Ethiopian Coffees

The Ethiopians are kicking ass this year.  Some of the coffees we've tasted have been just mind blowing.  I'll tell you about a few of them.  

The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Misty Valley is one of our current offerings.  In fact, we're brewing it today.  This is a fantastic dry-processed coffee from the Idido mill.  All of the Yirgacheffe coffees we've had in the past have been washed (wet-processed), and the best of them have had a nice citrus acidity and Earl Grey tea aromas and flavors.  This Misty Valley has those same characteristics, but it is more complex.  Still very bright with that crisp citric acidity, there is a fruity tone that confuses my palate a little.  It's probably berry, but it intermingles with the other classic Yirg tastes such that it's hard to distinguish.  The coffee is delicious; one of the best we've had to offer.

The other Ethiopian we're touting right now is a natural Sidamo from the Dara region.  It's another dry-processed coffee with deliciously sweet berry flavors.  Blueberry, caramel, sweet sweet sweet.  It's really, really smooth.  Easy drinking, probably in part because its acidity isn't as high as the Yirgacheffe and it isn't as complex.  It's just plain good.

If you've been around much, you've surely had both of those coffees.  But I just bought three new Ethiopians that you haven't tasted.

A company called Ninety Plus sent me samples out of the blue.  They were beautifully presented in white mylar bags and marked only with the company name and indications that they are micro-lots from "Aricha" and "Beloya."  I'd never heard of these places, so I honestly had no idea where they were from.  Which is fine because I like to blind-cup coffees; easier to get a true taste without preconceptions about what they should taste like.  The first time I cupped them (have you seen my new cupping lab?) they were on a table of 24 coffees- most samples from brokers and a few my own coffees.  In the end, 5 of the 6 coffees from Ninety Plus scored higher than almost every coffee on the table.  A couple of them stood out more than others for me.

So I cupped them again.  The second time, the same two coffees scored highest, but with different flavor profiles.  

So I cupped them again.  Fantastic.  I think I'm getting a grip on what these coffees generally taste like, and they are beautiful.  It's really hard to cup with these coffees on the table.  The last round they were in a group of 15.  The aroma, body and fruitiness of these coffees is so big that anything sitting next to them seems thin and unimpressive.  Which isn't fair because coffee flavors can be subtle and still amazing.  That's just not the case with these coffees.

Let me tell you about the coffees I bought.

The company is Ninety Plus.  It's owned by Joseph Brodsky, who also owns Novo Coffee in Denver.  He spent 8 months in Ethiopia last year learning about their coffees and sourcing some absolutely amazing stuff.  He has the coffees air-freighted out of Ethiopia, so they don't sit in a shipping container for months before we get them.  This is much more expensive, but it preserves the flavors of the coffees and drastically reduces the lead-time.  I paid for the Sidamo and Yirg we have now about 5 months before they actually arrived.  That's tough.  Anyway, here is an article from Fresh Cup Magazine describing the improvements of dry-processed coffees and how Ninety Plus is involved:  www.doubleshotcoffee.com/washedVnaturals.pdf

The coffees I decided to buy from my cuppings are two micro-selections from two different areas and mills in the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia.  Joseph works with the exporter Abdellah Bagersh to get these small lots of very distinctive coffees, flies them to Denver, re-packages them in mylar and sells them to us.  These lots are differentiated by number and the coffees we are getting are the Aricha 10, Aricha 14, and Beloya 12.

Below I will insert the documents Ninety Plus sent me describing the two different regions.

In case you can't tell, this is very exciting for me.  To have someone like Joseph Brodsky source coffees that I can and you can drink is sort of a big deal.  The market for very high-end specialty coffee is pretty tight.  The mega-specialty roasters (Inteligentsia, Counter Culture, Stumptown, etc.) have the capital to buy up great coffees before most of us even know they exist.  The prospect of having someone with such resources and high quality standards basically "shopping" producers, looking for the best coffees, not just for his own roastery, but to sell wholesale- that's huge.  Back to the coffees...

