|
||||
|
The search for a good Brazil
I looked and I looked. And tasted and tasted (over 20 Brazil samples this season) looking for a good lot. I was always left with the feeling of, "man...is this all I'm going to get this season? Where's the nice, subtly nutty creamy and rich Brazil that I want??". Every sample I go seemed to be kind of off - with harsh flavors and aromas, coffees waaaaayyy too peanutty, or bland coffees that just kind of sat there like blobs on the palate. So I opted to carry nothing. And just as I was losing hope, I got a lead. A guy out of Brazil just set up shop and is making a name for having good Brazils. I gave him a call and the next day had some samples. I was floored. No more boring Brazils. This guy has the stuff! I bought two of his offers - two coffees that blew me away at the cupping table and this is one of them. Take a look at the notes below for tasting and roasting nuances. This Brazil is a bit brighter than the other pulped-natural we have on offer. Pulped Natural, what is it? This coffee is processed with the pulped natural method. It's kind of a blend between the wet-processing that probably 90% of the coffee world uses to process coffee fruit. Instead of pulping the fruit and then fermenting off the mucilage for a number of hours before sending the coffee to the patios to be sun-dried, the "pulped natural" coffee is stripped of fruit and then sent directly to the drying patios, mucilage and all. This imparts really interesting and deep characteristics to the coffee seed inside. This has to be done carefully or you can end up with some really bad fermented flavors. But if done correctly, you get really nice complexity, fruitiness and spiciness to the coffee. I would say that this coffee is a perfect example of what is possible from a good pulped-natural. Click here to compare this coffee with another of our coffees! Tasting Notes from Casey "The Coffee Guy": In aroma I pull a soft fruity wine characteristic, almost like a White Zinfandel wine. Nice vanilla, too. Nice light+ acid and medium body; very balanced. The flavor is what really blows me away. It's very full with nice round fruit. Nice buttery edge with slight buttery notes. I get nice roastiness that fades quickly in the aftertaste. In my notes, I wrote, "wow...full, round, nice!". This coffee is a bit brighter with higher fruit notes than our other pulped natural offering (COF231). The remarkable thing is how full and smooth it is all the way through. It doesn't just drop off like lots of coffees. Recommended Roast Level(s): * Run your mouse over the roast chart for more detail * Roasting Notes: This coffee is a gem. Like I mentioned above, I was having a difficult time finding some good Brazils and I finally found some that I liked. And while roasting this coffee at different levels and tasting, I was reminded of why I like this coffee so much. It's not boring like a lot of Brazils. It's not one-dimensional. Just at the second crack, that White Zin character that I mentioned in the "cupping notes" subsides and is replaced by a nice, light, and smooth and round fruit character with an ever-so-slight touch of acid that is only perceivable as a light brightness. It has a light sweet-nutty character that rides on a medium- body. A slight nutmeg shines through, too. And as you venture into the second crack, the coffee takes on a roasty depth to it (surprise, surprise) and mellows out the fruitiness. It becomes much bolder and more "coffee-house" like, taking on roasty vanilla notes and accentuating the nuttiness. I personally feel that this detracts from the elegance of this coffee, but it's what you are probably used to from the good coffee houses you've been to. But this coffee doesn't fall apart at the darker roast. The balance is there. I would say that the peak of flavor is somewhere in between, maybe 5-10 seconds into the second crack. Toy around with this bean to perfect your taste - but I wouldn't stop it before the first signs of the second crack. | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||
Brazil, Top SkyDisplaying 1-3 of 3 items .
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Brazil, Top SkyDisplaying 1-3 of 3 items .
| |||||||
