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Guatemala
Guatemala Antigua -Finca Retana Yellow Bourbon
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Antigua, Sacatepequez Department Mark: Finca Retana, Rainforest Alliance Certified
Processing: Wet-Process Crop: August 2007 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: 100% Yellow Bourbon cultivar
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Finca Retana is a well-regarded true Estate coffee from the Antigua valley in Guatemala. While they grow a majority of Catuai and Caturra cultivar coffee, they have a plot of pure Yellow Bourbon coffee with unique cup character, and we have been able to buy the entire output. Bourbon is the traditional cultivar named after the French colonial island of Bourbon (and the royal House of Bourbon), now the independent Reunion Island. The cultivar has classic flavor properties, and this is the variant that ripens to a golden yellow color, not the typical red coffee fruit. This is one of the brighter, more crisp coffees you will find from Antigua, hinting at superior altitude and at the Yellow Bourbon cultivar. It's clean, with piquant spice notes that don't distract from the well-structured sweet/bittersweet underlying flavor. The fragrance is sweet with an overal nut tonality; honeyed almond. Add hot water and the aromatics sweeten even more, with juicy (pear, white grape) essence. There is a white grape juice fruit, cleanly fading into a floral, honey-like finish. Pear, white peach and melon suggestions are there too, a classic Central profile with a very focused, clean flavor profile. In the C+ roast sample, I even get a hint of banana taffy, but perhaps my mind has keyed in too much on the YELLOW in the name here (hey, it can happen to the best of us.) It roasts very evenly, and maintains it's compact form (something we can attribute to cultivar and to the high elevation of Finca Retana - this coffee is grown at over 5000 feet). It has actually been a fairly good year for Antiguas for the '07 crop, all of them a bit brighter than recent years. But when I put them up against this Finca Retana Yellow Bourbon they paled in comparison! Antiguas have a price premium attached to them, especially these single-farm (not pooled-lot, mill-branded ...which many are) , Antigua-certified coffees. And I had to pay up for the separation of the Yellow Bourbon of course, so you notice La Minita - level pricing here, but this cup definitely deserves it!
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.3
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.6
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.9
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity/ balance, structure, classic flavor profile  guat
add 50 50 Roast: I prefer the fruited tones and nut flavors of the C+ roast, but it holds up well to a wide range of roast interpretation.
Score (Max. 100) 87.5 Compare to: Classic, sweet, clean Guatemala
Guatemala - Finca San José Ocaña
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB, Strictly Hard Bean Region: San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala Mark: Estate: San Jose Ocaña
Processing: Wet-Processed Crop: August 2007 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, some Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 4 Notes: We offered this coffee last year ... but I just didn't know it. Funny how things work in the coffee world ... the exporter had put their own "brand" name on the bags, "Blue Quetzal", rather than the farm name, San Jose Ocana. The farm is from an original land grant of 1623, and the owners have now grown coffee here for 5 generations! The odd thing is, I have been trying to buy this Finca San Jose coffee for a couple years, but it usually was pre-sold to Europe or Japan. A broker offered me "Blue Quetzal" and I loved it, fully recognizing the similarity, the classic Bourbon-like cup character that was reminicent of the San Jose samples I had cupped. So it was more than uncanny similarity, I now know. And as a confirmation of the great cup quality (not that it is needed here but ...) this farm won #2 spot in the 2007 Guatemala Cup of Excellence. So we offer this coffee with a twisted tale behind it, but the core facts are the same: I have been trying to buy this lot for years, and it's one of my favorite Guatemala coffees, ever. Even watching this beautiful coffee roast gets me going, small, dense little seeds that almost seem to shrink like raisins, the creases deepending and darkening, before it reaches Full City roast. That compact form, tight crease, and resistence to expansion hints at Bourbon cultivar, and slow, steady maturation on the tree. That's what happens when you grow coffee way up at 1900 meters! (I noted that the coffee is purported to have Catuai cutlivar too, but apparently in a small percentage). I found this coffee has a very wide range of roasts that have great results, from a light City roast through Full City +. It's a very high-grown, dense seed (I think Bourbon cultivar also has greater denisity than other types, which greatly improve the way the coffee absorbs and distributes heat in the roast chamber). The lighter roasts have a punctuated fruitiness to them, bright tannic grape, floral aromatics, and sweet malt syrup roast taste. I really enjoyed watching this coffee take on a bit more color, passing into the Full City range, but not into 2nd crack at all. Here there is a unique balance between chocolate, toffee and raisin sweetness, with clove spice hints, concord grape, berry, and a floral flavor (I know, we don't eat/drink flowers for the most part, but the finish has a strong floral, almost rose-like aspect to it, like a potpourri). Anyway, as a cupper, this coffee exudes immense cup quality, as a roaster you can see that dense, tight-fisted little bean take on heat and color just beautifully, and as a guy who just likes a great cup of coffee, this is one I take home on the weekend.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 9.4
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5) 3.2
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.2
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium-to-bold intensity / Extraordinary aromatics, sweetness, complexity.  
