$52 a pound coffee.
Santa (in the guise of a UPS delivery man) brought a present to us at Victrola this week - two half pound bags of freshly roasted Panama, Boquete, La Esmeralda Special Reserve from Terroir Coffee in Massachusetts. Yesterday morning I cupped it with my coworkers Kyle and David alongside the remainder of an older batch (roasted on the 9th) of the same beans courtesy of Stumptown in Portland.
I’ll refrain from comparing the two roasters, as the older sample had lost some (though not too much) of its original awesomeness from age. The Esmeralda from Terroir was roasted to a very light degree but with a very clean, clear tone in the cup - no roaring underdeveloped notes. The dry aroma of the fresh grounds was pleasant and big, like some Ethiopians. In the cup it was light bodied but with a bright flavor, thick with interesting notes that developed potency as it cooled. Duane at Stumptown mentions in his copy such offbeat flavors as bergamot, fresh flowers and mascarpone. Any one of which I might have had a harder time sussing out without hints.
Is it worth the price? Perhaps only if you’re a coffee nerd [guilty] in need of some novelty. It wont stand out as the best cup of coffee you’ve had, but it will be among the most interesting.
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January 4th, 2005 at 11:05 am
I have now tried some straight shots of this. Extremely bright, but interesting.
January 7th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
This coffee is extemely good as a single origin espresso. I got a big burst of honey and jasmine. Never got to try it with milk, but who needs that anyway….
Kyle
February 6th, 2005 at 10:01 pm
Esmeralda. Lucky bastard.
I was going to cup some of that with stephen from Zoka but when he got his batch from stumptown I was out of town.
So that was the panamanian you were pulling shots of in that picture. Once again with the lucky bastard. :-P