A rare beauty very difficult to attain like my profile shot - Rainforests often are. Using the same roasting profile as Costa Rican this roast is one that has become my favorite. Interestingly enough this is one of the most difficult blends to pour a good shot from. The water temp has to be at the highest temp point of any in my experience and if you don't get it right it's really not even drinkable. A deep second crack completely past the oily state of Vienna you can see it sheening brightly in the diluted morning sunshine. The overall roast has some lighter tones though this mainly shows the darker beans. But when you get it right the flavor of the espresso is unmistakable evoking feelings like lingering in early morning naturaleza fog. So has anybody else had experience with this rare beauty?
We were pleasantly surprised with our first taste of this new coffee from the heart of the Guatemala rainforests. The Coban coffee project is quite unique due to the fact that it not only strives to improve the living conditions of the producers but it is also dedicated to the preservation of the bio-diverse environment of the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve. The 583,000 acres, encompassed within the reserve, are home to 885 species of birds, mammals and reptiles; roughly 70% of the registered species in Guatemala and Belize. The producer groups are located in the Northern Buffer Zones of the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve in the regions of Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz. There are two Mayan producer groups that consist of 462 farms and processing/export plants located in 23 communities. All of which are certified organic by Mayacert/BCS, and as of 2004 they achieved Fair Trade certification. The sustainable coffee farms near this delicate biosphere diminish the negative impacts of agriculture on the environment. The taste of Coban this starts with a very clean, mildly sweet flavor with a pleasant fruitiness that dances in the mouth and fades gently to a smooth, cocoa and smokey finish. The cup is quite dynamic due to its intense brightness that heightens the other charactaristics. Overall a nicely balanced cup that really should be enjoyed as a single origion without blending. We recommend a medium to Full City or French roast.
Admittedly that's a hook for a sales pitch - also trying to figure out why this forum will never load my profile shot even though it's here pre post (yes it's 72kb 75x100px).
Well it appears that on my Macs logging in takes away the profile images on forum posts - how strange?? I looked at the code and the image is literally omitted when logged (probably permissions error).
Anyway there's a larger point here and perhaps it's illusive to all you good people- the coffee above is a shade grown that's the key. That is the only way to grow coffee in the natural environment of Rainforests for instance. This much I've known for some time that this type of coffee is rebuilding sustainable environments there in Guatamala. But just yesterday I participated in a discussion on animal migration like birds on KALW radio in S.F. and learned that coffee that is not shade grown is often raised on plantations that use rapid growth/rapid sunlight methods. This method of coffee production is by and large bad for the environment because of the detraction to animals and natural growth around it.
So while this coffee maybe a little harder to roast and pull a good shot from if you respect it's origin and give it a chance you would find that the taste of the Rainforest is more than well worth it.
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