This unique espresso blend combines top quality beans from the 2008 crop to create a balanced cocoa-musty-nuttiness with a distinct bittersweet-grilled pineapple tone. The fragrance is chocolaty and powerful. The clean, strong flavors linger on the palate and compliment milk-based drinks.

This is a wonderful example of a balanced, elegant cup of coffee.  The smells are familiar: coffee, flower-perfumy, citrus, with a touch of caramelized brown sugar.  The initial tastes are bright and crisp, like the first apples of Fall.  The dry mouthfeel doesn’t come across as acidic, but more high and bright, and it finishes slightly metallic. There are hints of dry nuttiness –a blend of almonds and cocoa powder with a slight malty-coffee-caramel thread. A new range of flavors emerges once it cools: complex layers of unusual fruit and spices.

The Santa Lucia Estate in Costa Rica took 16th place in the 2008 Cup of Excellence judging.  Farmers Ricardo Perez Barrantes and Rodriguez Villalobos have more than 30 years of coffee farming experience.

The quintessential Central American chocolate/citrus combination is present in this cup but with a very well rounded, buttery mouth feel and balance that puts this at the top of the region.  Soft, silky-smooth cocoa and chocolate flavors mingle in perfect harmony with lime peel acidity. The finish moves away from the citrus and into a smoky, dark chocolate underworld.

The Matalapa Estate is 4th generation-owned, by Vickie Ann Dalton de Diaz.  The 2008 El Salvador Matalapa Estate was judged and took #10 in the Cup of Excellence.