The Aricha 10 was a bit tangy with some tea flavors, a great aroma- lightly apricot with some possibly curried notes.  The second time I cupped it, the aroma was more floral and earthy and the flavors were lemony, tea, traditional washed Yirg flavors.  And the last time I cupped it, the aroma was cherry or strawberry, and definitely a citrus, strawberry flavor that was absolutely delicious.  My sample roasting situation isn't very good yet, so some of that variation can come from inconsistent roasts.  Part of it too is that these coffees are complex and different flavors can come out of them at different times.  The tasting notes Ninety Plus sent me are honey, tamarind, and apricot in the aroma with a balanced, light apricot flavor.

The Beloya 12 to me was a bigger, more fruity, striking coffee.  Every time I tasted it, I was enraptured by these experiences that seemed to go straight into my chest and tie my heart-strings into bows.  Aromas of berry muffins and a bit of tea (perfect for an English afternoon), great fruit flavors, and some maltiness, huge body, and it cooled into a very sweet nutty taste (probably walnuts or almond).  The second cupping it still had a big, fragrant, fruity aroma, possibly redcurrant with sweet berry, caramel, and possibly amaretto flavors.  And the third cupping I got sweet but tangy melon flavors and lots of berry.  Ninety Plus' cupping notes included aromas of carob, butter, and light berry with flavors of ginger, maple, raspberry, and spiced apple.

The Aricha 14 is the third coffee I bought from them.  I haven't gotten a clear cupping result from this coffee, but they are sending me another sample this week.  Their cupping notes are as follows:  Aromas of peach, strawberry lemonade, raspberry jam, spiced apple cider, and flavors of raspberry and grapefruit.  

Obviously, considering all the work that goes into these coffees, they aren't going to be cheap.  The farmers are paid twice the "fair trade" price for the coffees, then the processing is time-intensive, air freight is expensive, and packaging in mylar to retain freshness adds more cost.  But it will be worth it.  The great thing about coffees like this is that they are fleeting.  The Aricha 14 will be here in a couple weeks and the others will be here probably in 5 weeks.  I could only afford one 60 kilo bag of each.  After roasting, it will only leave us with around 112 pounds of each coffee.  That's not very much so when you get a chance, enjoy them.  They will sell for $34 per pound (including tax).  And I'm planning to brew these special coffees, but not sure yet how much they'll cost per cup.  ABSOLUTELY NO CREAM OR SUGAR WILL BE ALLOWED IN THESE COFFEES.

I may have a special event to taste the coffees after they all arrive, so stay tuned.

Leadville Jogcast

I've finally finished editing the audio from the race. You can listen to it (if you're a glutton for punishment) on the AA Cafe lineup. The audio is a tad hard to understand, but if you listen real hard, I think you can make out the misery in my voice.

Thanks

Just wanted to pen a quick note to say thank you to everyone who has asked about the race and who pledged money to support Coffee Kids. People have been so nice and I appreciate it, as the race was a hard pill to swallow.

Altogether, the pledges amounted to $714.41, and I know a lot of people who pledged have given more. I know Coffee Kids appreciates it, and though we'll never see it, the people they help are the most grateful- and it's the fruits of their labor that we enjoy every day at the DoubleShot.

I'll continue to update this blog with current Coffee Illuminati info (about coffees and whatnot) and will post upcoming events.

The next event will be a coffee/cigar night, in which there won't be as much "tasting" the coffee as there will be socializing, hanging out, enjoying a nice evening, and a little discussion about coffee. I'll let you know.

Wrap-up

Wow. My thoughts are duplicitous about the race. I'm still trying to sort out what happened. Sometimes it's hard to know.
The Leadville 100 is a very difficult race. Generally only around 45% of the starters finish. This year, 186 out of 561 entrants finished the race. That's only 33%.
I'm sure the weather had a lot to do with it. It honestly was miserable. I recorded some audio during the (short) race, and will put it together as a "jogcast" on the AA Cafe podcast, and I'm sure you'll hear it in my voice. There just wasn't anything fun about it. Lightning, snow, rain, sleet, muddy trails, cold wind...
But all that feels like an excuse to me. I know that slowed me down a bit from my usual pace. But I wasn't really able to eat much during the first part of the race. I couldn't seem to swallow food- no appetite. And eventually that was going to come back to bite me.
We discussed it afterward- what caused me to crash around mile 30? I've never crashed that early in a race. It's possible I got hyponatremia. I know I was well-hydrated, even though Brad kept telling me I wasn't drinking very much. But maybe I was over-hydrated and it washed too many of the electrolytes out of my system. That can cause brain swelling and other problems. Seems very possible that's what was going on. Because at one point I thought, maybe I have cerebral edema. Then I decided the fact that I considered that means I don't have it. But definitely I had some problem where anytime I would exert any effort I would instantly blow up. And that lasted at least 30 minutes. 30 minutes that I didn't have to spare.
It's common to go through tough times during a long race like that. Even the best runners go through it. Sometimes it takes an hour to come out of that tunnel. But unfortunately for me, this time I didn't have that time in the bank. By the time I recovered and felt good again, I was pushing the time cut-offs so tight that it was virtually impossible for me to stay in front of them.

