I thought I might post some tasting notes ... I pretty much keep these for my own reference, but figured someone could potentially be interested ...

Coffee: COUNTER CULTURE -- FINCA EL PUENTE HONDURAS ("PURPLE PRINCESS")
Price: $10.65/12oz + Shipping = $1.18/oz.
Year: 2007 (October)
Location/Blend: Marcala, Honduras; Blend of 11 microlots from Finca El Puente farm (farmer Marysabel Caballero)
Roast: Full City + roast; oil still evident on dark brown beans
Flavors to look for: Lavender, Purple fruit, Silky body

What they say at CC: "Honduras is one of those off the beaten path origins. This coffee does its part to support the truism that spectacular coffees come from spectacular places. The farm itself covers the side of a mountain, and there are a number of little hidden valleys where the coffee is tucked; each has a name, and its own personality. The chemists tell us that great coffees have thousands of aromatic chemicals that give coffee its character, and it"s coffees like this that make me believe it. Every time I grind this coffee, I am surrounded by flowers, fruits, and perfumes. Delicate and complex at the same time. This coffee simply defines elegance, I would choose it if I were serving a princess."

TASTING NOTES
FRENCH PRESS
Fragrance: Dry sweetness, like raisins, and very floral
Aroma: Very sweet, wet aroma, similar to its dry fragrance, just more moist. Dates, raisins, and dried fruit
Body: Very good body, very oily in the cup. Creamy body emerged as the cup cooled
Acidity: Medium acidity doesn"t wax or wane as the cup cools
Finish: Beautifully silky body finishes with a more floral/earthy finish
Profile & Flavors: "The Princess" got me through my surgery rotation. Every morning, our team of three med students could look forward to an elegant cup of coffee, while everyone else was stuck drinking the brown water being passed off for coffee in the surgeon"s lounge. We could see the oils floating in the cup, taste the sweet dried fruit with each sip, and enjoy the slightly biting acidity. Figs, raisins, and dates come to mind. Just the thing to wake you up. As the cup cooled, it turned creamy and silky. The sweetness didn"t disappear, but cooled to a more floral tone. Background flavors of vanilla and brown sugar persisted throughout. This is the kind of coffee that needs to be enjoyed over 10-15 minutes, as the flavor profile changes multiple times.
Score: 93

ESPRESSO
Crema: Very light brown creama, thin
Aroma: Sweet, floral, burnt sugar aroma
Body: Thin, but lingering
Milk: Too bitter for milk.
Profile & Flavors: A very bitter cup of espresso. Some different flavors indeed, and an interesting SO pull. Burnt sugar and vanilla predominate, and the bitterness does not have much to balance it.
Score: 85

Buy Again? Most definitely. This coffee has opened my eyes to Hondurans for sure, though I have a feeling this is a somewhat unique coffee. See, for me, this coffee will always remind me of the early mornings and long hours of my surgery rotation. I certainly will always remember the rounds, the patients, the lectures, and the six hours of retracting in the OR. We certainly were the bottom of the totem pole. But when it came to the morning coffee, we were kings, if only for ten minutes. Did it have to be this coffee? Probably not. But it was. And that will keep me buying it for years to come.

A friend of mine brought back some of this coffee from Ninth Street Espresso in New York, and I had a French press over the weekend and a shot of espresso this morning.

The french press was delicate and intricately layered, it was a very pleasant cup. I found myself wanting more even though I had already had about 4 cups of coffee that day.

the espresso I had his morning was not what I would have expected from this coffee, pulled from triple baskets and rather tight at ~27 secs for ~1.5ozs the coffee was thick, and that delicate luxurious mouthfeel really came out. Not overly sweet but balanced with plum and fleshy fruit overtones. Not overly complex as espresso but quite pleasant.


hats off to the folks at CCC for sourcing this great coffee, they source many great coffees and this is no exception.

I bought this coffee last Saturday. It was roasted on Thursday, the 26th of August. This morning (August 30th), I've had four shots of this amazing coffee. I press singles from a La Peppina at my office. My take:

Floral smells that produce a taste of mild, low-citrus fruit. I imagine a blueberry laced pear. There is a bit of milk chocolate taste there.

I found that a lower temperature brought the chocolate out and a higher temperature increased the citrus sensation. To me, at the higher temp, it wasn't anything special. At low and mid temps, it was awesome and as good as any SO I remember. This coffee leaves an after taste that is pleasant and not intense.

I don't do many milk drinks, but I don't believe it would cut through milk very well.

I just finished another bag of this coffee and it rocks. So much so that I asked my shop to order 5 pounds.

As a straight shot, it has crispness, without being too bright if that makes sense. The taste hangs on for a bit, but doesn't linger too long. Berries and pear notes are there, but I really don't think chocolate. Fresh and clean are words that come to mind.

As an Americano, this is either the best or top two or three that I remember. If plain, old brewed coffee tasted like this, I would have never ventured into espresso. Seems to say, "this is how coffee should taste" or "this tastes as good as it smells".

In milk, it does cut through better than I remember. It produces a nice cappa that seems to be very balanced. I don't use much milk in my cappas and I still think this coffee would not be best for a big cappa or a latte. The fairly new to me K30 and Lambro may partially explain why I now like this coffee as a cappa.

BTW, when I get my 5 pounds, I'll probably replace my "drive time" cappa with an Americano because the Americano is that good.

Hats off to Counter Culture and Cafe and Crema in Greenville, SC

prettydeceextrap wrote:
ESPRESSO
Crema: Very light brown creama, thin
Aroma: Sweet, floral, burnt sugar aroma
Body: Thin, but lingering
Milk: Too bitter for milk.
Profile & Flavors: A very bitter cup of espresso. Some different flavors indeed, and an interesting SO pull. Burnt sugar and vanilla predominate, and the bitterness does not have much to balance it.
Score: 85

In the future, if you're including notes on coffee tasted as espresso it would be useful to know prep (brew temp, dose, extraction ratio, etc). Without this it's hard to know, for example, if the bitterness is inherent in the coffee itself or is an artifact of a brew temp that is too high for this particular coffee.

I think their microlot is even more interesting. I had Honduras Finca el Puente from Stumptown which is different from your description. More citric, berry, tight at first, then loose finish. Good cup!