add 50 50 Roast: City - City +: The coffee works at all roast levels, but with proper rest the complexity is at it's acme a bit lighter. At this lighter level, the coffee won't look as pretty as it does at FC+, more surface texture and patchy coloration.
Score (Max. 100) 89.3 Compare to: Classsic super-high grown Guatemala. It reminds me of the El Injerto pure Bourbon.
Guatemala Huehuetenango WP Decaf
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: La Democracia area,
Huehuetenango		 Mark: Huehuetenango
Processing: Wet-Process, then water process decaf Crop: August 2007 Arrival Appearance: .4 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Catuai, Typica, Bourbon
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: The advantage of knowing exactly what coffee goes into your decaf is great, and surprisingly rare because a lot of decafs are sold simply with an origin name, and not even a regional designation to boot. But with this Guatemalan we know the farm, El Injertal in Huehuetenango, and the specific cup profile before sent for decaffeination. More remarkable is the cup after decaffeinating. It's really outstanding, especially in the livliness of the hight tones in the cup at City+ roast. I am astounded and a little bewildered by this: I regularly cupped the Central American coffees that had undergone the SWP process in Vancouver, Canada. They had little to no brightness of the original coffee in the cup, and since that's what Centrals are about, no brightness means no origin character (well... it means a huge part of what the Guatemalan coffee is about has been removed. Props to SWP who has made great strides forward in improving technique in the last 2 years too, and recently opened a new production line for smaller decaf batches with good results.) This is not from Swiss Water, it is from the plant that uses a non-contact water method of treatment in Mexico ... what we refer to as WP on our list since no Swiss were involved (joke, but true I am sure). Here we have a cup with remarkable brightness intact after the decaf process. And it is a non-contact, non-chemical water process decaf to boot.The dry fragrance has apple ester notes and hazelnut. Sometimes this fruitiness is the result of the decaf process, and shouldn't be there in the aromatics, but in this case it is from the coffee: it comes through in the wet aromatics too. In addition, the aroma is very sweet, and in the cup flavors the theme is continued ... classic cup character tinted with fruit and nut accents. I get a slight raspberry note in the City+ roast, and overall the character is bright, lively and high-toned. The aftertaste is brief, clean and pleasant, while the body is, as with most nice Guatemala coffees, light-to-medium. Overall, this cup echoes perfectly it's non-decaf counterpoint, and has good Huehuetenango origin character.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.3
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.6
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.5
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.3
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.5 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity/ Good brightness, fruit and nut notes  
add 50 50 Roast: City+ is the most lively, Full City and darker have good tangy chocolate notes.
Score (Max. 100) 86 Compare to: Non-decaf Huehuetenago lots.
