the ultimate bird-friendly coffee, and some amazing new lots
Once again, we have so many new arrivals at once I can only provide a list, and links to the full reviews. Many of you from the homeroast list have aske about the Jacu Bird Coffee - that's here, along with a darn pleasant Harar, and (finally) a solid Aged Sumatra.
- Brazil Jacu Bird Coffee - i am not above a novelty coffee, especially when (unlike kopi luwak) the cup is good!
- Brazil Organic Camocim - Pure Bourbon - fantastic cup, bright, jasmine and sage notes, malty sweetness.
- Brazil Organic Camocim - Moka (Peaberry) - peaberry lot that doubles as a great single-estate espresso
- Ethiopia Harar Horse -Lot 14659 - I can't believe it, I found a good harar! lower-toned, candied fruit notes, spice, silky body.
- Rwanda Butare Bourbon - we were able to get more of this great bourbon lot
- Zimbabwe AA -Dandoni Estate - maybe the last shipment from this fine farm in a troubled country
- Sumatra Aged Mandheling '04 Crop - it took a long time but i finally found an intense, pungent aged coffee with hidden sweetness
- Colombia Huila Pitalito MC Decaf - incredible bright, sweet, floral decaf. review coming
thanks for the comments about
thanks for the comments about the Jacu. Yes, I agree, little is happening in the Jacu digestive system to alter the coffee (and maybe that is a good thing!) Anyway, it's an interesting selection process, and the Jacu is effectively removing the fruity mucilage from the coffee parchment layer, so it has replaced at least a few coffee workers ... hmmm, maybe the the Coffee Workers Intl Union will get mad about this and organize a Jacu strike? -tom
I've been wondering what you
I've been wondering what you thought about that "cat poop" coffee, and why you aren't selling it. Now I know!
:-)
Okay, as an ornithologist I
Okay, as an ornithologist I feel like I can make a contribution here. Supposedly, some of the "unique" characteristics of Kopi Luwak come from the civet's digestive process, which according to tests leach out proteins which cause bitterness (the coffee sucks anyway).
But a bird's digestive system is far different than a mammal's. Food passes very quickly through birds; fruit in particular goes through within hours (sometimes less than an hour). It's very inefficient for a bird to have their small digestive tracts loaded up with a lot of seeds -- especially large ones like coffee beans. Although guans and other cracids (of which the Jacu bird is one) do have crops to temporarily store food, if the beans are coming out in parchment, nothing much is happening to them in the short time they are in the bird.
I totally love the idea of this coffee anyway, since it means the beans are coming from a forested area, but I cannot imagine there is any physical reason why they should taste any different than the rest of the crop.