I feel bad because I didn't get very far. And my legs aren't really sore.
But so be it.

For now, I'm saying that was my last 100. I enjoy running 50 mile ultras a lot more because I can finish in the daylight, drink a beer and go to sleep at night. For some people, running a 100 miles is in them. For me, it's a struggle. So, at least for now, I plan to get back in the gym, start running fast again (anything over 9 miles is for suckers!), and get on my mountain bike. I want to be strong and fast. Besides, isn't 50 miles far enough? (The obvious answer is no, but let's pretend it is for now.)

Thank you all for the support. A lot of people have given me physical help, encouragement, and motivation, and I truly appreciate all of you.

I also appreciate everyone who pledged money on the race for Coffee Kids. I'll contact each of you in the next couple days and let you know how you can donate your pledge money. Even though I wasn't pleased with my performance, some good still came of it.
Thanks for that. Stay tuned and I'll report how much money we raised for Coffee Kids.

The End

Well, it was a tough day. Storms blew in every time I climbed a pass. And I think aside from that, I just had an off day. Was running some behind because I couldn't climb as fast as usual and the weather was ridiculous. I'm sure I'll elaborate more later.
But around mile 30 I blew up. Had to sit down a couple times because I was light-headed and whatnot. I came out of it, but a half hour had passed and I was pushing cutoff times too closely. Climbed pretty strong off Half Moon road over the pass toward Twin Lakes. Started looking like I was going to miss the cutoff there-- and the recurring lightning, rain, hail, and sleet were not helping.
Then at the top of the pass, I ran into my friend Robin Saens. She had altitude sickness and had been vomiting all day. So I walked down into Twin Lakes with her, and we definitely missed the cutoff.
I felt really bad because of all the good work my crew has done. But I can't control the weather. And sometimes I have an off day.
Thanks a ton to Matt for updating the blog.
And especially to my team:
Jason Westenburg the crew chief
Jason Goodnight my first pacer that didn't get to run (but helped immensely)
Brad Messner my second pacer (see above note)
Brad's dad Jerry (moral support)
Marvin Lee (out running now because he was so excited to run the course)
I'm sorry to let you all down. Thanks for all your help.

Brian, signing off.

Fish Hatchery

Brian is through the next checkpoint, with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes. He arrived at the Fish Hatchery at 9:31 AM. He said that he is about 20 minutes behind where he would like to be.

The weather has improved greatly, although there's still plenty of snow on the peaks, where the temperature is around 20 degrees. Brian is in a fantastic mood, smiling and responsive. He ate a whole meatloaf sandwich and some chips.

The next real checkpoint is Half Moon at 30.5 miles, but there's no crew access there. Jason and the others are waiting to meet him at a semi check point called Tree Line right now. The next real checkpoint after that is Twin Lakes, which is right before he'll start climbing Hope Pass for the first time.

That's all for now, keep cheering.

May Queen

Brian has successfully made it to the first, 13.5 mile checkpoint, named May Queen. His traveling time was 2 hours, 38 minutes and he arrived at 6:39 AM.

According to Jason, the weather is wretched. Freezing rain coming down and more ahead along the path. Brian was completely soaked coming into the checkpoint and they did a full change of clothes. Despite the weather, he was still in good spirits, although still trying to get into a rhythm. This is pretty normal for him, up until 15 miles or so.

He's heading to the first elevation spike of the race, Sugarloaf Pass, which is about 1,000 feet higher than the starting elevation. I'll check back in when they're at the next checkpoint, at 23.5 miles.