Guatemala Acatenango Gesha
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Acatenango Mark:  
Processing: Wet-Process Crop: August 2007 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: 100% Gesha Cultivar
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 4.2 Notes: This cup is Gesha all the way; like sipping a bouquet of flowers! If you don't know the story of the Gesha cultivar, it is an old coffee type from Ethiopia that was brought to an experimental coffee garden in Costa Rica years ago as a specimen sample. It was distributed to a few farms for testing on small plots, but not much was thought of it until one of these, Esmeralda in Panama, separated it from the other cultivars and entered it in the national competition. It was so outrageously different, with fruited and floral character like a Yirgacheffe coffee from half a world away. Now that the word is out, other small farms that received some of the seed have tried to separate their Gesha coffee as well, as is the case here. The results are always a bit different: the cultivar "expresses" itself differently in terms of cup flavors at each location, influenced by weather, soil, altitude and the like. With this coffee, from the region of Acatenango, we have a Gesha cup that literally shouts out "GESHA!" at every step of the way. It has the elongated seed form, it roasts like Gesha, and has the fantastic, pronounced cup character. The dry fragrance can be detected from across my cupping room, so strong is the sweet hibiscus, passionfruit, and lightly toasted hazelnut. To fully appreciate the aromatic dynamism here, cup this along with your favorite non-gesha Central - wow. The cup might, initially, seem mild compared to these strong aromatics. Give it time to cool a bit, as the floral and fruited notes ascend as the temperature descends. The floral character is , once again, like hibiscus flower essence, married to an assembly of tropical fruit flavors. These fruit notes have cherry, sweet flame grape, passionfruit, mango, jackfruit. The list could go on, since each time I cup it, and at different temerpatures, I get new fruited (and floral) notes out of this coffee. I guess that would be the very definition of complexity, this multi-dimensional flavor profile. The finish is so sweet, and in the long aftertaste there is a macademia nut hint. Simply put, this is a very exotic cup.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9.5
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.5
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity/great balance, spice notes.  
add 50 50 Roast: Full City is recommended, although I find the C+ roast to have very , tangy chocolate intensity.
Score (Max. 100) 91.5 Compare to: Excellent, spicey Guatemalan cup character, with balance, and fine bittersweet chocolate flavors, apple note.
Guatemala FTO Huehuetenango -Asobagri Coop
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Barillas, Huehuetenango Mark: Asobagri Coop, Fair Trade and Organic Cert.s
Processing: Wet-Process Crop: June 2007 Arrival Appearance: .4 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Typica, Catuai, Caturra
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: This coffee comes from the 500 member/farmers of the Asobagri Co-op based in the town of Barillas, in the north of the Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala. The members are primarily Kanjobal Mayan people. Each farmer belongs to a micro-coop of 10-25 members and they collectively wet-mill their own coffee to exacting standards taught by the co-op via technical volunteers. The organization is very sophisticated and successful to take the place of technified/centralized wet-milling, and result in such an excellent top-quality cup. I visited this coop and toured the region a while back, spending time with the small farmer group of La Esperanza (which was not much more than an extended family and a tiny pueblo of 20 houses). To see their small production, hand-pulping and tiny drying patios and realize they can produce this kind of cup quality to rival large "Estate" farms is remarkable. The coffee is a fruitier Huehuetenango than the others we will offer this year. In fact, we haven't offered Asobagri for a few years because I find mixed quality on some lots. But with this particular lot I found the cup profile we used to get: fruited, but not fruity-fermenty. The fragrance has tropical fruit notes (mango, and passionfruit). These come through in the wet aromatics too, and the cup flavors. There is the flavor of the coffee fruit itself, with soft spice accents of cardamom and fresh ginger. The body is very silky. The acidity is fairly mild, but provides enough brightness to give this coffee some spring in its step. Aftertaste has mango and mild chocolate, and the satiny body provides a very nice final impression of the cup character. (+1 cupper correction)
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.3
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.7
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity/Nice fruited notes, body, balance  
add 50 50 Roast: Full City is recommended, although I find the C+ roast to have better bright fruited notes.
Score (Max. 100) 87.2 Compare to: Excellent, fruited Guatemala cup.
