The Ochoas send their deepest thanks to all who have helped in support of our recent emergency fundraiser! With your help, we have raised a total of $4,400, with 100% of the proceeds of La Montana sales since announcing the crisis a few weeks ago. This amount has been contributed at no charge or interest for Roberto Raul Ochoa to help save his farm after devastating winds tore away 90% of his crop. I want to add that Mr. Ochoa received a further interest-free advance of $4,000 for future crop at no set price to help them get back on their feet from the US coffee importer Café Imports. Bravo! In the meanwhile we are awaiting a sample of the tiny amount of Pacamara the Ochoas were able to harvest. We are hoping it will have that same extraordinary flavor and balance as last year stupendous crop. We will let you know.

Laurie and I also visited Vickie Ann Dalton's Matalapa farm during our visit to El Salvador. In fact we enjoyed hospitality at its finest while staying at Vickie's home in San Salvador the entire week. On wall after wall of her home were the photos of her husband, Francisco Diaz, inspired amateur photographer of El Salvador's butterflies, moths and birds, such as the butterfly on a coffee leaf here.

Matalapa was the first farm we saw. It was also Vickie's first viewing of her farm since the great winds; after successfully recuperating from an operation she was treated to a depressing sight. While most of her coffee harvest took place before the storm, wind damage was extreme and extensive. It was a silent drive back to the city that evening. News flash: as I write this newsletter I have just received an e-mail from her indicating that they have received some rain: messages from heaven! Agronomists visiting her farm have indicated optimism that her plants will recuperate. I do not know if la Montana received these rains as well but have inquired.

Vickie is the third generation of her family in coffee. To see her mill, El Paraiso, is to see a museum that has been lovingly restored and whose machines have been beautifully re-painted by Francisco. Quite a sight! I have put together a brief slide show of our El Salvador coffee travels which you can see by clicking here. I have included a few beautiful photographs by Francisco of insects and of the mill.

We also visited Sergio Edmundo Ticas Reyes' Los Planes farm and saw trees filled with ripe cherries. What a sight (I have put on the site some photos of these as well)! Sergio did have some wind damage but far less than Vickie or Roberto.

La Esperanza, Huila, Colombia, full flavor roast, February 18

This great 2007 Cup of Excellence first prize winner is back this Monday. Among the most complex Colombian coffees I have had, with great depth, with layered, jammy ripe dark plum and blueberry saturated coffee streaked with honeyed raw sugar cane. Farmer Isaias Cantillo Osa's rise from coffee picker to farmer, his humility, his independent innovative processing techniques and resistance to the latest high production fads, his collection of heirloom Arabica coffee varieties, his natural commitment to coffee shade trees and natural agricultural practices in the midst of the "high tech" farms all around him and his are a real inspiration. We will be seeing more of him this year! I visited Mr. Cantillo a few months ago and reported on his beautiful farm; click here to see

$31.95 per 8 ounces. Click here to purchase.

Introducing Villa Flor, a Terroir exclusive Special Edition coffee from Nariño, Colombia to be roasted on Monday, February 25

Marco Aurelio Ortega is another very small Colombian farmer deeply attached to the earth and its life-forces. We have been announcing his arrival in earlier newsletters. He uses only natural inputs and applies no chemicals to his farm. He grows medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruits and many different trees on his tiny 3 acre farm. He has even contoured his farm on the steep slopes, at 6,000 feet, something I am told again and again in Colombia that small farmers cannot afford - yet he has done it simply because he feels that erosion control is worth the effort. Marco Aurelia will be applying for organic certification, which practices he has long applied out of his own convictions. We are looking into importing his coffee-blossom honey which he currently sells to the local market...

Mr. Ortega produced 6 micro-lots this past summer. They were all exemplary (we picked his coffee out blind again and again). Drinking Villa Flor is like listening to a beautifully tuned stringed instrument. It sings. And then it disappears, like music. It is 100% of the Caturra variety at its best. This variety was created to increase production yet produce high quality; here the Caturra plants' high productivity is held back through the use of shade trees. Ortega's craftsmanship brings out delicate complex flavor notes of great clarity reminiscent of Burgundy's Pinot Noir. Villa Flor is a coffee that combines great delicacy with real spine. The cup has laser-like acidity that is all sweetness and light around a Brazil nut core wafting filigree wintergreen-tinged tropical fruit aromas from hot to cold with wisps of soft persimmons, essence of pomegranate and passion fruit. Villa Flor has a svelte yet sensuous body that derives purely from its oils and a natural sweetness without trace of edginess.

