I just spent a week in Colombia cupping many of the finest Reserve Web micro-lots to come out of Nariño, Cauca and Huila this summer. The 2008 summer harvest produced far fewer lots and poorer overall quality compared to last year, due to a very wet growing season that extended right into the harvest. Indeed the rains started early last year, delaying the flowering and making for less even ripening during the harvest eight to nine months later. The graph compares normal monthly rainfall to what actually happened up through this August in an area of Cauca, quite representative for all Colombia.

Reserve Web Nevertheless there were some extraordinary lots and, even better, they were from the farmers who really stood out last year as exceptional in their approach and their consistency. In the first category comes Villa Flor, in Nariño. Next year his coffee will be certified organic. He strikes me as extremely methodical and displays a unique love of natural agriculture, growing a complex web of herbal, vegetable, fruit, coffee plants, and producing honey. Some of his micro-lots this harvest have reached new levels of sweetness. El Descanso produced magnificent coffee again as well. The sad news is that Maria Santos, at 87 years of age, has retired. Whether one of her children renews her tradition of quality remains to be seen - next year. In the meanwhile we wish Maria all the best. She will remain forever in our fondest memories.

Another coffee we will be seeing from Colombia this coming Julio Ceaser Munozyear is El Placer. Some of you may remember this coffee as the third place winner in the 2006 Colombia Cup of Excellence. It was our favorite from that competition, scoring well above 90 points by over 20 international judges. El Placer is located in Planadas, Tolima, an unstable area of Colombia, and last year its owner, Cesar Julio Muñoz, stepped on a landmine, planted by members of the FARC, as they retreated from the approaching Colombian army. He lost his leg and is only now beginning to take possession of his small farm again, determined as ever to produce great coffee.

Those interested in seeing slides of my recent travels to Colombia are invited to click here.

I expect the new crop Colombia coffees to arrive sometime in November. They have, of course, been vacuum-sealed in Colombia to retain all their complexity and freshness. In the meanwhile we continue to offer the exceptional coffees we purchased last year from our first foray into the state of Nariño; right now it is Alejandro Ahumado's Boca Chica .

Alejandro Ahumado's Boca Chica, Nariño, Colombia

Daterra ReserveBoca Chica is a five acre farm at 6,000 feet elevation and is planted entirely with the Caturra cultivar. The photo was taken just after the havest.

Boca Chica has the classic Nariño character: high-grown black tea notes melding with light tropical fruits and a trace of wintergreen; full bodied and rich aroma. We roast this coffee quite lightly to capture all its delicate flavors.

Regularly $16.95 per 12 ounces. Now $14.95 through October. Click here to order.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Konga Cooperative
Available in both our Full Flavor Roast and North Italian Espresso Roast.

Kangocho Web Yirgacheffe is one of the great aromatic coffees of the world. The scientist- quality coffee pioneer Ernesto Illy (Illy Coffee) stated at the SCAA Conference in Boston, 2003 that the coffee of this region shared an aromatic component found in Darjeeling tea and Chanel #5.

This particular lot from the Konga Cooperative was the best we cupped last year. It is refined and delicate and very aromatic, having notes of Darjeeling tea, sweet lemon and a hint of ginger. Its aromatics pair ecstatically with dark chocolates when taken black with no milk or sweetener. Many of our cafe and restaurant clients have called our Yirgacheffe Espresso our signature coffee.

The Konga Cooperative has 1683 farmers of which 133 are female heads of family. The average size of a farm is 1.25 acres on which coffee and various foods for the local market are grown. Yirgacheffe is amazingly lush with vegetation. The coffees are grown at over 6,000 feet in altitude.

Full Flavor or North Italian Style Espresso Roast.
Now $12.95 through October. Click here to order.

Daterra North Italian Espresso Roast, Cerrado, Brazil

A "light" dark roast in the tradition of Northern Italy (Milan - Reserve WebTrieste). Terroir has carefully blended several Daterra Farm varieties to produce this exceptionally sweet, full bodied coffee.

As an espresso, it has a floral, cocoa- almond aroma. The cup is elegant, smooth, of one piece from first contact to aftertaste. It is honey textured, extra-sweet and lively, with notes of mellow clean fruit, chocolate, nuts and refined butter-marzipan. Other brewing methods produce a rich very mellow, low acid cup with complex nutty-chocolate flavors.

Regularly $14.95 per 12 ounces, now $12.95 through October. Click here to order.

Upcoming Limited Edition Roasts