Guatemala Fraijanes - Finca Agua Tibia
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Fraijanes Mark: Agua Tibia Farm (Finca)
Processing: Wet-Process Crop: April 2007 Arrival Appearance: .4 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Typica (Old-Growth)
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Finca Agua Tibia is a 150 year old farm located quite near Guatemala City in the Fraijanes region. In the past, Fraijanes was compared often to the high price coffees from the generally overrated region of Antigua. After all, Fraijanes is about the same distance from the capital as Antigua in the opposite direction. But the fact is, Fraijanes coffees have their own unique character, and some of that potential is just starting to be realized. Finca Agua Tibia (it literally means Farm of Lukewarm Water - sounds better in Spanish, eh?) is located at 5000 feet altitude, and the majority of the coffee land is planted in old growth Bourbon and Typica cultivar. It is a diverse farm, with a dairy, and ornamental plant nursery, and in fact 75% of the land is set aside as nature preserve. It's an amazing place (if you see my Guatemala travelogues, I have many photos from the farm). I have cupped this coffee before, and always had respect for it's fine balance; it struck me as a perfect example of neotypical Guatemalan cup profile. And in fact it seemed to be a more interesting cup, and have greater flavor attributes, than most Antiguas I had cupped. This crop year, the coffee seems to be extra nice ... more than just and Antigua comparable. I get clean bittersweet chocolate roast notes, aromatic cedar in the finish, and warming spice throughout. At a relatively light City+ roast, where some rough surface texture still exists on the bean, this cups out like a darker roast; pungent, and zesty chocolate bittersweets. I like that, because at this roast level it still has a very lively and bright cup too, things I value highly in a good high grown coffee. There are a lot of spicy notes in the cup: clove, nutmeg, mulling spice. Along with the apple hint, this makes for a real "hot apple cider" effect, passing through into the long aftertaste. I really love this farm, and I think this new crop lot is the best I have cupped from them.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.3
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.6
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.9
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity/great balance, spice notes.  
add 50 50 Roast: Full City is recommended, although I find the C+ roast to have very , tangy chocolate intensity.
Score (Max. 100) 87.5 Compare to: Excellent, spicy Guatemalan cup character, with balance, and fine bittersweet chocolate flavors, apple note.
Hawaii 
Hawaii Kowali Blue Mountain (JBM Cultivar)
Country: U.S.A Grade: XF and F Region: Hawaii, Big Island, Kona, Honaunau district Mark: Kowali Farm 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: March 2007 arrival Appearance: 1.2 d/300gr, 17-19 Screen Varietal: Jamaica Blue Mountain Cultivar
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: Kona Coffee is grown only in the district of Kona on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. While coffee is also grown in other districts and on other islands, it does not develop the same flavors nor receive the same attention in the process as true small-farm Kona coffees. Kowali (which means Morning Glory in Hawaiian) is a smaller, more remote Kona farm with the right kind of altitude to produce exceptional Kona coffee. This coffee is grown by Skip and Rita Cowell on their 12 acre Kona farm, up an old-time coffee road winding along the steep hillsides of Honaunau in Southern Kona. It has been consistently acclaimed one of the top 10 coffees in Kona, and in fact received an honorable mention in the Kona Coffee Competition. "The funny thing about that," Rita told me, "is that I didn't enter the competition!" The Cowell farm is grown on carefully tended land, using no pesticides and 100% hand picked. In 1998 the farm was recognized by the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District as the co-operator of the year for continuing conservation practices. Skip is an expert in this area and lectures on Soil Conservation at mainland conferences. In terms of cup character, the coffee reflects the Kona heritage but with a twist: this is pure Jamaica Blue Mountain seedstock that was obtained through the University of Hawaii coffee nursery as an experiment. The result is a very Hawaiian cup character overall (similar to the Guatemala-derived Typica planted on most of the small farms), but with a very rounded cup profile. I am impressed with the density of the mouthfeel here, which gives that rounded, weighty sense of body. The preparation of this lot is a little less ideal than our earlier Typica lot, which was zero defect. But I didn't find any problem in the cup with the few odd looking seeds I found in my green sample. In fact I feel the KBM has more character than most Kona small farm coffees. Aromatically there are floral traces, while in the cup I find mild suggestions of Papaya and Mango. There is a spiciness here that reminds me most of ginger root. There is a lightly caramelized sweetness, with a slight mollases syrup tone, and (again) fresh ginger in the finish.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.7
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / dense body, spice
Roast: C+ to FC: I find this coffee more intense at C+ (review comments are based on C+ roast) , and while an FC+ with just a hint of 2nd crack was nice, it was not the roast with most Kona character, for me.  
add 50 50.0 Compare to: Quite similar to top tier Kona coffees, but with added ginger zest and rounded cup profile. This is a very small lot, so the limit is 1 Lb. per customer please - let's spread it around!
