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What's Happening at the George Howell Coffee Company
August 22th , 2008
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Daterra Calabria Espresso Roast gets a 93 from Coffee Review |
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  This is the highest score that Coffee Review has given for espresso in 2008. In Ken David's words our Calabria is: "Sweet-toned, deep, slightly smoky aroma: aromatic wood, a hint of dark chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied, but the pungent dark chocolate notes amplify and move forward, complicated by aromatic wood, walnut, even licorice. Long, resonant, chocolate-saturated finish. Dominates milk with a smoky heaviness that resolves quickly into a milk-sweetened version of the now familiar dark chocolate note." Click here to purchase. $13.95 for 12 ounces. Rainforest Alliance certified.
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Rwanda Cup of Excellence |
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 I will be in Rwanda for the next week and a half where I will be
a juror for the first Cup of Excellence coffee competition outside the Americas. The Cup of Excellence competition-auction concept was my brainchild in 1999 when I co-founded it. I was the head judge for the first three years, developing selection and cupping protocol as it grew to three participating countries: Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The two photos show some of the very first Cup of Excellence jurors in Brazil in 1999. Jim Reynolds of Peet's Coffee and Tea and Martin Diedrich of Diedrich Coffee are on the right. On the left is Martin again (first on left), then Steve Colten of Atlantic USA, a division of Ecom, and Ken Davids of Coffee Review. Co-founder Susie
Spindler has, since taken Cup of Excellence to nine countries. To learn more about this exceptional organization click Cup of Excellence. The one-week Rwanda event promises to be one of the most significant milestones for Cup of Excellence, for Rwandan coffee farmers and for the burgeoning specialty coffee movement here and abroad.
 Americans and Europeans have taken an active interest in Rwanda ever since the genocide of 1994. USAID has been particularly involved for several years in health issues and developing the smallholder agriculture, particularly the coffee sector. Click here for more on the role of USAID in Rwanda. The arrival of Cup of Excellence is the latest part of that ongoing effort. Even President Clinton has become involved with Rwandan coffee! He has set up the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative to market branded Rwandan coffees to Europe and others parts of the world. See Rwanda: Coffee Can Transform Rwandan Economy - Clinton and Rwanda: Clinton to Promote New Coffee Brand.
Terroir Coffee fans may remember the great Karaba Cooperative coffee we had a few years ago. It has been impossible, since then, to bring great coffee lots from land-locked Rwanda without major losses in quality. Cup of Excellence is the catalyst for solving this problem; its super-lots will be vacuum-sealed and boxed right after milling. This should make a huge difference!
The competition will really help give me and other jurors insight into the range of quality coffees Rwanda offers; different growing zones and coffee varieties can produce substantial variation. I will write about my experience there upon my return the first week of September.
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New Sumatra Mandheling arriving! |
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We have found a really fine lot that is also by far the freshest and
highest quality we have ever received. We expect delivery in approximately one month. It will still be a long time before we can get this coffee vacuum packaged at origin! We bought a projected one year supply which we will immediately repackage and freeze (see Freshly Roasted does not necessarily mean Fresh Coffee for further information on our unique packaging and freezing policies). Click here for our current Sumatran offerings.
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Life for coffee farmers impacted by high oil prices |
| The oil price increases have hit farmers hard, not only with increased costs in transport but especially in the cost of fertilizers. A recent International Herald Tribune article describes the effects these increases are having in Latin America
and other parts of the coffee world where fertilizers can now cost nearly a third of coffee revenue. Click here to read the article. I will be writing more about the use of fertilizers in an upcoming section of my The Long Road to Coffee Quality series featured in our newsletters.
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Upcoming Limited Edition Roasts |
Our Special Edition coffee for this Monday, August 25th, is Panama's already legendary La Esmeralda, new 2008 crop.
This coffee has, for the first time, been packaged in boxed vacuum-sealed bags at origin. It makes a difference! Full bodied with bold aromatic notes of peach. Click here to read more or purchase - or call (866) GHH-JAVA.
New Special Edition Colombia will be roasted Tuesday September 2nd: Piedras de Afilar by Jeremias Lasso.
Last summer we spent weeks cupping through hundreds of tiny lots from small Colombian farmers; all our Colombian offerings have been chosen this way, including the Maria Santos and El Descanso from blind cupping. A few lots have come up as particularly noteworthy and rewarded with a substantially higher premium- the Villa Flor lots which we finished this week - the larger La Esperanza lot which we are featuring weekly, and now the final special edition lot of last year's series - Piedras de Afilar, meaning 'grindstones' - a mere forty pounds, to be roasted twice in twenty lb. lots. This tiny lot is a particularly sweet version of the classic Nariño flavor profile of black tea, mild notes of pineapple, and a hint of winterberry. While not certified, Jeremias uses no chemical products on his fields.
The second and last roast will be Tuesday, September 2.
Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.$15.95 for 8 ounces.
Farmer: Jeremias Lasso
Region: Nariño
Altitude: 5,900 ft.
Rainfall: Moderate+
Soil: Franco Arciloso
Arabica variety: Caturra, Typica
Size of Farm: approximately 2 acres of coffee
Roast: Full Flavor
Roasting on Mondays -
La Esperanza, Huila, Colombia
La Esperanza, is a jammy ripe dark plum saturated coffee, layered with tropical fruits and streaks of honeyed raw sugar cane. It is among the finest of any Colombian I have had, an exemplary coffee revealing a peak expression of Colombian terroir. We will offer this coffee as a special roast only on Mondays. Make sure to order yours ahead of time!
Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA. |
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Sale Coffees for August |
 Daterra, North Italian Style Espresso
Light Roasted, elegant, creamed-honey textured, sweet coffee with a fine marzipan-vanilla aroma.
Regularly $14.95 on Sale for $12.95
Click here to order.
 La Minita Estate (SHB), Tarrazu, Costa Rica
This is the grand cru estate coffee. In my opinion, one of the most consistent, perfectly crafted estate coffees in the world, year after year. Full bodied, sparkling acidity, yet so smooth from hot to stone cold. Maple syrup, nuts and hint of peaches.
Regularly $14.95 on sale for $12.95
Click here to order.
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