We specialize in roasting our beans to just the point where the true flavors that the farmer intended come through, before the flavor of the roasting process itself overpowers the subtleties of the bean.  It is a process that combines art and science to balance the profile of the bean with the profile of the roast to maximize the terrior.

You can be notified when an exceptional bean comes to the world market, and have the opportunity to purchase shares of a bag, enough for several months.  Peregrine will then store the green beans for you and roast and deliver them as needed on demand.

You can give a one-of-a-kind gift – a year’s worth of coffee chosen by you in consultation with Peregrine, to a friend or relative who is passionate about coffee.  Or perhaps a Peregrine gift certificate that will open the door for a colleague who wants to know coffee as well as he knows wine.

You can host a coffee-tasting party for 12 or 200, with Peregrine coffees specially roasted to reflect the wide range of coffee flavors available on the world market.  Have Peregrine’s roaster be your guide in person, or in consultation before your event.

You can serve exceptional coffee chosen just for a wedding reception, special birthday, or business launch – freshly roasted and delivered just for your event.

Each cup of coffee offers something different.  Some coffees are bright, tangy brews, lightly roasted to enhance the buoyancy of the flavor.  Some are mellow, full of chocolate, tobacco, or butterscotch. These are not flavored coffees, but coffees full of flavor, perfectly roasted to bring out the distinctive characteristics of each bean.

A cup of truly fresh, single origin coffee does not have a consistent taste.  It might start out hot with elements of toffee and cardamom, cool down to hints of tangy apricot, and taste like chocolate when it’s cold.  Experiencing the progression of flavors in a single cup is part of the excitement of drinking Peregrine Coffee.

Bolivia, Caranavi
Nakhaki Estate Lot “C”
Nelson Olori, Farmer

Here is another fine micro-lot coffee from Bolivia. The complexity of this coffee starts with the first whiff from the cup. There are florals, chocolate and nut with meaty-earthy notes along with a typical coffee aroma. A touch of black cherry and caramel is also present. The flavors reflect Autumn: maple and brown sugar, caramel and fruit. A pinch of lemony citrus comes through too. The mouthfeel is thick, rich and balanced. There are hints of nuts and caramel on finish. This coffee is predominantly deep and dark with occasional bright notes.

The distinctive Nakhaki coffees come from the Uchumachi, Colonia Kantutani, Caranavi Province in the Yungas of La Paz, Bolivia. They are expertly tendered and carefully processed by this small group of organic farmers that protect their environment with shade trees and ecological processing. Their micro-lot coffees include Typica and Red Caturra varieties.

Importer comments: Citric acidity (meyer lemon), sweet, syrupy, balanced body with hints of dark chocolate, sugar cane and red wine. Its silky texture carries forward reminders of vanilla, floral essence and green apple.

Peregrine Coffee is happy to be working with Northern Liberties newest restaurant, KOO ZEE DOO, providing bespoke coffee and espresso.

KOO ZEE DOO is a new BYOB in Northern Liberties inspired by the cuisine and flavors of Portugal. The phonetic name not only refers to the general adjective “cooked” but also to a traditional Portuguese dish, Cozido á Portuguesa. This dish, a boiled dinner with a variety of meats, including smoked sausages and vegetables, has numerous regional variations throughout Portugal and its former colonies.

At the heart of Portuguese cuisine are quality ingredients prepared simply to preserve their distinctive flavors. The Portuguese are a people who express love and friendship through their cooking, and KOO ZEE DOO wants to share that experience with Philadelphia.

This outstanding organic coffee starts with a sweet, fruity, floral smell combined with some dustiness.  The cup is balanced with a slight tilt toward the acidic, which fades fast.  The flavors are big with loads of dark, dark chocolate and bright cherries mixed with a fruit flavor that comes from the tropics – perhaps mango.  There are also subtle, delicate floral tones that sneak in.  The mouth feel is thick and viscous and provides a nice juiciness.  The finish is super clean with slight fruits, dark chocolate, and slight caramel and dulce-de-leche notes.  A superb Indonesian.

