Just. Astonishing. Coffee.

[Mad Dawg]

In jgbutler's "Free Green" thread, Big Ben posted a link to the Burman Coffee Traders web site. I got to poking around their list of greenies, and found 4 that intrigued me enough to order. I grabbed some of the Rwanda Rwabisundu because I've been looking for something that could approach the excellent Rwanda Masaka that came out a few years back. Tried that one yesterday: very nice coffee.

I also snagged some of the Ethiopian Washed Yirgacheffe and Yirgacheffe Peaberry. I know that washed Yirgs are not likely to have that blueberry essence that I crave, but I had to try. I roasted a batch of the peaberry last night, and will brew it up tomorrow.

The other coffee that caught my eye was the Indonesian Bali Kintamani Natural. The description states that this is a dry-processed coffee and that it's sun-dried on raised beds, "...perhaps the first ever special prep natural Indonesian." It went on to describe the intense fruit and lack of dirty flavors that the processing yielded, and that was enough for me.

I roasted a batch of this coffee Sunday morning, and before the roast was even finished, I knew this was going to be a winner. As the beans approached the onset of second crack, the aromas coming off the roast took on a distinct fruitiness, and wait....could that possibly be blueberries? No, no way, not in an Indonesian coffee. I stopped the roast just at the first snaps of second crack, cooled the beans, and put them in a glass jar to rest.

A couple of hours later, I cracked the jar and checked the aromas. Sweet mother of pearl! It IS blueberries!!!

I could hardly wait, but I let it rest until this morning. The blueberry aromas had subsided a bit, but were still there in the ground aromas. The brewed coffee is just simply amazing. Yes, the blueberry flavor is distinct, but there's more: red cherry, black plum, perhaps a touch of apricot. There is absolutely NO trace of earthiness that I can detect, which is very unusual for an Indonesian. What I get is intense, complex fruit flavors, deep body in perfect balance with brightness, an almost viscous mouth feel, clean, rich, awesome.

Halfway through my first cup of the morning, I was finally able to pick myself up off the floor and go order 10lbs more of this coffee. If you're a fan of dry processed coffees with intense fruit flavors, I highly recommend you try this one before it's all gone.

Mark - I can't thank you enough for pointing me towards Burman. I've been looking for a coffee like this for two years. I've found some good ones and a few excellent ones along the way, but this one hits every button.

Just....WOW! /5

http://www.burmancoffee.com/coffeelist/