I had the good fortune to be invited to a private cupping event of El Injerto (Huehuetenango, Guatemala) auction lot samples by my friend Andrew Barnett of Linea Caffe on Saturday. I am thrilled that Andrew will be featuring one of their lots in the near future,Yellow Nance (pronounced "Nancy") and named after the local bright yellow fruit. This event was an intimate gathering of local folks and I was honored to be among them. Andrew's Linea Caffe is expanding, with a much larger second location,( formerly Intelligentsia SF) an enormous 5000 square foot roasting facility that is just now coming online, right in the heart of Potrero Hill, in an inviting space with beautiful exposed bow trussed ceilings and an open floor plan that will eventually host coffee classes and other events like this cupping, and also a small retail cafe.



I couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday.













The weather was beautiful yesterday and it made for a wonderful time in the city.We rubbed shoulders with Ben Kaminski over cupping bowls of these really stunning coffees along with some folks from the local Fellow Coffee location in the city.
























There were several very impressive washed Pandora Pacamara lots that really stood out. Lush, intense, bright coffees from this farm situated nearly 6000 feet high in HueHue. They have their mill on site and their processing quality is world-class.


Brad Kornacki roasted these beautiful samples for us, including these hilariously small Micro Mocca samples, both washed and natural. The flavor was intensely clean exotic fruit, apple jolly rancher candies. Another natural Pacamara, which will likely lead the charts in auction prices was stunning fresh green cantaloupe.





Last years Micro Mocca natural went for $109/lb.


Although I've been familiar with El Injerto and had some of their coffees in the past from local roasters, I didn't know the depth of history and information that Andrew graciously shared. I knew their coffee was getting harder to find in the US, as their auction prices often end up seeing most of their best lots heading to Asian markets. I didn't know that El Injerto has won 7 first place COE awards, more than any other farm, which is an incredible feat in itself. And I do know from personal experience that if Andrew is really excited about a particular coffee, then it's going to be a show-stopper.

The coffees we sampled Saturday were about 8 or 9 different lots, mostly washed, with about 3 absolutely stunning, clean naturals (Pacamara, Micro Mocca) etc that will command excellent prices for the farm, when the auction begins in the near future, I believe next week.


Here's a beautiful video from Finca El Injerto they recently shared that captures what they're all about. I'm not sure if the Enlish subtitles transfers over, so you may have to select that in the options.

Thanks for sharing this... congrats on earning the opportunity.

Nothing earned! Just good luck and timing. I had a coffee friend in town for a wedding last week who'd never been to San Francisco before, so I dutifully took him on my standard SF tour which starts at Linea Caffe for espresso. I rarely run into Andrew there nowadays, but was fortunate enough that he arrived right as we were about to leave. That's when he told me about the cupping and of course, who would turn down such an event.

Here's the auction that has all the info on the lots and more.

https://auction.fincaelinjerto.com/en/l ... ction-2019

TomC wrote:..
Brad Kornacki roasted these beautiful samples for us, including these hilariously small Micro Mocca samples, both washed and natural. The flavor was intensely clean exotic fruit, apple jolly rancher candies...

I saw samples of the natural and washed micro mocca at a local roaster. So tiny! Did he have any further comments about that variety and roasting Liliputian coffee? Are the cracking like normal coffees for example?

They are tricky as all-hell to roast. They make almost no sound during first crack, but they're insanely dense, requiring a ton of heat. You're riding a razor's edge the whole time, because you can overshoot and scorch the beans fairly easy with all that surface area. Double that when roasting the natural processed version with more sticky sugars on the surface of the beans.

Makes we wonder why we don't have live roaster competitions... I would be far more interested in those than barista antics

Not as much showmanship, but from recent years, they're starting to get more attention. And I agree with you!

Back to El Injerto, I noticed when I signed up for the auction (to view it live), they had a comment about being thrilled to be back on the scene following a 2 year setback from a very unfortunate hailstorm that destroyed their 2017 crop and apparently even damaged the plants so bad that their 2018 crop was a loss.

It looks like the Mini Mocca drew the highest bid $95/lb!https://auction.fincaelinjerto.com/en/l ... ction-2019

IIRC, Velton's had some of the Pacamara de Pandora or maybe some other small lot a few years ago. But I don't recall seeing winning Injerto coffees in the past otherwise. I recognize only 2 of the auction winners. As mentioned, most high bidders are located half a world away.

very cool to see those prices and how transparent all the bidding is. 95/lb is nuts