We have four  new coffees coming from Panama, all new crop of course. They are:

1. Hector Vargas’ Panacoffee microlot from Boquete, a blend of Typica and Catuai that is just sensational. We know Hector for some years and we bought all of this coffee.  In the Best of Panama this year, his coffee commanded a high price and a lot of competitive bidding.
2. Two from Wilford Lamastus’ Elida Estate, also in Boquete, his Elida Estate Reserve, always a top ranking fully washed coffee; also his natural process version of the same coffee.  Processing without washing produces a completely different cup profile.
3. The ever-popular Carmen Estate by Carlos Aguilera of Volcan Panama, just across the ridge from Boquete.

All three growers (and their four coffees) are top shelf.

Just arrived today and will be on our site within days is Yemen Mocha Harazi that we directly imported.  This is carefully selected, top quality coffee from Yemen.  Yemeni coffee can be very tricky to purchase and this one is excellent.

We still have two coffees still to list from our trip to Costa Rica, Jose Arce’s Finca Chepe and Monte Copey de Dota.

This is a difficult and expensive year for Kenya coffee but we just found an auction lot of peaberry from the Guama mill.   It has a lot of depth and layers of flavor.   Lastly, a new decaffeinated coffee for us, Mountain Water Processed from Honduras.

In all, nine new coffees will hit our offering list within days.  Details and pricing to follow. Check our “new arrivals” section.

Of the top ten coffees, half were Bourbon and half were Pacamara.  One of the attractions of going to El Salvador was a personal fondness for the Pacamara varietal.   This varietal is  a cross between the Pacas natural mutation of Bourbon, and the large Maragogipe, an offspring of Typica known primarily for its size but also with fans for its flavor.   When all is right with Pacamara it exhibits dramatic, dark fruit flavors, layers of them.  El Salvador is perhaps the place where more Pacamara is grown and experiemented with.  While only 5% of coffee grown is Pacamara, it is often in the top group of competition winners as was the case here.

Here are some photos on Flickr.

El Salvador is a unique origin and in some ways the value of its coffee is not really well known.  Unique in Central America, mainly two varietals make up the entirety of the country’s production, Bourbon and Pacamara, with the vast majority Bourbon.  Some of the Bourbon is Pacas.  Bourbon itself is grown in Red, Pink and Yellow varieties.  In much of Central America one comes across a dominance of Caturra and Catuia but not here, where the Bourbon is heirloom.  The only real derivation is with Pacamara, the relatively new coffee, that is itself a star in the making. A dozen years of war set this country’s reputation as a dominant coffee origin backward; once it was the world’s third largest, but the re-establishment of that fame is now beginning to emerge again.

In all, a wonderful experience with good coffee friends, old and new.  And a chance to savor some of the truly world class coffees from an origin that is still under the radar compared to the quality offered.

“Unfortunately our i-Roast2 is still on back order. We are expecting a shipment of replacement parts and maybe a small shipment of roasters sometime in August. We will not receive replenishment after that. We will be forced to discontinue the i-Roast2 after stock runs out. We are working on the next version of our roaster. The release date has not been set.  I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this shortage has caused you.”

If it turns out to be true that some small amount of roasters does arrive in August, and if it makes sense at that time, we will secure some.  Otherwise, we will keep our eyes peeled for a new and hopefully improved model up the road. The i-Roast2 was itself a breakthrough roaster in some ways as it offered programming of up to 10 profiles, each with up to 5 roast stages. The hot air roaster had more power and airflow than its competitors, and except for the smoke it generated (which could be vented out a window) it was a useful roaster, particularly for those who prefer dark roasts.

For the moment, Fresh Roast’s new SR500 and SR300 models are the nearest competitors.  They too have been out of stock for a short while, but gladly we can report a shipment is now on the road heading our way, and, we should be shipping within a few days.

1. Esmeralda Geisha 93.81
2. Panacoffee Geisha (Tito Vargas) 90.79
3. Carleida Geisha 88.82
4. Carmen estate 88.35
5. Don Diego (Volcan area) 86.68
6. Elida Estate 86.42
7. El Burro Estate 86.17
8. Pacamara Don Julian 85.91
9. Kotowa Don K 85.48
10. Don Diego 85.39

This year organizers of the competition asked jurors if they would roast, cup and score coffees in their own facilities. Participating jurors, which included our Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea, were required to follow the same protocols observed when the event was held in Panama. All coffees were coded and unknown to us and all participating jurors. An auction of these winners will take place on May 25th. The top three places are Geisha, as the varietal is increasingly planted throughout the area with much success.

We are happy to see farms of several of our friends in the top group and will have a number of their coffees in the coming weeks and months. Please keep on eye on the new arrivals section of our site.

