Special Edition La Esmeralda, Panama to be roasted this Monday, October 27.

La Esmeralda is like few other coffees grown in the Americas. If Reserve Webever there was proof that the variety of Arabica can have an effect on coffee flavor, this is it. Here is Ken Davids' review of our coffee: "Blind Assessment: Richly and sweetly bright aroma with aromatic wood, peach-toned fruit and cocoa notes. In the cup quietly acidy, elegantly crisply sweet, deeply floral, with distinct peach-toned fruit and hints of cocoaish chocolate that carry into a long, flavor-glistening finish. Who should drink it: Balanced, complete; authoritative yet aromatically lavish." Click here to read more and to purchase.
$22.95 per 8 ounces.
Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.

2008 El Salvador Cup of Excellence winner La Lainez to be roasted Monday, November 3

La Lainez is a forty acre farm at 5,000 feet elevation. It produces a little over 7000 lbs of coffee per year, not much when commodity prices are a little over a dollar per pound. It is the first time this farm competes in the Cup of Excellence, in search of recognition. This coffee really struck me as having a particularly sweet acidity, with finely layered caramelized apple, ripe raspberry and light citrus flavors and a clean, sweetly lingering aftertaste. Very elegant!
$23.95 for 8 ounces.
Click here to purchase.

2008 El Salvador Cup of Excellence winner Matalapa to be roasted Monday, November 10

We have been proud to present Matalapa as a regular offering now for over two years. We offered it as a Vienna Roast. This Cup of Excellence Matalapa lot is very small and was prepared for the competition. There is a growing consensus in our specialty ranks that El Salvador may be producing the sweetest coffees in Central America. The Matalapa is an excellent example. Its acidity is refined and distinct but not pronounced. The flavors are rich, creamy almond butter, juicy caramel and a touch of orange with sweet lime. Those who really like Daterra Reserve should try this coffee; it is a perfect bridge from Brazil to the fruitier Central American coffees. Also, we are roasting it Full Flavor, so this is your chance to taste a beautifully milled classic El Salvador Bourbon variety coffee.
$22.95 for 12 ounces.
Click here to purchase.

Ndiara Estate, Kirinyaga, Kenya - to be roasted every Monday

Ndiara is another powerful coffee from Kirinyaga, an equal, in Reserve Webmy opinion, to Mamuto. If ever there was a coffee that should be called jammy, this is it! (La Esperanza is the Colombian version of this!) It presents massive body with a berry fruit-basket of flavors. If you have not tried it you should.
Ndiara is an eight acre farm in the Kirinyaga district on the southern slope of Mt. Kenya at 5,500 feet. It is named after a pre-historic site nearby. Mr. Daniel Waruri Muriuki started it in 1979 when he acquired the land and planted 6,000 Bourbon SL-28 and SL-34 coffee trees; he later added an additional 500 trees.
20.95 for 12 ounces
Click here to order.

Also roasting every Monday - La Esperanza, Huila, Colombia

La Esperanza, is a jammy ripe dark plum saturated coffee, layered with tropical fruits and streaks of honeyed raw sugar cane. It is among the finest of any Colombian I have had, an exemplary coffee revealing a peak expression of Colombian terroir.
21.95 for 12 ounces
Click here to order

Please note:
When ordering our Limited Edition Coffees, orders must be placed by 8:00 am Eastern time on the day they are scheduled to be roasted. Thanks!

What happened to the La Montana Pacamara coffee we were expecting from El Salvador?

Ever since March we have been waiting for the arrival of a small La Montana Nurserylot of Pacamara coffees from the great La Montana Farm. As you may recall, it was struck by destructive winds last winter. Many of you chipped in to buy his coffee at $100.00 per pound to help him get back on his feet (all proceeds went to him). Well, those in charge of milling it took forever and ultimately did a very poor job storing it, losing all the great finesse it once had. We could not accept it. We now await with anticipation Mr. Ochoa's next crop - which should arrive in late spring - and this time we will make sure it does! He has since set up a nursery to raise new trees for his farm.

Special Offer!

Three of our Top Rated Coffees are on sale through the end of October!

Through the end of the month we invite you to enjoy three of our top rated coffees, featured in the Coffee Review, at a special savings!

El Injerto, Huehuetenango, Guatemala

New 2008 crop. The cup is very structured with dazzling razor-fine acidity, honeyed citrus, red currant, other berry notes and a touch of anise. Full bodied. 100% Bourbon variety.
On Sale for $12.95, regularly $14.95.
Click here to order!

Kangocho, Nyeri, Kenya

What makes this lot of Kangocho so special are its sumptuous Reserve Webmouthfeel and its sweet blueberry notes, melding so harmoniously with the classic grand Kenya riot of blackberry and black currant flavors.
On Sale for $13.95, regularly $15.95. (either our Full Flavor Roast, or slightly Darker Profiles!)
Click here to order!