Score (Max. 100) 87.3
Hawaii Kona - Greenwell Extra Fancy
Country: US Grade: Extra Fancy Region: Hawaii, Captain Cook, Kona Mark: Greenwell Farms
Processing: Wet=Process Crop: December 2007 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 18+ screen Varietal: Kona Typica (Guatemala-derived)
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: Greenwell Farms is more of a coffee mill than a farm. They are one of the old coffee families on the Big Island, and they still have trees of their own, but they save all that for their own roasting operation. What they do is buy local coffee cherry from all the small producers in the Captain Cook area, wet-process it, dry it, mill it, and offer it under their brand. It's difficult to know exactly where the coffee is from, except that Greenwell seems to be very good at buying quality red, ripe cherry, and has some of the best milling practices in Kona. They know what they're doing. So this makes buying Greenwell a bit hit or miss, you just have to cup the lots and hope for something good. And that's why you see it on our offer list every 2nd or third year. It just depends on what samples I see and how they cup. Well, this time around it's a very early offering, early December rather than January or February, and this particular lot is outstanding (and unfortunately, about $2 more per lb. than Kona last year). But I am a chump for a good coffee, and I have to offer this lot anyway ... $2 more is just pennies a cup anyway, or one mediocre to-go coffee from *bucks! This cup has a sweet dry fragrance, with a hint of malt-o-meal hot cereal, and mildly floral. It really opens up when you add hot water, with more pronounced floral tones, caramel cookie, sweet malt grain. At City+ roast this cup has a bright, lively tea-like floral note, a tad of jasmine and bergamot. Roast flavors become more sharp, almost minty, at FC+. Both roasts are excellent, and have a sweet and savory flavor profile.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.4
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.7
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5) 3.2
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Balanced, good aroma, mild  
add 50 50 Roast: City+ through FC+ produced really nice cups, with a more minty roast flavor at FC+, sweet grain at C+.
Score (Max. 100) 87 Compare to: Clean, mild, floral Kona - one of the best early crop lots in recent memory.
Hawaiian Kona Kowali Farm EXTRA FANCY
Country: U.S.A Grade: Fancy Region: Hawaii, Big Island, Kona, Honaunau district Mark: Kowali Farm 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: January 2008 arrival Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 19+ Screen Varietal: Kona Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: This is the same review as the FANCY because the difference here is bean size. Extra Fancy is the larger bean, 19/64ths and up. Fancy is 17-18 screen size. While you can argue that larger beans have a different heat transfer, they are the same coffee and will cup the same. Kona Coffee is grown only in the district of Kona on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. While coffee is also grown in other districts and on other islands, it does not develop the same flavors nor receive the same attention in the process as true small-farm Kona coffees. Kowali (which means Morning Glory in Hawaiian) is a smaller, more remote Kona farm with the right kind of altitude to produce exceptional Kona coffee. This coffee is grown by Skip and Rita Cowell on their 12 acre Kona farm, up an old-time coffee road winding along the steep hillsides of Honaunau in Southern Kona. It has been consistently acclaimed one of the top 10 coffees in Kona, and in fact received an honorable mention in the Kona Coffee Competition. "The funny thing about that," Rita told me, "is that I didn't enter the competition!" The Cowell farm is grown on carefully tended land, using no pesticides and 100% hand picked. In 1998 the farm was recognized by the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District as the co-operator of the year for continuing conservation practices. Skip is an expert in this area and lectures on Soil Conservation at mainland conferences. In terms of cup character, the coffee reflects the Kona heritage (this is 100% Kona Typica, which was brought from Guatemala in the '20s) and the altitude. This cup is a classic Kona in all respects, with a big, sweet flavor that somehow matches the immense blue-green appearance of the coffee seeds. The body is silky, and (oh it sounds like a cliche, but I must use it) ... smooth! It really is! It has the brightness that is lacking in so many low-grown Hawaiian coffees, and a floral aromatic accent to the cup. Earlier this season, I prefered an FC roast on this coffee, but with this micro-lot I found a real "sweet spot" at City+.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.9
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.7
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Classic Kona Typica character: silky body, clean, floral brightness
Roast: C+ : I like a lighter roast, ceasing the heat with no sign of 2nd crack on the horizon, right when the texture of the seed surface becomes smooth, even brown. You can also get a nice cup just a few snaps of second (FC+), but I find it takes a longer time in most roasters to achieve this level of roast. Set the roaster at a high number and roast manually.
add 50 50.0 Compare to: Sweet, juicy, classic Kona cup character, accented with bright floral notes. A luscious and attractive cup.
