Wey hey it’s tango!

Episode 45

Coffee: Guatemalan Finca Vista Hermosa
Special Notes: SHB Huehuetenango Michicoy Micro Lot
Cup Profile:

For an interesting story about how this coffee was bought, check out this weeks InMyMug. 

This is an incredibly orangey coffee.  I am used to citrus in coffee, but I don’t think I have had such a strong impression of oranges before this.  I first tasted this coffee in espresso, and although it is a touch on the acidic side for me, the intensity of the sweet orange flavour in the front palate really won me over.

As with last week, this coffee is on the sweeter side of the spectrum, which isn’t my favourite.  For my first attempt at a filter coffee, I tried a higher grinder setting than normal, and ended up with quite a light insipid cup.  I’ll have to try with my normal settings before I post this.  What was interesting though was how strong the oranges were still.  I think the perfectly brewed cup of this coffee could be quite special, even though it will probably never be quite to my taste

Having now tried this again, I think I might have gone too far the other way.  I have the feeling I will spend the whole week searching for the perfect balance.  Perhaps I will do the same as last week and stick to espresso.  Either way, I will be enjoying it very much.

Wow, what a mouthful

Episode 42

Coffee: Costa Rica La Candelilla Tarrazu El Quemado Lot. 
Special Notes: 100% Geisha
Cup Profile: Very crisp, citrus acidity, notes of lime very juicy, hint of molasses and lemon.  Very aromatic and elegant and wickedly clean.

I was quite worried when I heard about this coffee that I would be lead into loving it by how much Has Bean Steve likes this coffee, and also that I would acquire a taste for coffees with higher price tags.  Sadly(?), that wasn’t the case with this coffee at all.  In fact even completely ignoring the price tag, this was the least enjoyable coffee I have had form InMyMug in quite a while.  I would have liked to spend more time playing with this coffee to see if I could find in it what everyone else seems to love, but it ran out before I found a magic formula.

I’m going to be forced to dive into wine metaphors again, so apologies for that.  I suspect this coffee was the equivalent of touring a new world wine region such as California (the only wine region I have been to other than Sussex), and being served bigger and bolder reds, each one trying it’s best to overpower the previous one.  And then at the end of the evening, your host proudly pulling out an exquisite old style Bordeaux.  So to try and save the honour of my host, I will try and put a brave face on it.

This coffee is very floral and aromatic, with lots of brightness, with a clean crisp finish.  Actually perhaps my metaphor above is not quite right, and it is more the equivalent of switching midway through an evening from red to white.  I am actually surprised at how well that fits now that it has occurred to me.  I have often talked about identifying two broad categories of coffee, one that tastes like you would expect coffee too, with lots of chocolate, caramel, vanilla etc, which I am now going to have to avoid calling my “red wine” coffees, and bright acidic coffees, with citrus, berries, flowers etc, which are my “white wine” coffees.  Hopefully I can avoid bringing that up again as I don’t want to start pigeon holing coffees, but it is an interesting fleeting thought.  I just hope I never get sent a sparkling coffee!

I am not going to touch on the price here, as I would rather discuss that in a separate post, although whether I ever get around to doing that is debatable.