Sumatra Mandheling, South Italian Espresso Roast

This coffee produces massive crema and jumps out with an intense perfume of roasted almonds, followed with a burst of blueberry embedded in dense bitter-sweet chocolate, and ends with a smooth, sweet creamy finish.
On Sale for $12.95, regularly $14.95.
Click here to order!

To see all of our current offerings rated in the Coffee Review, please click here.

Hurry! Sale ends Friday, October 31st 2008.
(Orders for this sale must be received by 8:00am Eastern Time on October 31st 2008.)

More October Sale Coffees!

Alejandro Ahumado's Boca Chica, Nariño, Colombia

Boca 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.

TYirgacheffe 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.

Regularly $14.95 per 12 ounces, 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.

The Long Road to Quality Coffee [Part 14]; Growing - shade and mulch ©Jan - October 2008

Origin of Arabica determines its requirements
The natural habitat of Arabica coffee is the understory of the southwestern Ethiopian highland forests, at four to six thousand feet above sea level, very close to the Equator. An Arabica coffee tree can grow up to twenty feet in height when not pruned.

Roots of the coffee tree
The root system loosely reflects the tree's natural conical branch development above. There is a thick rapidly tapering tap root which descends no more than eighteen inches, from which a web of lateral feeder roots spread horizontally four to six feet out, and downwards as far as fourteen feet. It is not clear whether roots from old trees might penetrate still further. The feeder roots are most densely packed in the first two feet of soil, gradually diminishing the next two feet and becoming sparse after that. The roots, so concentrated near the surface, are therefore quite sensitive to ground temperatures and moisture. They grow deeper down during dry seasons. Continuously Mulchingwatered trees, on the other hand, will have roots that are 90% concentrated in the first two feet of soil.

Root protection
Ideal soil temperature should range from 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the day to 68 at night. Unprotected soil, however, can reach far higher temperatures than the surrounding air, rising from 50°F to 160°F in a day. High temperatures do serious harm to the coffee plant's surface root system. Several factors can moderate the sun's radiant effects. Ground cover is very helpful for this and for erosion control, but since most plants compete for water and nutrients, they can limit productivity, especially where distribution of rainfall is poor and/or where not enough fertilizer is available - often the case with small farmers who have fewer resources. Mulch is excellent for keeping soil temperatures stable as well as retaining moisture during dry spells and soil erosion for coffee trees. It is far more rarely used nowadays because of its high labor requirements. I have seen mulching applied consistently in Rwanda (photo above).

Self -Shading, die-back and shade trees
Closely spaced coffee trees shade their own roots but require far Reserve Webgreater inputs on the farmer's part, which, if done correctly, can lead to large increases in the production of coffee cherry per tree. Without the extra nutrients the plants will be highly stressed and produce small harvests of poor quality. The adjoining two photos show the same variety of coffee plants (Caturra) on the same farm having received no fertilizer for the year; the shaded trees are healthy and relatively productive while the ones in Reserve Webcomplete sun have few leaves, which are yellowed, and many fruits which are passing directly from unripe to over-ripe. The Arabica coffee tree will not release its fruit even when nutrition is drastically insufficient; this can result in die-back of many branches, as seen in the photo, as well as to the roots.

Got MoJo?

ExtractMoJo™ is a software and instrument package used for developing brewing recipes and measuring results so that adjustments to the brewing protocol can be made to correct for proper extraction at the desired strength.

Coffee is most satisfying and of the highest quality when it possesses a rich aroma, fullness of body, delicacy of flavor as well as clarity and unique character-all optimally balanced. Achieving these attributes at home or in a cafe requires a significant degree of precision when brewing coffees. ExtractMoJo™ provides a means to execute brewing protocols with the accuracy essential for achieving unprecedented consistent quality. The integrated solution works with the most common forms of brewing, including single-pass infusion (traditional drip, through a filter) and batch-slurry (steep, agitation, filter) methods, and for any size batch from single-cup, such as the AeroPress™, to 6-Gallon or larger commercial batch sizes. If your favorite Cafe is not up to Gold Cup standards, let them know about ExtractMoJo™.

ExtractMoJo™ features an industry first - the GHCC Universal Brewing Control Chart™ which plots the targeted brew formula dynamically and in real time within Gold Cup quality standards. The software application computes the brew formula portions to suit any required units of measure, metric or English-including mixed units, volume and weight, in any combination, and at the user's selected strength preference.

In combiPAL-Coffee Refractometernation with the new digital hand-held refractometer manufactured by ATAGO, the ExtractMoJo™ solution measures the percentage of total dissolved solids (% TDS) and plots the actual results, providing immediate and accurate feedback for calibrating brewing equipment to attain the intended extraction and strength.

For more information, and to read the full press release, click here.