Farm: Farm: Villa Flor
Farmer: Marco Aurelio Ortega
Region: Nariño
Variety: Caturra
Altitude: 6,000 ft.
Vintage: 2007
Rainfall: moderate+
Roast: Full Flavor

Click here to order. Price: $16.95 per 8 ounces.

Please Note:
Terroir Coffee will contribute $1.00 to the Villa Flor farm for every bag of coffee sold at $16.95

Includes all of the following:

Your choice of Glass or Thermo Technivorm brewer

Baratza Virtuoso Grinder

Salter Micro Kitchen Scale

Two Terroir Select Coffees

(as Shown below)

Filtropa Filters (100ct)

Simply the best solution for home or small office quality brewing, the Technivorm and Baratza bundle is a cost effective, quality solution For Those In Search of the Ultimate Cup ™

Bundle Sale Price: $399 Order here

You save $ 80 over our standard (discounted) prices, more than $ 100 off regular MSRP prices.

Baratza Virtuoso Conical Burr Grinder

Bundle includes these two Terroir Select Coffees:

Matalapa, La Libertad , El Salvador

The 2007 crop is very impressive for its sweetness and buttery body, ideal for espresso and French Press brewing. 100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel. Vienna Roast Style

La Minita Estate (SHB), Tarrazu , Costa Rica

The 2007 La Minita coffee is a very good year indeed! This is the grand cru estate coffee. In my opinion, the most consistent, perfectly crafted estate coffee in the world, year after year. Full bodied, sparkling acidity, yet so smooth from hot to stone cold. Maple syrup, nuts and hint of peaches. Full Flavor Roast

Response to our monthly discounts for terroir select coffees has been well received, so this month we forge ahead to offer three new coffees, each at $2 off for the entire month of February.

Maria Santos' Los Sauces, Cauca, Colombia

Los Sauces is one of those very rare Colombian coffees and has extraordinary, elegant complexity, refined flavor and sweetness. Intense, sweet coffee aroma and full flavor.

Maria Santos' coffee is a class above and shows a Colombian, perhaps an Andean, terroir flavor-profile that is just emerging to more discerning palates in the specialty roasting business. Read more and order here: $13.95, regularly $15.95

See Images of the Maria Santos farm here

Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga

We first introduced Mamuto last year in September. I believe it was the best lot auctioned in Kenya that year. Last November (2006) our Mamuto received Coffee Review's first-ever score over 95. We now have Mamuto's best lot from the most recent harvest. It was purchased directly and without hesitation; the coffee was, again, the most outstanding lot we tried this past buying season (and we have been privileged to always cup the cream of the crop!). Read more and order here: Price $18.95, regularly $20.95

Please Note:
Terroir will return an additional $1 directly to the farmer, Walter Paul Mathagu, for every bag of Mamuto sold at $18.95

Matalapa, La Libertad, El Salvador

I have been following this farm for three years now and have been very impressed with each year's improvements since winning in the 2003 El Salvador Cup of Excellence. The 2007 crop is very impressive for its sweetness and buttery body, ideal for espresso and French Press brewing. 100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel. Vienna Roast Style ... Price: $10.95, regularly $12.95 per 12 ounces, Click here to purchase

The elegant Frieling French Press coffeemakers eliminate costly and time-consuming replacements of fragile glass beakers. These are immaculately crafted, as visually stunning as they are functional. They are double walled stainless steel, providing excellent insulation to keep your coffee warm. Four sizes are available. These can be used for coffee or tea, and may be used for hot or cold serving.

The vacuum insulated carafe keeps the temperature hotter during brewing, shortening total extraction time to approx three minutes (versus four minutes for a glass press pot which cools faster during extraction).

