Wednesday morning coffee snob thread-- what're you drinking?

[mike_c]

I'm drinking a french pressed Costa Rica la Candelilla Tarrazo peaberry coffee. The grinder contains a mix of beans roasted to City + to Full City +, probably leaning more toward the dark end than the lighter. The dry grounds smell incredible.

The cup is rich and strong. Great chocolate undertones. Low acidity, no bitterness, even brewed very strong. Silky mouth feel. I love this coffee!

Cupping notes from Sweet Maria's:

La Candelilla is one of the larger farms in the "Micro-Mill" category, but like the others it is a true coffee estate, with complete control of the coffee from the plant, through the processing and preparation for export. It is operated by Victor Mata, and this coffee comes from a high spot called La Guaca (1500 meters). They have a very impressive mill, and a lot of new plantings in various cultivars, such as Gesha. (As you can imagine, half of Latin America looks like it is being replanted in Gesha). But what we have here is a classic cup. It's a little unclear whether this is Mundo Novo, a Bourbon hybrid, or old Bourbon itself. In either case, a lot of the character in this cup, the more moderate acidity, increased body, rich chocolate roast flavor and fruit, is not a result of cultivar; it's because this is a "Miel" coffee, a pulp natural process. The dry fragrance is sweet, and as the name suggests, very honey-like. It has considerable sweet fruit to it, raisin and dried plum. Add hot water and a soft milk-chocolate emerges, laced with the raisin mentioned previously. I focused on the slightly darker Full City roast that I preferred, because the cup flavors had such an attractive, tangy chocolate character. There are dark, dried fruits behind the chocolate notes, Monukka raisin, prune, dried hibiscus. The finish is interesting; brief, bittersweet, austere, and with a caramelized sugar after-effect.