Deft. Coffee Roasters. » Cup of Excellence

Bolivia San Ignacio, iced. sumptuous

Dave — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:41:21 +0000

I had just a small amount of the that San Ignacio left (~18g, to be exact) and it is hot as a mutha here right now, so I set out to make a delicate, fully satisfying iced coffee. (Vietnamese stye)

Bolivia San Ignacio as it's brewing, icing

Sweet isn’t quite enough of a word for it. The buttery body (mmm) that was in hot cup, completely turned inward, and became more of a perceived sense than actual flavor – like jabbing your finger in the stick of warm butter sitting on the butcher block, maybe even on a slab of Himalayan pink salt, and putting it in your mouth. Warmth. Oily. Yummy.

Then. And then… that delicate flower of sweetness takes off, floats lightly, and clearly above the cool ice and butter. Like finding lost berries and cream. Clear hints of cherry and super ripe raspberries (just like the amazingly juicy ones Christy just brought home from the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island the other day…) ‘Twas beauty. Total beauty. ‘Nother please… If only I had some more.

I still need to post the roast notes from this batch…

Oh, one last thing, really…

Dave — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:45:39 +0000

One thing I meant to write but forgot to add at the end of that last post was, was that the griping that is abounding all over the place only shows that what what the inventors, developers, marketers have all created is not just their own thing. It has taken on a life of it’s own, and the people who have participated in it’s life so far feel (deservedly) attached to that. And that does mean that the idea has a life of its own. Beyond Starbucks… beyond clover…

So even though it sucks right now, and is going to impact the course of specialty coffee – how exactly I am not certain – they had the right to do what they did. And good for them. So, but probably, in a way no one is seeing at the moment (well, 1 person is, but he or she is diligently working in secret, at an accelerated pace…) it will eventually be good for everyone. Remember that Starbucks is at least indirectly responsible for George Howell’s founding of the Cup of Excellence program. And that is a greater deal for specialty coffee than 1000+ Coffee Connections were ever going to be.