dustinfluke.com

I was kind of thrilled to see that someone is taking some pretty bold moves in the coffee industry. The Chicago Tribune
has a story about how Intelligentsia has taken all the coffee urns out of their stores in favor of per cup coffee. I’ve personally wished that more places would do this, but properly. I once opted for a press pot at LPT (La Prima Tazza) and the barista, while good on the espresso machine, didn’t know how much coffee or how to prepare a press pot. The result was an over-priced flavored water. I’ve often told myself, if I ever open a cafe, I’ll have very little prepared coffee, but more of an “on demand” coffee that focuses on quality and home roasting. We’ll see.

So, I know I put it on twitter, but I just have to record in some way my excitement to discover that the sampler pack of beans I got from Sweet Maria’s a while ago contains flat berry El Salvador Matalapa Estate coffee. I have half of a pound. So what’s the big deal? I was looking for notes on this coffee, and came across this:

Notes: Here’s the scoop on Bourbon coffees (pronounced Burr-Bone). Bourbon coffee is a classic cultivar, named for the island of Bourbon (now called Reunion) where it was originally cultivated. When we call it classic, we mean not just the fact that it is a lower-yeild, heirloom plant, and that it has a very dense seed that roasts well, but also the cup character…..We had a flat bean lot earlier this season, and with that same coffee the Intelligentsia barista won the US Barista Competition. Clearly, this has more uses than just drip brewing. ….

So – I can happily say I own half a pound of national championship green coffee! That is, until I roast it and enjoy it from my drip brewer…