Vacuum Insulated Carafe Style Stainless Steel French Press 18/10 stainless steel with mirror finish on the outside, and a brushed finish inside.
All stainless mesh plunger mechanism.

Sizes, Dimensions and Prices:
#2 1-2 demitasse
(1 American cup, 8 oz)
3-inches diameter
5-inches wide (handle)
6-inches tall
MSRP $39.95
Sale Price: $33.95

#4 3-4 demitasse
(1-2 American cups, 17 oz)
3.5-inches diameter
5.5-inches wide (handle)
8-inches tall
MSRP $49.95
Sale Price: $41.95

#6 5-6 demitasse
(2-3 American cups, 23 oz)
4-inches diameter
6-inches wide (handle)
8.5-inches tall
MSRP $54.95
Sale Price: $45.95

#8 7-8 demitasse
(3-4 American cups, 33 oz)
4.5-inches diameter
7-inches wide (handle)
9.5-inches tall
MSRP $69.95
Sale Price: $54.95

Terroir Espresso Calabria – for the perfect Ristretto

Introducing Terroir Espresso Calabria - Roasted darker than our extremely popular Daterra, South Italian Style espresso. As a ristretto, this new roast style produces a rich and velvety crema with a deep reddish-brown color and unfolds into dense marzipan, cherry and caramel brownie on the palate, exhibiting a viscous syrupy body with a lasting sweet finish.

Enjoy! Click here to purchase.

Terroir Sumatra Mandheling, South Italian Espresso Roast receives 92-Point rating from Coffee Review

Ken David's Blind Assessment:

"Rich, gently pungent aroma with butter, floral and apricot-toned fruit hints. In the small cup medium body, syrupy mouthfeel, and rather sharply but sweetly cedary with continued apricot and flowers and an explicit moist, leafy earth note. At its best in milk: rich, strong-presence but sweet with dark chocolate and sustained suggestions of moist earth and flowers.

Who should drink it : An espresso that subtly but powerfully expresses the pungently complex, earth-and-chocolate character of its Sumatra origin." Enjoy! Click here to purchase.

$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.

The Ochoas send their deepest thanks to all who have helped in support of our recent emergency fundraiser! With your help, we have raised a total of $4,400, with 100% of the proceeds of La Montana sales since announcing the crisis a few weeks ago. This amount has been contributed at no charge or interest for Roberto Raul Ochoa to help save his farm after devastating winds tore away 90% of his crop. I want to add that Mr. Ochoa received a further interest-free advance of $4,000 for future crop at no set price to help them get back on their feet from the US coffee importer Café Imports. Bravo! In the meanwhile we are awaiting a sample of the tiny amount of Pacamara the Ochoas were able to harvest. We are hoping it will have that same extraordinary flavor and balance as last year stupendous crop. We will let you know.

Laurie and I also visited Vickie Ann Dalton's Matalapa farm during our visit to El Salvador. In fact we enjoyed hospitality at its finest while staying at Vickie's home in San Salvador the entire week. On wall after wall of her home were the photos of her husband, Francisco Diaz, inspired amateur photographer of El Salvador's butterflies, moths and birds, such as the butterfly on a coffee leaf here.

Matalapa was the first farm we saw. It was also Vickie's first viewing of her farm since the great winds; after successfully recuperating from an operation she was treated to a depressing sight. While most of her coffee harvest took place before the storm, wind damage was extreme and extensive. It was a silent drive back to the city that evening. News flash: as I write this newsletter I have just received an e-mail from her indicating that they have received some rain: messages from heaven! Agronomists visiting her farm have indicated optimism that her plants will recuperate. I do not know if la Montana received these rains as well but have inquired.

Vickie is the third generation of her family in coffee. To see her mill, El Paraiso, is to see a museum that has been lovingly restored and whose machines have been beautifully re-painted by Francisco. Quite a sight! I have put together a brief slide show of our El Salvador coffee travels which you can see by clicking here. I have included a few beautiful photographs by Francisco of insects and of the mill.

We also visited Sergio Edmundo Ticas Reyes' Los Planes farm and saw trees filled with ripe cherries. What a sight (I have put on the site some photos of these as well)! Sergio did have some wind damage but far less than Vickie or Roberto.

