Mystery Cup: Sample X...

Coffee X: The Mystery Cup -- 

Barry explains... "The Ethiopian has a very floral taste to it, but only moderate body and a
very tea-y sub taste.  in order to fill it out a bit, i started playing around and came up with the following blend:

  2 parts Ethiopian Yrgacheffe
  2 parts Brazil
  1 part Guatemala Huehuetenango Huixoc

"This gives a good amount of the Ethiopian floralness, but filled out with body, and the very pleasant caramelly aftertaste of the Huehue.

"I tried a couple of other blends too, but didn't like any as much. I tried 2 parts Ethiopian, 2 parts Sumatra, and 1 part Guatemalan, but the Sumatra stomped all over the Ethiopian. I also tried 2 parts Ethiopian, 1.5 parts brazil, and 1.5 parts Guatemalan, but that yielded an interesting but not satisfying "double peak" of acidity (the Ethiopian and the Huehue are each pretty acidic, but have different flavors). [I tried the "Twin Peaks" blend in St. Louis, and I like it. -dec] I also tried 2 parts Mexican [a coffee that ultimately didn't make the grade for the Challenge], 2 parts Sumatra, and 1 part Costa Rican, and while it had a similar acidity/body profile as the other blend, it totally lacked any sort of interesting flavors."


Cupping Results

Notable remarks:

"Somehow B, which I found really unpleasant on its own, plays its role very nicely here." 
--Ben Alpers

"Liquor, flower, and tangerine notes from A, B & D, very balanced with spice and nut flavors." 
--Jim Schulman

"Lingering and pleasant with a citrusy grace note."
--Ed Needham

"Zippy, a little floral, citrusy without blatant fruitiness."
--Buck Turgidson

	Roast profile
	How We Voted