Score (Max. 100) 87.9
Hawaiian Kona - Kowali Typica XF
Country: U.S.A Grade: XF (Extra Fancy) Region: Hawaii, Big Island, Kona, Honaunau district Mark: Kowali Farm 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: June 2007 arrival Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 19 Screen Varietal: Kona Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: Kona Coffee is grown only in the district of Kona on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. While coffee is also grown in other districts and on other islands, it does not develop the same flavors nor receive the same attention in the process as true small-farm Kona coffees. Kowali (which means Morning Glory in Hawaiian) is a smaller, more remote Kona farm with the right kind of altitude to produce exceptional Kona coffee. This coffee is grown by Skip and Rita Cowell on their 12 acre Kona farm, up an old-time coffee road winding along the steep hillsides of Honaunau in Southern Kona. It has been consistently acclaimed one of the top 10 coffees in Kona, and in fact received an honorable mention in the Kona Coffee Competition. "The funny thing about that," Rita told me, "is that I didn't enter the competition!" The Cowell farm is grown on carefully tended land, using no pesticides and 100% hand picked. In 1998 the farm was recognized by the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District as the co-operator of the year for continuing conservation practices. Skip is an expert in this area and lectures on Soil Conservation at mainland conferences. In terms of cup character, the coffee reflects the Kona heritage (this is 100% Kona Typica, which was brought from Guatemala in the '20s) and the altitude. This cup is a classic Kona in all respects, with a big, sweet flavor that somehow matches the immense blue-green appearance of the coffee seeds. The body is silky, and (oh it sounds like a cliche, but I must use it) ... smooth! It really is! It has the brightness that is lacking in so many low-grown Hawaiian coffees, and a floral aromatic accent to the cup. Earlier this season, I prefered an FC roast on this coffee, but with this micro-lot I found a real "sweet spot" at City+.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.9
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.7
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Classic Kona Typica character: silky body, clean, floral brightness
Roast: C+ : I like a lighter roast, ceasing the heat with no sign of 2nd crack on the horizon, right when the texture of the seed surface becomes smooth, even brown. You can also get a nice cup just a few snaps of second (FC+), but I find it takes a longer time in most roasters to achieve this level of roast. Set the roaster at a high number and roast manually.
add 50 50.0 Compare to: Sweet, juicy, classic Kona cup character, accented with bright floral notes. A luscious and attractive cup.
Score (Max. 100) 87.9

Hawaiian Kona -Moki's Farm
Country: Hawaii, U.S. Grade: Estate Grade
(F and XF)		 Island: Big Island Mark:

Moki's Farm:
The Rittenhouse Family
Processing: Wet Process Crop: March 2007 Arrival Appearance: .4 d/300gr, 17+ scr Varietal: Kona Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.2 Notes: Moki’s Farm is near the town of Captain Cook on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii. At 2000 ft, is a “mauka farm”, located on the upper or mountain side of the highway that transects the Kona coffee belt. The elevation at Moki’s assures the ideal amount of rain to water the coffee and sun to ripen and later dry the coffee while volcanic soils nurtures the coffee trees and provide great drainage for the roots. It has been a small privately owned family operated coffee farm for over 100 years. Unfortunately the widower of the coffee farmer was not able to maintain the farm and during the late 1980s and 90s the farm suffered from neglect. In January of 2000, Vivian and Roger Rittenhouse purchased the farm realizing their dream to own property in Hawaii and become part of its diverse culture and economy. Because of the condition of the farm and trees at the time of purchase, the Rittenhouses made the difficult decision to remove most of the existing trees and replant. They were however, able to save approximately 50 trees that are 100 years old, to use as seedstock into the future. Roger's coffee is extremely well prepared, showing care in harvest and milling of the coffee. I became aware of this very small farm (just 2.1 acres) at the 2004 Kona Cupping Competition. It was a personal favorite, and upon returning to the mainland I contacted Roger to see if he was interested in offering us green coffee. We have been working together on shipping small lots of his coffee to California as they become "mature" (fully rested in parchment down to 12% moisture or less). It' s a bit pricey to deal with these small amounts, and ship a little at a time, but I cup each lot Roger sends and am really impressed with the consistent high quality. I guess that's why Moki's was the #2 coffee at the competition in 04, and has had honorable mentions previously, and why in each round of the competition I scored this coffee consistently high. In 2005, the crop matured late in the Moki's area, and it wasn't really ready for the competition. This is a problem with events like this; some farms suffer because the cupping is held too early in the crop cycle. Now, Moki's has hit it's peak in terms of cup quality, and I find this year's lots to be more floral in the aromatics. The cup is mild, with soft, thick body and a very "round" mouthfeel. It's almost waxy in the way that walnut or macademia nut are waxy, and in fact the lipids in coffee contribute to this sensation as they do with nuts. There are floral and spice hints in the cup, and, for a Kona, some bright sparkle of acidity here which indicates the higher elevation of the farm compared to many other Kona coffees.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.3
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.5
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.4
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: I like City+ roast, and a good 48 hour rest on this coffee. Many people like a heavier roast on Konas. Actually, a Vienna roast is a pretty neat cup and I am very impressed with the single-Estate espresso I get from a Full City+ roast of this coffee.