La Esperanza, Huila, Colombia, full flavor roast, February 18

This great 2007 Cup of Excellence first prize winner is back this Monday. Among the most complex Colombian coffees I have had, with great depth, with layered, jammy ripe dark plum and blueberry saturated coffee streaked with honeyed raw sugar cane. Farmer Isaias Cantillo Osa's rise from coffee picker to farmer, his humility, his independent innovative processing techniques and resistance to the latest high production fads, his collection of heirloom Arabica coffee varieties, his natural commitment to coffee shade trees and natural agricultural practices in the midst of the "high tech" farms all around him and his are a real inspiration. We will be seeing more of him this year! I visited Mr. Cantillo a few months ago and reported on his beautiful farm; click here to see

$31.95 per 8 ounces. Click here to purchase.

Introducing Villa Flor, a Terroir exclusive Special Edition coffee from Nariño, Colombia to be roasted on Monday, February 25

Marco Aurelio Ortega is another very small Colombian farmer deeply attached to the earth and its life-forces. We have been announcing his arrival in earlier newsletters. He uses only natural inputs and applies no chemicals to his farm. He grows medicinal and aromatic herbs, fruits and many different trees on his tiny 3 acre farm. He has even contoured his farm on the steep slopes, at 6,000 feet, something I am told again and again in Colombia that small farmers cannot afford - yet he has done it simply because he feels that erosion control is worth the effort. Marco Aurelia will be applying for organic certification, which practices he has long applied out of his own convictions. We are looking into importing his coffee-blossom honey which he currently sells to the local market...

Mr. Ortega produced 6 micro-lots this past summer. They were all exemplary (we picked his coffee out blind again and again). Drinking Villa Flor is like listening to a beautifully tuned stringed instrument. It sings. And then it disappears, like music. It is 100% of the Caturra variety at its best. This variety was created to increase production yet produce high quality; here the Caturra plants' high productivity is held back through the use of shade trees. Ortega's craftsmanship brings out delicate complex flavor notes of great clarity reminiscent of Burgundy's Pinot Noir. Villa Flor is a coffee that combines great delicacy with real spine. The cup has laser-like acidity that is all sweetness and light around a Brazil nut core wafting filigree wintergreen-tinged tropical fruit aromas from hot to cold with wisps of soft persimmons, essence of pomegranate and passion fruit. Villa Flor has a svelte yet sensuous body that derives purely from its oils and a natural sweetness without trace of edginess.

Farm: Farm: Villa Flor
Farmer: Marco Aurelio Ortega
Region: Nariño
Variety: Caturra
Altitude: 6,000 ft.
Vintage: 2007
Rainfall: moderate+
Roast: Full Flavor

Click here to order. Price: $16.95 per 8 ounces.

Please Note:
Terroir Coffee will contribute $1.00 to the Villa Flor farm for every bag of coffee sold at $16.95

Includes all of the following:

Your choice of Glass or Thermo Technivorm brewer

Baratza Virtuoso Grinder

Salter Micro Kitchen Scale

Two Terroir Select Coffees

(as Shown below)

Filtropa Filters (100ct)

Simply the best solution for home or small office quality brewing, the Technivorm and Baratza bundle is a cost effective, quality solution For Those In Search of the Ultimate Cup ™

Bundle Sale Price: $399 Order here

You save $ 80 over our standard (discounted) prices, more than $ 100 off regular MSRP prices.

Baratza Virtuoso Conical Burr Grinder

Bundle includes these two Terroir Select Coffees:

Matalapa, La Libertad , El Salvador

The 2007 crop is very impressive for its sweetness and buttery body, ideal for espresso and French Press brewing. 100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel. Vienna Roast Style

La Minita Estate (SHB), Tarrazu , Costa Rica

The 2007 La Minita coffee is a very good year indeed! This is the grand cru estate coffee. In my opinion, the most consistent, perfectly crafted estate coffee in the world, year after year. Full bodied, sparkling acidity, yet so smooth from hot to stone cold. Maple syrup, nuts and hint of peaches. Full Flavor Roast

Response to our monthly discounts for terroir select coffees has been well received, so this month we forge ahead to offer three new coffees, each at $2 off for the entire month of February.