This unique organic peaberry from Café Cascada starts with an elegant combination of aromas of fruit and nuts.  Once in the cup, the flavors include cocoa, a mix of tart and sweet cherries, nut meat, malt, and subtle hints of spice and herbs.  The mouthfeel has a light and airy texture and is perfectly balanced, reminding one of chiffon.  Although not overtly acidic, a welcome brightness emerges as it cools.  The finish is long with cocoa and tart cherry tones. This is a superb, very well balanced coffee.

Importer comments:  Sweet chocolate, black cherry, sugar cane, dried stone fruit, syrupy mouth feel, clean, syrah wine, pecans, malt.

We are thrilled to be highlighted in the Fall 2009 issue of Philadelphia Magazine Wedding.

This exceptional and unusual coffee starts off with smells of sweetness, darkness and chocolate with numerous savory spices, and burnt sugar.  The flavors pick up where the aroma leaves off with wintry tones of well worn leather, old pipe tobacco, and bittersweet chocolate.  The mouthfeel is quite dry and papery with practically no acidity.  What emerges at the finish is the typical Sumatran cedar note, especially pronounced as it cools.  A great example of an aged bean.

This very interesting coffee starts with three very distinct stages of aroma: first the sweet fruit smell of the whole bean; then the flower perfume of the brewed bean; finally, the chocolate-caramel cup.  The flavors are touches of sweet fruit, hinting toward apricot, wrapped with caramel.  There is a combination of woody-nuttiness too (think cedar and hazelnuts) that continues into the finish.  The mouthfeel is smooth with medium-to-big body.  It is a very balanced cup, with light acidity and is the best coffee we have had from Mexico in recent memory.

El Salvador Finca Malacara
2008 Cup of Excellence #5
Roberto Dumont Alvarez (Chantuc, S.A. de C.V.)
Malacara Lote “B”

The first sniff of these beans say “nuts and toffee.”  Once brewed, there is a floral, sweet, tropical fruit aroma that continues into the cup.  The complexity of flavors flawlessly moves from one note to another, with the most prominent being strawberry.  This progresses to an orange citrusy acidity combined with pineapple and passion fruit.  There is a brightness that is present throughout which is nicely balanced with a creamy mouthfeel.  Most striking is the flavor transformation from hot to cold.  The cup cools into rounder tones including caramel and milk chocolate. Very distinct toffee/caramelized sugar finish. This is an exceptional coffee.

Top Jury Descriptions: citrus aroma (9), very clean and sweet (15), floral (12), tropical fruit (11), strawberry (10), sugar cane (7), peach (7), berry (7), chocolate (6), caramel (5), creamy (10), delicate (8), complex (12)
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Overview from Cup of Excellence
The history of this farm goes back to the beginning of last century with the Álvarez Prunera family’s great-grandfather.  On its 49 hectares today, the average age of coffee trees is 40 years, with densities of 3,500 trees per hectare and yielding some 25 quintals per hectare.

For third year in a row Malacara “B” achieved an award in the COE event. In the COE event in 2006 it placed 13th, in 2007 it ranked 20th and now in 2008 it has jumped to 5th place. With these awards won in a row, Malacara “B” shows the high quality of coffee that the estate produces.

The Alvarez family association, Chantuc S.A., helps support a school and a health center within the farm that was originally donated by the first Malacara’s owners. This farm is planted with 95% Bourbon and 5% Pacas on a sandy-loam soil.  Harvesting usually takes place between January and March, while flowering goes from April through May. The shade canopy is mainly made up of Ingas and mountain trees such as cedar, walnut, gravileo and avocado, among others.

There are two stories regarding the origin of the name of this farm: one says that “Malacara” was named after one local chief who lived in the area and who was known as the “Cacique Malacara”. The other talks about the relation between the farm appearance when Rafael Álvarez (grandfather of Francisco Arturo) bought it, and the face expression that his friends made when they saw the farm for the first time. The story told that it was so chaotic that everyone gave no hope on the farm and everybody made an “ugly face” or “Mala-Cara” because they imagined how difficult would be to establish a coffee farm there.

