In my continuing efforts to find new and interesting things, I decided to head a little further in South America to try a new distinctive dark roast. Brazil has generally been a bit of a let down for roast consistency but I hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to play with the coffees of Peru. Considering that the country is on par with Sumatra for straight up stratovolcanism, though not quite the same geology and geochemistry, I figured it was worth a try.
The Peruvian Salkanty, or Salkantay depending on your preferred spelling (NOTE: it is not “Salty Carny” as Test Subject Broken Tongue called it), is a dark roasted high altitude coffee that surprisingly kept that bright citrus flavor as a hot brew. When made into BBotE, that changed entirely. The citrus changed to pepper. I am not quite used to a strong black pepper warmth in my coffee, not that it was bad just surprising, but Test Subject General Antagonist claims it reminded him of the pepper notes he gets from the chicory in Nawlins coffee. There was also a vote for “cakey brownie”. Test Subject NO experienced an almost minute delayed aftertaste of more pepper that rather surprised him. The rest off us felt it was a rather long palate, but no second spike like he had. Vodka addition, muted the peppery burn a bit, blending it more with the brownie flavor. Chipotle brownies?
Sadly, Test Subject Broken Tongue had no special input beyond, “This doesn’t taste like any carnies I’ve ever licked.” I recommended he go find a Peruvian circus for proper comparison.
So, I think it makes the cut to be worth sharing as a short run. If it strikes a chord with people, it’ll stay until it the roaster runs out.
In other news, there is likely to be a bit of a hiatus on Mundo Nuvo as the roaster that makes it happen at Caffe Vita is currently on walkabout in Ethiopia hunting up new and interesting small farm sourcing. I have high hopes he’ll be returning with delicious treats in addition to making more of my heart’s delight, Guatemala Mundo Nuvo. When the current inventory is gone, it’ll probably be out of stock for a month or two.
The nice folks at Death Wish have expanded their roasting capacity so there is near to no reason that I should ever run out of stock again for you eXXXtreme caffeine sports afficianados. The Rwanda Abakundakawa supplies remain strong for the foreseeable future.
The Colombia Paez that I’m fond of remains, sadly, intermittent despite my encouragement of the roaster. I try to lay in supplies when I can. Don’t be surprised when that goes out of stock for short stretches.
And, of course, the hunt for new things, and the return of some old favorites, goes on. Don’t think for a minute I’ve stopped haranguing my old supplier of Panama to get that back. The standards (Ethiopia, Kenya, Kona, Malabar, Sumatra) remain standards and are in no danger of going away.
Lastly, in response to a request from Test Subjects Kristobek & Thornber, there is a smaller sized 350ml “Rugged FMJ” Stein of Science more appropriate to coffee or Trappist ale consumption than the full imperial pint, yet up to their clumsy antics. I made two of the textured style a while back (as that’s what the luck of the draw gave me) but these are nice smooth metal shields. They’re going to remain a part of the regular line up I think.