Maria Santos' Los Sauces, Cauca, Colombia

Los Sauces is one of those very rare Colombian coffees and has extraordinary, elegant complexity, refined flavor and sweetness. Intense, sweet coffee aroma and full flavor.

Maria Santos' coffee is a class above and shows a Colombian, perhaps an Andean, terroir flavor-profile that is just emerging to more discerning palates in the specialty roasting business. Read more and order here: $13.95, regularly $15.95

See Images of the Maria Santos farm here

Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga

We first introduced Mamuto last year in September. I believe it was the best lot auctioned in Kenya that year. Last November (2006) our Mamuto received Coffee Review's first-ever score over 95. We now have Mamuto's best lot from the most recent harvest. It was purchased directly and without hesitation; the coffee was, again, the most outstanding lot we tried this past buying season (and we have been privileged to always cup the cream of the crop!). Read more and order here: Price $18.95, regularly $20.95

Please Note:
Terroir will return an additional $1 directly to the farmer, Walter Paul Mathagu, for every bag of Mamuto sold at $18.95

Matalapa, La Libertad, El Salvador

I have been following this farm for three years now and have been very impressed with each year's improvements since winning in the 2003 El Salvador Cup of Excellence. The 2007 crop is very impressive for its sweetness and buttery body, ideal for espresso and French Press brewing. 100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel. Vienna Roast Style ... Price: $10.95, regularly $12.95 per 12 ounces, Click here to purchase

The elegant Frieling French Press coffeemakers eliminate costly and time-consuming replacements of fragile glass beakers. These are immaculately crafted, as visually stunning as they are functional. They are double walled stainless steel, providing excellent insulation to keep your coffee warm. Four sizes are available. These can be used for coffee or tea, and may be used for hot or cold serving.

The vacuum insulated carafe keeps the temperature hotter during brewing, shortening total extraction time to approx three minutes (versus four minutes for a glass press pot which cools faster during extraction).

Vacuum Insulated Carafe Style Stainless Steel French Press 18/10 stainless steel with mirror finish on the outside, and a brushed finish inside.
All stainless mesh plunger mechanism.

Sizes, Dimensions and Prices:
#2 1-2 demitasse
(1 American cup, 8 oz)
3-inches diameter
5-inches wide (handle)
6-inches tall
MSRP $39.95
Sale Price: $33.95

#4 3-4 demitasse
(1-2 American cups, 17 oz)
3.5-inches diameter
5.5-inches wide (handle)
8-inches tall
MSRP $49.95
Sale Price: $41.95

#6 5-6 demitasse
(2-3 American cups, 23 oz)
4-inches diameter
6-inches wide (handle)
8.5-inches tall
MSRP $54.95
Sale Price: $45.95

#8 7-8 demitasse
(3-4 American cups, 33 oz)
4.5-inches diameter
7-inches wide (handle)
9.5-inches tall
MSRP $69.95
Sale Price: $54.95

Terroir Espresso Calabria – for the perfect Ristretto

Introducing Terroir Espresso Calabria - Roasted darker than our extremely popular Daterra, South Italian Style espresso. As a ristretto, this new roast style produces a rich and velvety crema with a deep reddish-brown color and unfolds into dense marzipan, cherry and caramel brownie on the palate, exhibiting a viscous syrupy body with a lasting sweet finish.

Enjoy! Click here to purchase.

Terroir Sumatra Mandheling, South Italian Espresso Roast receives 92-Point rating from Coffee Review

Ken David's Blind Assessment:

"Rich, gently pungent aroma with butter, floral and apricot-toned fruit hints. In the small cup medium body, syrupy mouthfeel, and rather sharply but sweetly cedary with continued apricot and flowers and an explicit moist, leafy earth note. At its best in milk: rich, strong-presence but sweet with dark chocolate and sustained suggestions of moist earth and flowers.

Who should drink it : An espresso that subtly but powerfully expresses the pungently complex, earth-and-chocolate character of its Sumatra origin." Enjoy! Click here to purchase.

$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.