Coffee of the week (3)

I didn’t plan it this way, but this week became an Ethiopian shootout. So not am I only Panama’ed out, but now I am Ethiopianed out as well. Here are this week’s selections:

Novo Coffee

• Ethiopian Ariche Selection Seven

Transcend Coffee

• Ethiopia Sidamo Organic

49th Parallel Coffee Roasters

• Ethiopia Sidamo Gerbicho Lela

Lets get the Transcend Sidamo out of the way, it was okay, but it didn’t inspire. It may have been an unfair comparison with the other two coffees which are premium selections, but it had a bit of an aftertaste and wasn’t all that smooth. There were some fruit overtones, but they didn’t stand out, and it just didn’t have that ‘yummy – I want to have another cup’ kind of taste. So on to the Ariche and the Gerbicho. Both of these are expensive selective offerings, and both are very different. The Gerbicho has subtle fruits, a moderate body, and is very smooth – it is an excellent Sidamo. The Ariche, on the other hand, has amazing fruit – it is the only time I have drank a cup of coffee where the fruit was front and center and this intense; it was like drinking jam (I kid you not) – the blackberry or blackcurrant just jumped out at me – nothing subtle about this coffee. And here is the real distiction. The Ariche has a much heavier body and is a much more intense experience – two cups of this in a row for me, no way, my stomach would be reeling. Yummy to be sure, just in moderation. Both of these are excellent coffees – you decide.