Another month and another big lot of really interesting coffees coming across my tasting table. I’ve been sharing these around town to, mainly to heaps of applause for the unique tastes. Here is yet another one that makes the grade this month.
Las Termopilas Nicaragua CoE #4, Intelligentsia Coffee, $24.99 / 8oz.
This is one of my favourites from this year’s Cup of Excellence – Nicaragua event, and in my tastebuds’ opinion, was a close second to the winning coffee (the winner went for $48 a lb green!). When I got two half pound bags from Intelligentsia of this coffee, I was happy at the chance to compare it to my hazy memory of my own roasts of the CoE samples from the late spring. And it proved to me again what a great roasting company Intelly can be – they represent this coffee phenomenally well.
Brewed as a press, there’s just a huge whallop of raspberries in the initial taste, followed by a bit of a morph into citrus fruit. The finish is like a bittersweet chocolate infused with raspberries. As it cools, the raspberries go away and it becomes a much more pronounced chocolate. When I use the term culinary coffee, this is exactly what I mean – this is a show stopping coffee that deserves respect and care in the brewing and preparation methods. Brew it literally seconds before brewing, and for gosh sakes, keep it away from the espresso machine – it gets obliterated and dulled by espresso’s torturous brewing. This is a delicate, sing a song for you coffee.
It’s expensive, at just under $25 for half a pound, but another must try – and it’s going to be gone, very, very soon.
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.
