Sweet Maria’s offers over 70 different kinds of coffee, so we get this question a lot. The answer, of course, depends (or should depend) on what you like.
For beginning home roasters, I always think it is best to start with a sampler. These are listed at the bottom of the Green Coffee
Green coffee refers to the processed seed of the coffee tree fruit. Coffee is a flowering shrub that produces fruit. The seeds of the fruit are processed, roasted,... Offerings page. The sampler gives you a range of origins and processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural... methods so you can start to hone in on what you like. While the type of roast you use will greatly influence the flavor (all coffees come with roast recommendations on the label), origin flavorOrigin Flavor is a term we use to describe coffee flavors that are intrinsic to a particular coffee from a particular origin, and in contrast to flavor we... sets the parameters for the flavors in the cup. While coffees produced around the world can have an incredible varietyA botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies... of flavors, there are some general characteristics to different regions that can be helpful to keep in mind.
This is part of the reason why we organize our coffee offerings by country, not some other factor. If you know you like mild coffees, you may want to focus on Central American or Island coffees. If you drink mostly espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is..., then try an espresso blend or use BrazilBrazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra sang, "they grow an awful lot of coffee in Brazil".: Brazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra... as single originSingle Origin refers to coffee from one location, in contrast to blended coffee. This term is particularly useful in discussing espresso, since most commercial espressos are made from... espresso; you can also use the drop down menu on the top of listings on the Green Coffee Page to look for coffees recommended for espresso. If you know you like darker roasts and coffees with a lot of bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all..., you may want to check out Indonesian or Brazilian coffees; these tend to have more body, less acidity
Acidity is a positive flavor attribute in coffee, also referred to as brightness or liveliness. It adds a brilliance to the cup, whereas low acid coffees can seem... and take a dark roast well. If you like bright, flavorful coffees, then try Kenyan coffees which can tend to be more acidic, more citric, or Ethiopian coffees which can be fruitedIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don't exactly see... or taste of bittersweetBittersweet is from the language of chocolate, and describes the co-presence of positive bittering compounds balanced by sweetness. It is directly related to caramelization, but has inputs from... chocolate
A general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of chocolate. But what type? Usually described with more specifics.: Chocolate is a broad, general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of....
[These are only generalizations and cannot be taken as true in all cases, especially if it’s a slightly unusual processing method or varietal!]
Another big question is what to do when your favorite coffee is unavailable. This happens all the time – mostly because we are dealing with small, specific lots of coffee. We carry not just coffee from a specific farm, but very often a specific cultivarCultivar is a term used interchangeably with Varietal in the coffee trade to indicate plant material, although there are distinctions.: The naming of a cultivar should conform to... (i.e. BourbonA coffee cultivar; a cross between Typica and Bourbon, originally grown in Brazil: Mundo Novo is a commercial coffee cultivar; a natural hybrid between "Sumatra" and Red Bourbon,..., PacamaraAs the name implies, Pacamara is a large bean cultivar, a cross between Pacas and Maragogype with unique flavor properties. This variant originated in El Salvador in 1958,..., etc) or picking or processing method. These are very limited lots of coffee, sometimes just a few bags, and often very unique, so we can sell out within two months or less. It can be somewhat heartbreaking to finally find a coffee you really like and have it run out. I think the analogy that comes to my mind is produce; Michigan peaches or NW Indiana blueberries are awesome in July or August, but don’t expect to get them in February at least not fresh and at their peak.
