This India Anokhi is a different species of coffee, Liberica, and unlike Arabica and Robusta, rarely finds its way into mainstream markets. This is not your everyday coffee. The green beans immediately tell a story. There is a wild, pronounced fruity smell and visually, they are a mess, with an unexpected variety of shapes and sizes. Out of the roaster and into the grinder is when the 1970’s flashback happens: Boo Berry Cereal — an undeniable artificial blueberry smell. Things progress into the curiously bizarre once brewed, when the aroma emanating from the cup is a combination of funky-organic-sweetness with digested fruits (unfortunately, think baby poo). Once you get over the shock of everything going on with the smell and actually taste it, you realize that it is indeed coffee: sweet, sweet blueberries with a very slight woody/earthy note with a hint of chocolate. The overall impression also brings to mind the inside of a chocolate covered cherry; not the cherry or the chocolate, but the liquid – this coffee is just that sweet. Even with its strong smells and flavors, it is an exceptionally easy cup of coffee to drink since it is so low in acidity and so very smooth with light body. The finish is very long and surprisingly subtle.

September 12, 2008

Good to the Last Drop

Peregrine Bespoke Coffee Service

We awoke to find a man taking over our kitchen. We thought, Should we beat him with this baseball bat?

But he offered us great coffee, and we decided he’d go unharmed.

The man was Kevin Lawrence, owner of Peregrine Coffee. He came over to let us try his bespoke coffee service (we had no intention of ever beating him).

He brought five beans (Colombian, Kenyan, Indian, Guatemalan, and Panamanian) that he ground and brewed while asking which flavors we wanted first thing in the morning. We sipped and sampled, then ordered our favorite batch. Which he will now deliver, fresh roasted, every week, month, or as we need it.

The coffee was good. Real good.

And Lawrence escaped, although we considered holding him hostage.
Available online at peregrinecoffee.com.