The private auction of coffee from Hacienda Esmeralda will be on May 18th. It will not include the winning lot from this competition.

Kenya has two crop seasons:  the main crop flowers in February and March with harvest in the Fall; the smaller ‘fly’ crop flowers in September and October and is harvested in May through July.  Generally there are a couple of months of dry weather followed by light rain showers, a regular cycle where most of the plants flower and mature in tandem.  However, this year flowering was more or less continuous and rains that followed were heavy, causing disruption of the cycle.  The weather problems primarily affected the main crop, which came to market in the past few months and recently began to arrive in the US.  Several dollars per pound have been added to the coffee cost. We hope this is a single season event and not the result of global warming.

Model SR300:

This is a larger version of the former Plus 8.

• Twice the roasting capacity as before, 120 grams, roughly 1/4 pound.
• Digital display. Maximum time on the control is 9.9 minutes.
• Has three buttons: Up, Down, Cool.
• At any point during the roast 6 seconds can be added for every tap of the Up button; likewise, the Down button takes away time in 6 second increments.
• Tapping the Cool button overrides the timer and places the roast into a 3 minute cooling cycle.

Model SR500 – All of the above features plus:

• Three temperature settings that be adjusted any time during the roast. High temp is 490 degrees; Medium 455, Low 390.
• A separate Fan Speed Control has been added that allows fine tuning of the roast. Generally, you would want the highest speed at the start of the roast when beans are heaviest and have yet to lose moisture. The would help keep beans moving. Later in the roast lower speeds would be desirable.
• In addition to the three buttons Up, Down and Cool are fan speeds Low, Medium, High, and, a variable fan speed control knob.

We will be selling these roasters at the lowest allowable price, $109 for the SR300 and $159 for the SR500. Considering the improvements, the SR300 is only about $20 more than what the Plus 8 was selling for. We have no more of the old Plus 8 model remaining, so there will be no stock here until new models arrive. It’s a shame both the Fresh Roast and the competing i-Roast2 are not available this holiday season as both companies are both missing seasonal shoppers. Fortunately, we are in good shape with the deservedly popular Behmor 1600 as well as other roasters.

The other significant change with the latest shipment is there are no longer two sizes of roasting grids.  Instead, the grid formerly known as the ’small grid’ is now the standard issue grid.  Originally designed with a slightly closer grid pattern to keep smaller or irregularly sized beans from falling out, it became obvious at some point that you could roast anything with this grid.  So, the larger spaced grid that used to come with the roasters has been discontinued.

We will continue to offer the small grid as a separate item for owners of previous generations of Behmors.  Likewise, we now offer the new chaff tray as a separate it for purchase although they are in short supply for the next couple of weeks.

A number of coffees have arrived and will be on the site very shortly.  We were successful bidders on Hacienda Esmeralda’s lot called Mario Pasqua, our favorite of the group offered this year.  Mario is the name of the field where their most acclaimed coffee has come from in the past.  This field was picked three times, the last of which was in April around Easter – Pasqua in Spanish.  Esmeralda’s crop was half of the previous year, a common problem throughout Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia this year.  Less coffee, winner of this year’s Best of Panama, higher prices.  We will have only a bit available.

We will also be adding Ethiopia Amaro Gayo Organic, a beautifully selected natural with pronounced blueberry and tons of fruit.  Special coffees out of Ethiopia are very difficult to find this year because of the advent of the ECX or Ethiopia Commodity Exchange.  Ethiopia has launched its own NY Mercantile style exchange in an effort to generate more income and smoother transactions for farmers within the country, where in the past an open auction system existed.  In doing so, the exchange negates rewards some growers and exporters were gettting in the past for exceptional coffee production, and relegates those coffees to being identified solely by region. It would be like famous Grand Cru wines such as Chateaux Lafite, Latour or Margaux being required to be sold as just Bordeaux, without allowing them to be sold separately and at their much deservingly higher prices.  Why would they continue to take special care and make investment in their farms without reward?  This is a situation we hope to be corrected in the near future, but it exists for now.  Some pre-arranged shipments were allowed to go through and Amaro Gayo Organic is one of them.  It is similar in appeal to Bagersh’ Idido Misty Valley, which will not be in the US in 2009.

Also be on the lookout for a truly top Kenya AA Kagumoini, one of the best we’ve had in some time, and we’ve had some stunners. Another coffee is a microlot from Costa Rica milled at the Helsar micromill.  These and more to be added shortly.  Check our New Arrivals section for the latest additions.  New CoE coffees from Colombia, the 4th place winner, and, Costa Rica, the 3rd place winner, have just been added.