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 OUR FAVORITE:
La Minita is a pedigree coffee for sure. You can open countless coffee books (Kummer's Joy of Coffee and Knox's Coffee Basics to name two) and read endless praise of the Bill McAlprin's La Minita farm and their exacting standards. It is so well thought of that at SCAA seminars it was referred to by 3 separate speakers: "When you cup the finest coffees, like a La Minita for instance ..." and so on. What's neat is that La Minita really does stand up as tall as its reputation (unlike JBM's, some Hawaiians, etc.). And it does so not by conking you over the head with its power. It's actually milder compared to some other Costa Rican coffees from the Tarrazu region. What it has is complexity, and every time I roast it and every time I brew it I feel like I am on the verge of discovering something new there. For me, it has a fresh apple fruitiness to it, and next time I get apple cider notes. There's some spice, sometimes cardamom, sometimes coriander, sometimes anise. Its always a great cup, but keep the roast light if you can ... the farm itself is a model of perfection in terms of technical standards and beauty. The coffee is milled and prepared meticulously and is not brokered by an indifferent third party, but by Hacienda La Minita themselves. It's also a model for how quality can sustain super-premium prices in a very unstable coffee market. The La Minita model is so successful that they begin to apply the same exacting standards to other coffees, and yielding premium prices: we regularily stock their coffees from other Costa Rican farms, Colombia, and now Sumatra (Lake Tawar)! (from Sweet Marias)
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 The elevation is 350 to 1,800 feet above sea level with volcanic soil conditions The harvest begins in September and goes through January. This coffee doesnt score high in the numbers but is an intriguing cup not to miss! The cup is mildly sweet with just a hint of Yemen wildness, light-bodied cup with definite Maple Syrup flavors. You can certianly detect hints of the Yemen seedstock, but so greatly muted by the island growing environment that I don’t believe I could trace the lineage of the Moka cultivar only by cupping ...without knowing in advance that the a Yemen Moka and a Maui-grown Moka are botanical brothers. The coffee is mechanically harvested so it requires extra attention in the wet-milling process. There is a lot of time and equipment investment in the flotation-separation process where the underripe sours and overripe cherries are removed from the ripe coffee. (from Sweet Marias)
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 It is a bright, effervescently acidy coffee with sweet fruity/floral notes. The brightness has hints of fresh citrus and a touch of wineyness that rounds out the flavor in the finish. It is remarkable while on the palate, but light in body and medium in the aftertaste, as is characteristic of GUATEMALAN coffee.
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 Incredibly balanced between acidity, distinct and alternating (complex) flavors, body and aftertaste. That makes it both a great introductory Kenya, and an advanced Kenya to explore the relationship between flavors and roast. We cupped it at several degrees of roast and I was amazed at the differing cup qualities I could detect. And with each cup, after varying resting periods after roasting, I felt that there was a subtly different cup in front of me. Winey fruitiness was always there, and a well rounded, balanced cup
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