Now, coffee is a lot more stable than fresh produce, so it is not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea. The best thing to do when your favorite coffee is out is to look for a coffee from the same region or a nearby region as the cultivar and climate is most likely similar, and the flavors in the cup should be similar. Then consider the processing method this will greatly impact the flavor. A dry processed Ethiopian coffee will taste more like a dry processed YemenYemen has a coffee culture like no other place, and perhaps some of what we enjoy in this cup is due to their old style of trade...: Technically,... than a wet processed Ethiopian. We do have all the coffee reviews archived so you can compare the out-of-stock coffee with coffees we currently have in stock. Please read through the descriptions of both coffees, not just the cupping
Cupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... scores. Overall score will tell you how exceptional a coffee is but not much else. Here is the list of factors to consider when searching for a comparable coffee, in order of importance: 1. OriginIn coffee talk, it refers to a coffee-producing region or country; such as, "I was just at origin." Of course "Origin" for most product we use is not... 2. Varietal 3. Processing 4. Region 5. Prime Attributes/Spider Graph 6. Score. Also check out Tom’s “Compare to” notes at the bottom of the review.
The archives can also be helpful when comparing the coffee of the same origin to past years’ offerings. The archives are organized alphabetically by origin name; if it is a coffee older than the past few years, you can look it up by the year/date that we had it in stock. From one year to the next, it would be great if we could count on the same coffee origin to be available, and be the same stellar cup. Unfortunately, it is more complicated than that. Whether or not we will have a coffee from the exact same origin next year depends on variables such as weather, processing, shipping, and competition.
Since we strive to provide the best green coffee available, if there is a more amazing coffee one year from a newer farm, we will try to get it. Tried and true coffees from origins or estates we have had year in and year out, can be good but not at the expense of ignoring quality and new flavors that are out there. In coffee producing areas with very stable and well-run farms/estates, we can sometimes count on having a particular coffee every year; if the farm and mill is of very high quality, they will likely be able to deliver the same quality again. These tend to be producers who are really striving to increase quality and shifting production methods to reflect tastes in the market, such as special preparations or special pickings. In these cases, if all goes well, we will get the coffee around the same time that we got it the year before so consult the review in the archive and look for the Arrival Date under the “Crop” heading.
We also see year-to-year consistency in the offerings that are not farm or co-op specific, but represent a pooled coffee produced by a certain mill. This is the case often times in SumatraIndonesians are available as a unique wet-hulled or dry-hulled (washed) coffees. Giling Basah is the name for the wet-hulling process in Bahasa language, and will have more body... or SulawesiSulawesi coffees are low-acid with great body and that deep, brooding cup profile akin to Sumatra. The coffee is sometimes known as Celebes, which was the Dutch colonial... with coffees sold under the Lake Tawar, Toraja, or MandhelingA trade name used for wet-hulled Sumatra coffees. It is an area and a culture group as well (spelled Mandailing often) but there is not as much coffee... name. KonaKona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii: Kona coffee comes from farms along the Kona Coast on the Big Island... is also an origin where we see more consistency since we are working with specific farmers. We find that with more haphazard agricultural practices, picking, handling and processing, consistent results will likely be elusive. In some very large coffee production areas, like EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from... or KenyaKenya is the East African powerhouse of the coffee world. Both in the cup, and the way they run their trade, everything is topnotch.: Kenya is the East..., with a huge number of individual co-operatives, or in Costa RicaCosta Rican coffee is typically very clean, sweet, with lots of floral accents. hey are prized for their high notes: bright citrus or berry-like flavors in the acidity,... with so many individual farmers, it is less likely that we will get the same coffee from one year to the next. In countries that have an auction process in place, like Kenya and Ethiopia, that throws another variable into the equation; we are not sure in advance if we will be successful in the auction. The same holds true for coffees that come through Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)... or other specialty coffee
Specialty coffee was a term devised to mean higher levels of green coffee quality than average "industrial coffee" or "commercial coffee". At this point, the term is of... auctions. These auctions are very often highly competitive.
Also of interest may be the Coffee Production Timetable. This chart gives a rough idea of the production cycles for the origin countries we carry. Please note that certain coffee like decafs, monsooned or aged coffeeAged coffee is not the same as old coffee. Aged coffee typically has very strong earthy flavors, and can be very pungent, leather or tobacco aromas and flavors.:... have to go through additional processing that are not reflected in the time line. Also note that the coffee is a crop (not a can of pop!) and dates are approximate, depending on the harvest, etc. etc.