add 50 50 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild to Medium / Balance, subtlety
Score (Max. 100) 86.8 Compare to: Estate grade Kona from one of the higher elevation farms.
Hawaiian Kona - Kowali Blue Mountain
Country: U.S.A Grade: XF and F Region: Hawaii, Big Island, Kona, Honaunau district Mark: Kowali Farm 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: March 2007 arrival Appearance: 1.2 d/300gr, 17-19 Screen Varietal: Jamaica Blue Mountain Cultivar
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: Kona Coffee is grown only in the district of Kona on the west side of the Big Island of Hawaii. While coffee is also grown in other districts and on other islands, it does not develop the same flavors nor receive the same attention in the process as true small-farm Kona coffees. Kowali (which means Morning Glory in Hawaiian) is a smaller, more remote Kona farm with the right kind of altitude to produce exceptional Kona coffee. This coffee is grown by Skip and Rita Cowell on their 12 acre Kona farm, up an old-time coffee road winding along the steep hillsides of Honaunau in Southern Kona. It has been consistently acclaimed one of the top 10 coffees in Kona, and in fact received an honorable mention in the Kona Coffee Competition. "The funny thing about that," Rita told me, "is that I didn't enter the competition!" The Cowell farm is grown on carefully tended land, using no pesticides and 100% hand picked. In 1998 the farm was recognized by the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District as the co-operator of the year for continuing conservation practices. Skip is an expert in this area and lectures on Soil Conservation at mainland conferences. In terms of cup character, the coffee reflects the Kona heritage but with a twist: this is pure Jamaica Blue Mountain seedstock that was obtained through the University of Hawaii coffee nursery as an experiment. The result is a very Hawaiian cup character overall (similar to the Guatemala-derived Typica planted on most of the small farms), but with a very rounded cup profile. I am impressed with the density of the mouthfeel here, which gives that rounded, weighty sense of body. The preparation of this lot is a little less ideal than our earlier Typica lot, which was zero defect. But I didn't find any problem in the cup with the few odd looking seeds I found in my green sample. In fact I feel the KBM has more character than most Kona small farm coffees. Aromatically there are floral traces, while in the cup I find mild suggestions of Papaya and Mango. There is a spiciness here that reminds me most of ginger root. There is a lightly caramelized sweetness, with a slight mollases syrup tone, and (again) fresh ginger in the finish.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.7
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / dense body, spice
Roast: C+ to FC: I find this coffee more intense at C+ (review comments are based on C+ roast) , and while an FC+ with just a hint of 2nd crack was nice, it was not the roast with most Kona character, for me.
add 50 50.0 Compare to: Quite similar to top tier Kona coffees, but with added ginger zest and rounded cup profile. This is a very small lot, so the limit is 1 Lb. per customer please - let's spread it around!
