Guatemala Nueva Vinas and Death Wish

I want to open up with some praise for the folks at Death Wish Coffee. This is not because they sent me a couple t-shirts and coffee mug, though I do love swag. No, this is because the Internet appears to have finally noticed them out there in upstate NY and the link aggregators have commenced to chatting and link recycling. The Internet, being the beast that it is, doesn’t like to read deep but it does like conflict. So, I’ve been getting more than few messages along these lines:

“Dude, these guys say they’ve got the strongest coffee out there. I totally think they ripped you off. You should throw down, man.”

Maybe not in those precise words, but a similar vein. I can only assume the guys at Death Wish have been getting the same about me.

So, for the record, Death Wish Coffee makes a hell of a bean. Their beans are what I use to make the Death Wish BBotE, which is why I’ve preserved their name with their permission and linked like the dickens to make sure everyone knows who roasted this beast. I told the tale of my Death Wish testing adventures and am quite upfront about my flavor preferences. I like Death Wish BBotE in absinthe and that’s about it, but that’s my palate which I’m reliably told is holycrapOMGWTFBBQ weird. No, I’m not stealing business from them nor are they stealing any from me. If anything, they’re probably laughing all the way to the bank, depositing their well-earned zillions for having made a remarkable coffee.

So, that’s that. Ain’t no beef here.

On to happier topics, the folks at Caffe Vita responded to my tears at losing my favorite Guatemalan Mundo Nuvo beans by sending me a roast from the same farmer, just the crop from the next valley over: Finca Nueva Vinas. On opening the bag, it gave me the same lovely bright aroma that Mundo Nuvo did which made me quite excited. As a hot cup, Caffe Vita’s description was spot on: citrus and hazelnut.

As BBotE, the Nueva Vinas kept those same hot cup qualities, which was surprising as that normally isn’t the case, but lead to some variation in flavor reception amongst the Panel of Pallets. Universally, the aroma of the cold and straight BBotE said cocoa to people, with the a primary taste of chocolate-salt caramel . There was a secondary flavor on the front of the tongue that was described variously as salt water taffy, bittersweet chocolate, and “that German bitter lemon drink, you know the one, c’mon guys work with me” that actually blended quite well with the main. Mixed with the 3:1 hot water dilution and and the dash vodka test, the flavors muted but were still present and unchanged.

My final review is that it isn’t Mundo Nuvo, which I will mourn until it’s return at some point in the future, but that it is quite drinkable and tickles my Central American fruity coffee bone. You may grab it here if you’d like some.