by Isabella Vitaliano
Welcome to our Specialty Green Coffee Cupping Series on Thursdays where we highlight recent arrivals. We select several coffees to cup at The Crown and provide more in-depth tasting notes, coffee background, and usage recommendations.
28797 Costa Rica Tarrazu La Pastora
With a solid structure and body, this bulk Costa Dota is a great option for a variety of menu needs. From butterscotch to cherry, lime zest, chocolate, papaya, and meringue this juicy coffee is lively enough for a light-roasted single-origin offering. Roasted ideally at a light to medium level to keep the balance inherent in the profile expressed in the final brew.
With more than 4650 members in Tarrazu, a canton in the province of San Jose, Cooperative de Caficulatores de Tarrazu is designed to receive cherries from many small farms and process their coffees into this well-balanced regional blend called La Pastora.
Highly impressive for the sheer size of this group, like clockwork, a parade of vehicles of all sizes arrives in the late afternoon with cherries that were picked that day. The cherries are weighed out and sent through a demucilager utilizing a recycling water system. The coffee passes through a series of dryers to reduce the moisture to 11%. All this highly organized operation happens in a matter of just 72 hours. The coffee is rested for a month, milled, and put through more series of quality control evaluations to prepare for export. This cooperative has an intricate model of income diversification they can provide their members. Along with a profitable agricultural supply store and grocery store,. cooperative members also have access to low-interest loans and health care.
30393 Nicaragua Organic Finca EL Pastoral Natural
Characterized by a medley of berries from cherry, blueberry, and blackberry the profile is accompanied by mild spices like nutmeg and some notes of raisin and almond. Berries galore, this coffee would be delicious for a holiday blend or as a single origin for a special winter offering. Keeping the roast level from light to medium will help preserve the fruit notes as they are slightly delicate. If you wanted to take the less-explored route this could be a really interesting coffee for a medium dark roast to supplement the spice notes found in the cup. Either way, you take it, delicious!
The intention and goal of J&M Family coffee is ‘What is the best way to support producers’? Juan De Dios and his siblings set off on this mission to sell their parent’s coffee to the international market and then began his own far EL Pastoral which consists of 150 acres of coffee production. Cherries from this lot are selected for natural processes and are an example of the exemplary work produced by this family. The family has a highly integrated model that allows for more processing to occur at a dry mill and encourages quality control and traceability.
30987 Papua New Guinea Organic Konkua
This PNG is not for the faint-hearted. The team designated this controversial as it is bold, funky, untamed, and for someone who “wants something crazy”. On the nose, you can smell green apples and boozy notes. Once the water hits your experience will turn into a jammy, cooked fruit, zesty, natural wine-adjacent cup. Stick with a medium-to-light roast on this one to keep it nice and bright. You will have a good time with this on espresso or on a pour-over for your more adventurous clientele. Take caution when blending as it could easily dominate the profile.
Konkua is a smallholder group that has been able to make a name for itself despite Papa New Guinea being a highly isolated island in the Pacific. Konkua Okipa and Obura Wonenara are remote communities a few hours south of one of the first main highland towns on the westbound Highland Highway. A road that connects its industrial port of Lae with the island’s central rainforests. 137 smallholders between these two communities collectively plant 313 hectares of planted coffee. Both communities are obscure in size but not in quality, they are well known for their achievements, winning a national cupping competition in 2015.
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