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- Oct 16, 2006
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I do agree with your regional choices. African coffees are always more interesting to me than all of Central America. Some South American come to par with Africa, imo.
I have never liked Indonesian coffees except in espresso blends. They just taste like burnt dirt.
So I had the washed version of the bean (Blue Bottle El Salvador – Plan De La Batea Alicia), and it's quite a bit better than the pulped natural version (El Salvador – Plan De La Batea Rincon Del Tigre) in that there is a bit more complexity, and the flavors are more balanced. In the washed, I get more herbs, and the citrus component is in much better proportion. I've had the pulped natural again in a French press preparation, and then there is a lemon dishwasher soap component instead of the cardboardy note, and it doesn't have the metallic tang (which is perhaps masked by the French press preparation). The washed has a lingering sweetness but it's tied to the metallic tang.
I'm starting to think perhaps that central American beans are not for me. Give me a washed Kenyan any day for a clean, acidic citrus coffee, and a natural Ethiopian for a funkier coffee.
I do agree with your regional choices. African coffees are always more interesting to me than all of Central America. Some South American come to par with Africa, imo.
I have never liked Indonesian coffees except in espresso blends. They just taste like burnt dirt.