BBBD (Best Beans for the Best Dad)
Your Dad’s the best.  And he deserves the best.  So for Father’s Day, spoil him a little bit with a large bag of award winning coffee from El Salvador’s La Laguna Estate (description below).  A 2008 Cup of Excellence Winner, La Laguna is hands-down one of our most delicious beans, with a balance between caramel and fruit that pleases a variety of palates.  And in honor of Dad, we’re offering a large bag of this special bean for $5 off the regular price — $25 for 500 grams of one of the finest coffees the world has to offer.

El Salvador La Laguna Estate
2008 Cup of Excellence Winner Lot #7. On grinding and brewing, the aromatics are floral and reminiscent of baking spices. In the cup, this is a big coffee with a lot of flavor. The complex, winey acidity is perfectly balanced with exceptional structure and body. The thick and creamy mouthfeel carries the berry/fruit acidity straight through the cup. And as it cools, subtle hints of tart raspberries or pomegranate are drawn out. This is a supremely elegant and sophisticated combination of flavors with a nice dark tone running through the middle. The finish is like a slow trip down a long, winding road. Fabulous.

Jury Descriptions: strong aroma (12), Very balanced (13), very clean and sweet (16), floral (11), caramel (9), dried fruit (6), red raspberry (6), champagne (5), perfume (4), full and creamy body (14), juicy (14), long finish (7), improved as it cooled (11). Please Note: The number that appears in brackets next to a description it indicates the number of jurors that agreed with that particular description.

This superb Indonesian seems to evoke the rainforest. The fragrance begins with clean, semi-sweet and rather earthy notes. In the cup, the body is big with a smooth, syrupy mouthfeel.  The flavors start with a vegetal, earthy woodiness combined with a touch of fruit. The lack of acidity plus a hint of sweetness makes for a very smooth finish. The final reward is unmistakable chocolate.  In fact, as this cools, it is one of the most distinctly chocolate tasting coffees we’ve encountered.

We are proud to announce that Peregrine Coffee was featured in the May/June issue of Brides Magazine for our Bepsoke Coffee service, where we work with the bride and groom and the baker to pair coffee with the flavors of the wedding cake.

The sweet smells from the cup evoke honey and peaches, and some of that is reflected in the cup as soft floral tones.  The dominant flavors that come through are dark and smoky chocolate notes combined with the more traditional nuttiness. The mouthfeel is smooth with no discernable acidity at all.  The finish starts off with a slight peppery edge in the throat, switching to a dark and earthy, long lasting aftertaste of quintessential coffee.  A very drinkable, not-too-complex decaf.

5. Those looking to brew the best cup of joe can take advantage of a free, personalized tasting at Peregrine Coffee. At the husband-and-wife-owned warehouse and roasting facility, the team steers visitors to try new flavors from around the world based on guests’ tastes. Once favorite roasts are discovered, guests can take part in what may be the world’s only coffee bean bespoke service. The owners will order quantities of the green beans, store them and then roast and ship them whenever the customer’s current batch is exhausted. 5017 Friendship Street, (215) 240-4474, peregrinecoffee.com

What a surprise! Open the bag and these beans smell like…pizza! Absolutely — tomatoes, savory spices, and a meaty, steak-like sweetness, almost like brisket in a ketchup-heavy BBQ sauce.  The aromas change quickly on brewing heading toward heavy florals and some fruit. The cup is nicely balanced with a bright start, and a somewhat watery, dry mouthfeel.  Some coffees’ tastes turn up in one spot in your mouth – the tip or side of the tongue; this one you taste all over – it seems to throw off flavors in all directions.  It is a complex cup with a certain nutty-savory note that hints at salted peanuts. There is also watermelon rind, wrapped with tea-like tones.  Finally, there is the chocolate and anise-licorice path that leads right to the flowers — approaching Jasmine on the finish.  A long finish ends this very interesting coffee.