97% SL28 & 3% Ruiru 11
Size of farms: average under 4 acres

La Minita, Costa Rica $11.95, regular price $13.95

Kangocho, Kenya $13.95, regular price $15.95

Daterra Special Reserve, Brazil $11.95, regular price $13.95

These are three radically different coffees, all full flavor roasted:  The La Minita is the classic Costa Rica coffee done with consummate care to produce an ultra-smooth drinking experience from hot to cold.- with moderate acidity.  The Daterra is also prepared with great care.  It is much like a soft Merlot, with very mild acidity and sweet nuts and chocolate notes.  The Reserve is a light roasted coffee that many dark roast fans find easy to love.  And Kangocho is a statement grand Kenya coffee with an unusually warm blueberry accent.   Cheers!

Come see our production facilities and experience a journey into the realm of high- quality coffee. Meet Peter, our quality control maniac who, along with my daughter Jennifer (the smiling voice you meet on our phone), will produce espressos to die for - and the rest of our dedicated staff, such as Mike and Noel, our master roasters. We have a cupping room unlike any other and it is a great space to present how quality coffee is produced from seed to cup, profusely illustrated with slides from my travels around the world, and comparative tastings. These open houses are dedicated to no-fluff education that is fun and packed with discovery. Join us by calling (866) GHH-JAVA to make a reservation!

We have transitioned to the newer style 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. Both models are $10 off regular price. These make an excellent gift for the holidays.

We recently tested the Technivorm against several current home brewers, and plotted the actual performance results here. As you can see, the Technivorm coffee brewer reaches the proper extraction temperature fastest, and holds 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.

Baratza Virtuoso Coffee Grinder, for $179.95, normally $199.
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. It is easy to clean, has a powerful motor and uses slow spinning conical burrs to keep the coffee from heating. It is solidly built. A great gift! 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.

In the last Newsletter of October 11, we began our story with a brief overview of the three stages of quality coffee production, from seed to cup.  The first stage was that of farming, which we will now begin covering. 

There are four critical decision points that a coffee farmer must make to produce quality coffee.  The first one is relatively permanent: The farmer chooses where (Location) he will grow the coffee plants.  Costly adjustments can later be made regarding on what slope to concentrate on or what area is less productive or finding an ecological balance for the overall health of the farm.  The second quality decision is what species and cultivar of coffee to grow (Seed).  Because of coffee's low prices during most of the twentieth century, choices have often been made on the basis of productivity and disease resistance but not quality.  Such decisions can be reversed, but at great cost in time and money.

The third quality decision is the how ("Grow") , the cyclical and costly hard work of maintenance of all facilities, and the complex care and nutrition, in tropical conditions, for each plant in its environment.   It takes nine months to get from flowering to harvest, twice that for grapes.  Damage to the ecosystem, whether due to lack of resources, poor craftsmanship or natural causes can have a crippling impact.  The final decision stage is the harvest ("Harvest") where much can and often does go wrong.  The cardinal rule is coffee must be picked ripe, yet this is rarely the case.  The small coffee fruits, called cherries, are often in varying degrees of ripeness side by side.  Each ripe fruit must be hand-picked.  A cherry contains only two coffee seeds inside, which we call beans.

In the next Newsletter we will cover the first decision point, Location.

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.