Score (Max. 100) 87.3
Hawaiian Kona -Purple Mountain Farm
Country: Hawaii, U.S. Grade: XF/F 18-19+ screen Island: Kona, Big Island Mark: Purple Mountain Farm;
The Stiles Family
Processing: Wet Process Crop: Feb 2007 Arrival Appearance: 1 d/300gr Varietal: Kona Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.1 Notes: This is a coffee that is uniquely Kona, distinct from any other coffee origin in the world. There are flavors very specific to Kona coffees grown on the handful of farms that actually have the right altitude and the right soils to grow coffee that demands the premium Kona price. The biggest problem with Hawaiian island coffee is not that these few small-farm Konas command a high price, it's that alot of poor quality coffees and non-Kona coffees are priced according to the reputation of the deserving ones. Some excellent Konas are sold directly by the mills in Kona and they can be quite good too, but they vary to a greater degree than actual farm-specific lots. Judging by the cup, Purple Mountain immediately struck me as the kind of coffee that is first tier Kona, where the coffee is clearly farmed for quality and not quantity, and the altitude is clearly there. In fact, at 2000 feet in the well-drained volcanic soils of Honaunau region of Kona, and the farm has certainly hit its stride in this their 25th year. The coffee is pesticide-free (not organic certified but all by all measures they practice organic farming), hand-picked and totally sun-dried. The farm is limited to 8 acres, and the Stiles family that own and farm it are active participants in the Kona cupping competitions. The coffee is expertly milled by the well-known Tom Greenwell of Greenwell Farms, but there can be an occasional broken bean, or partial defect bean in this coffee. Remove this before roasting for the best cup results. The cup ... The KPM has a sweet, soft aroma with a hint of jasmine in some cups, and aromatic woody notes. The cup has nice body, a little creamy, and a clean sweet snap to the cup right off the bat. Initially, the dry grounds have macademia nut and vanilla touches, and these come through as in the flavor too, as the cup cools down. With the lighter roast (City) the acidity is mildly citric, and the roast taste is malty-barley, but the finish is a little tight; astringent. City roast is NOT what I prefer with the KPM: Of all Konas, I chose Purple Mountain if I want to do a FC+ roast - it has a nice, bittersweet roast taste at that level with no loss in body, and perhaps greater dark roast intensity than the other Konas. (But remember, Konas, even the best, are all low grown relative to other coffee origins, and have a very mild cup character.)
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.2
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.6
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.7
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.4
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Roast: I found that Purple Mountian has unique character at a darker Full City/ Full City + roast: it is my favorite Kona for a darker roast treatment.
add 50 50 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild to Medium / Balance, Darker roast notes.
Score (Max. 100) 85.2 Compare to: Classic, small farm Kona. This can make great single-origin espresso at a Full City roast or a bit darker!

Honduras 
Honduras FTO San Marcos - Cocosam Coop
Country: Costa Rica Grade: SHB Region: San Marcos de Colon,Marcala, West Central Honduras Mark: Fair Trade and Organic Certified, Cocosam Coop
Processing: Wet - process Crop: August 2007 Arrival Appearance: .8 d/300gr, 17-18 PB Screen Varietal: Caturra, Bourbon Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Honduras has great coffee ... the problem can often be getting it out of the country in good shape, and getting it shipped here promptly. It's ironic that one of the closest coffee origins to the US is one of the hardest in terms of logisitcs. Honduras has a long history of growing cheap arabica for quantity and price, not cup quality. All that is really changing due to the great efforts of NGO organizations, the Honduran government and the various quality initiatives such as Cup of Excellence. Here we have some of the results: a crisp, flavorful cup, light bodied and lively. This lot is produced by a co-op called COCOSAM (Cooperativa Cafetelera Sanmarquena) from the southwestern corner of Honduras. And the cup? There is an herbal-spice scent with anise and sasparilla character, and an aromatic wood suggestion, like cedar bark. The fragrance from the dry grounds and wet aroma are similar, and give a good sense of the cup flavors. The cup has an overall nutty tone (almond and almond skins), and silky mouthfeel ... for a Honduran coffee in particular. It has crisp brightness too, a red apple acidity. In the finish there's also a cocoa powder flavor, not overly sweet, but quite clearly defined. The nice tamarind note, cocoa, almond skin give the cup a slight rustic periphery, but the core flavor aspects are classic, delicate Central flavors all the way. Take it a bit darker (FC+) and the cup has a dark chocolate character with some nice fruited notes.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.6
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5) 3.4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.4
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Nut tones, apple brightness, spice aroma.  
add 50 50 Roast: C+ is the roast I describe above. My FC+ roast was nice, much more cocoa and chocolate than the C+.
Score (Max. 100) 85.9 Compare to: Mild, crisp and flavorful Central.
Honduras Pacamara -Santa Marta Estate
Country: Honduras Grade: SHB Region:
Yoro,
Montana el Pijol Range  
 Mark: Santa Marta Estate
Processing: Wet-Processed Crop: