 |  | Classic but not Ordinary The thirteen Colombia coffees reviewed in February's cupping (and a half-dozen more rated 90-plus but not reviewed) definitely transcend the reliably good. Rather, they are exceptional variations on classic purity and balance. All are wet-processed or "washed" coffees, with the fruit and pulp removed before the seeds or beans are dried, a procedure that performed correctly emphasizes transparent, bright cup character with aromatic notes that reflect the floral-tinged, sweetly tart cherry character of coffee fruit just after picking. Most come from trees of sturdy, straightforward tasting varieties of arabica: caturra, typica and the hybrid Colombia. Most are very high-grown coffees with dense beans, full mouthfeel and substantial acidity, but acidity rounded and nuanced by natural sweetness from ripe fruit harvested by farmers whose fruit selection approaches the obsessive. |
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| | | Micro-Lots and Other Lots Understandably, the highest rated of this month's Colombias are generally the tiny "micro" lots offered by roasting companies that specialize in offering seasonal lots of very small volume and distinctive cup character usually sourced directly from small-holding farmers: Intelligentsia (Chicago), Paradise Roasters (Minnesota), Coffee Klatch (southern California), Counter Culture (North Carolina), Stumptown (Portland, Oregon), PT's (Kansas), Willoughby's (Connecticut). |
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 | | Kickapoo's Organic Colombian Earns 95 Points Kickapoo Coffee is a Wisconsin micro-roaster devoted to organic and fair-trade principles and coffees. Their organic Colombian coffee from the Fondo Paez Cooperative is an exceptionally pure and balanced coffee. Sweet-toned, delicately complex aroma: flowers, hints of honey, cedar and tart cherry, perhaps chocolate. In the cup very gently acidy, light in body but buoyant and silky in mouthfeel, and giddily floral- and honey-toned with complicating hints of chocolate, tart coffee fruit and Riesling-like white wine (95 points; $12.95/12 ounces). |
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 | | Classic, Intense Paradise Colombian Shares Top Spot This 95-point gem from Paradise Roasters is from a very micro micro-lot, weighing only 350 pounds, selected from the 15-acre farm of Jairo Guiterrez. Intense, balanced aroma: cedar, cherry, flowers, orange. In the cup syrupy body with an almost bouillon-like richness, deeply but quietly acidy, with floral high notes and a wonderfully deep cherry- and cedar-toned chocolate (95 points; $24.95/14 ounces). |
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