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)
.
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.