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While I’d talked up Rwanda’s Golden Cup competition last September, I’ve only late come to realize that I hadn’t actually tasted any of the coffees from this competition. That couldn’t stand, of course. And so this week the coffee delivery man brought me a package from Intelligentisa Coffee.

Intelligentsia’s greenie, Geoff Watts, was fortunate enough both to jury the competition, and to buy a number of lots… this coffee being an all Bourbon melange of coffees from three districts: Nyamasheke, Huye and Gakenke.

Just ground, this blend’s aromas are clean and sweet, with brown sugar the dominant note. On brewing the sweetness continues with a bit of apple pie spice. In the cup, mango and caramel flavors are accentuated by a shimmering acidity, and buttery, syrupy body. The finish is long, and sweet, and leaves a taste of candied pecans on the tongue.

Sweet. Balanced. Lyrical. This is Zen poetry in a cup.

Recommended, and available at Intelligentsia Coffee.

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I tend to wax rhapsodic about single-origin coffees. It’s much more rare I do the same for a coffee blend. There’s a reason for that. Let me ’splain.

Some folks (read, all of the Big Four — Sara Lee, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Nestlé — and any number of other roasters who care more about their bottom line than your good taste) blend coffees for reasons of economy. You take a bit of the good stuff — high grown beans with lots of flavor and aroma — and blend it with as much as 90% “C” grade not-great-but-not-offensive coffee and voilà: you have a commercial blend. Slap a romantic name on and sell the hell out of it. Have a nice day.

Other folks — folks with integrity, and talent — take an excellent coffee from over here, a great coffee from over there, put them together and . . . wow. When it’s done really well, it sings. It resonates. When it’s done really well, the whole — that final blend — is greater than the sum of its parts.

For three year’s running I’ve been able to trust that Peet’s will deliver just such a tasty treat for their seasonal Holiday Blend. True to form, once again they’ve delivered.

Peet’s Holiday Blend 2007 is one smooth operator — from its dusky, saddle-leather bass line to its malted chocolate middles all the way up to a berry-and-flowers topnote. The Sumatra Lintong on the bottom is remarkable for its super-clean flavors, with absolutely none of the metallic tang that’s tended to sour Lintong coffees of late (and especially the triple-pick / super-prep stuff… go figure.) The Antigua in the middle is clearly a super-dense bean, to not only stand up to the deep roast that Peet’s is famous for, but to thrive on it. And at the top, is that an Ethiopian bean? A Nyeri-region Kenya? Doesn’t matter… it’s all good, and the result is a parting shot that’s something of a distilled essence of ruby-red citrus and gentle whack in the nose with a bouquet of jasmine.

Highly Recommended.

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You may recall that I was pretty chuffed with Green Mountain’s 2006 eCafe Gold Competition auction lot — Ethiopian Shanta Golba Natural Process Sidamo. If you don’t recall (or don’t wanna click) here’s the particulars:

Extremely fruited, with peach and blueberry aromas, and a little whiff of cocoa and cinnamon when wetted. Fruit plays large in the flavor, too… blueberry, strawberry, spiced peach and cardamom, with a dark chocolate understory. The finish, while not everything it was a year ago, it still sweet and resonant, and fades to a pleasant, dusky leather. Yeah, this is one of those coffees you think about dabbing behind your ears, too.

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I’ve known Jeff Taylor for nearly half a dozen years. Jeff’s a coffee guy through and through. He’s a heck of a barista, an international WBC judge, and a talented coffee roaster… which he puts to good use as co-owner of PT’s Coffee in Topeka, Kansas. PT’s had a coffee shop up the street from me a ways when I was in Overland Park, Kansas… I understand they now have another only a block or two from my old place. (Clearly, one or the other of us needs to work on timing.) (more…)

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