Finca Mauritania |
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 Santa Ana, El Salvador
Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified • Certified Organic Aida Batlle’s spectacular, incomparably delicious, 100% Bourbon variety coffee is a true classic and one of the greatest coffees in the world. Cultivated with the utmost care and craftsmanship in the perfect microclimate and rich volcanic soil of the Ilamatepec Volcano’s northeast slope, this lot from Finca Mauritania offers a perfect balance of sweetness and brightness, with nuances of butterscotch, sweet pastry, roasted nuts, and a hint of fruit. View map. |
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$12.35
(per 12 oz bag) | ||
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It’s sometimes difficult to express when a coffee is truly great. This world is so full of hyperbole and exaggeration, words like “exceptional” and “classic” tend to lose their meaning a bit. However, it is without the slightest bit of hyperbole when I say that I believe that the coffee from Finca Mauritania has achieved that rarest of distinctions—it is a true classic and one of the greatest coffees in the world. Here’s why I feel comfortable using that kind of language to describe this coffee. First, this coffee is grown in one of the most perfect coffee growing microclimates on earth: the northeast slope of the Ilamatepec volcano near Santa Ana, El Salvador. This slope represents the perfect convergence of sun, shade, rain, and rich volcanic soil. And it’s not just me who thinks so: the farms on this slope have dominated the Salvadoran Cup of Excellence, a contest designed to find great coffees.  Second, this coffee is a rarity among coffees: 100 percent of the farm is planted with the heirloom Bourbon coffee variety. It’s not often we get to taste a pure, uncut single-variety coffee, since coffee farms are usually planted with a mix of different varieties. Finca Mauritania, however, is planted exclusively with the Salvadoran strain of the Bourbon variety, known to produce super-sweet, delicious, complex, and aromatic coffees. Third, the coffee is Certified Organic. All too often, farmers feel like they have to choose between sustainability and quality, but Aida Batlle, who owns and runs Finca Mauritania, doesn’t make compromises. She has pioneered organic farming in this part of El Salvador, and has chosen natural, old-fashioned farm management techniques always. We think this is part of the reason this coffee tastes so amazing, and we’re proud that Aida and her family have chosen to eschew chemical fertilizers and pesticides in favor of labor-intensive organic certified techniques.  And last, but certainly not least, this coffee is the product of a dedicated, passionate artisan of coffee farming, Ms. Aida Batlle. I have never met a coffee farmer as passionate and dedicated to quality as Aida, and I have been amazed and gratified as, year after year, Aida pours her heart and soul into her harvest. Aida obsesses over the smallest details of coffee cultivation and harvesting: from pruning techniques to finding just the perfect point to pick her coffees, to the exploration of difficult, taste-enhancing washing and drying techniques. I have seen Aida dive into a full tank of coffee cherries to retrieve a single unripe bean, so passionate is she about absolute coffee perfection. Aida is recognized throughout the coffee world as a pioneer in great coffee flavor development, and her coffee is sought after by roasters all over the world. We’re so lucky that, based on our long relationship with Aida, we have special access to this wonderful coffee. In the cup, the coffee is an immaculate presentation of what a great Salvadoran Bourbon coffee is all about. A perfectly well-crafted balance of sweetness and acidity dominate, with nuances of butterscotch, sweet pastry, and roasted nuts. A hint of fruit rounds out the flavor perfectly; this is an elegant, well-constructed, and exuberant coffee. -Peter
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