The aroma from the cup is a mix of lemon and traditional coffee tones, with a sweet, funky-meaty-gauva tropical note.  What jumps to mind on first taste is honey-lemon tea, and that is the theme for this exceptional coffee.  The complex citrus blend of bright, fresh lemons and bitter Seville oranges are intertwined in a duet of floral chords and exotic, fragrant honey.  The citric acid bitterness carries through to the finish and surprisingly delivers a very deep smokiness, continuing with florals and fruit.  This acts much more like an assertive tea than a coffee and will reward one with a little sugar, but no milk.

The intense aroma is clearly fruit with sweet florals that run rich and deep, like a stroll through an orchard in bloom. The initial taste of passion fruit and other tropical fruits is what is immediately prominent, with a load of tart acidity. What follows is a wildly complex combination of peach-apricot nectar, honeysuckle and jasmine, with a sweet, grapy-violet note (like what one thinks of when one visualizes Choward’s Violet Candy). Then, there is the forever long, strong finish where the Seville oranges emerge.  This is a rare, unusual and impressive coffee that has a lot in common with a silver-tip Jasmine tea and one will be rewarded by treating it like that in the cup: no milk, maybe a little sugar.

Recommended Brewing Instructions
14g of coffee to 8oz of water
Medium-to-slightly-coarse grid
Single cup drip
200-205 degree water

Peregrine Coffee has two batches available of what is considered by many to be the finest coffee in the world — Esmeralda Special Geisha Lot Number 2, the coffee that commanded the highest price at any auction last year.

Today’s coffee tasting went exceptionally well.  A special thanks to Mike and Edna for hosting; Jen and Kristen for helping; Cameron for running the show; and to Cory, Pat, Scott, Becky, May, Karen, Pat, Sue, Dan and Janet and Don for joining us this morning.  We sampled the following: Panama Robusta Rustico, Colombia Huila Piedras de San Augustin (light and dark), Brazil Cerrado and the Kenya Kiamaina Estate.

Daily Candy