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This morning I headed over to the city (SF, as I live in Oakland) to join my friend and co-worker Drew (USBC Finalist yeah!) to cup with some really good company and friends and coffee geeks Andrew Barnett and Chris Tacy.

I really enjoy their company, for real. Down to earth, opinionated with good reason, pleasant and respectful folks. I love coffee folks, but in all reality there are a lot of obnoxious folks and then a lot of great folks. These folks are the real deal. Just great company on a Sunday morning, along with some GREAT coffees.

we start by picking out the coffees we want to cup from a bunch of coffees.

First up, Tacy pulls some fucking AWESOME shots of the Ecco Caffe Experimental Espresso #3. single Origin Brasil, on his pimped out Grimach Mia. DAMN. So good. Citrus, caramelized tangerine and some sweet butter mouthfeel. Subtle, elegant, balanced and delicious. Barnett is the man.

Humble, passionate, full of real love for people and coffee. You can’t get any better than that. Even Andrew likes his coffee.

Then the cupping.

We cupped Verve’s Colombia Los Naranjos, Ritual Roaster’s Ethiopia Wild Forest Limu, Cup of Excellence winner from El Salvador, Finca La Ilusion, Ecco’s Experimental Espresso #3, Stumptown’s Rwanda Musasa, and last but CERTAINLY not least Kyle Glanville’s WBC Espresso Maybe Blend.

I was super surprised by the El Salvador CoE winner, to be honest, much more savory than I expected from tasting passed CoE winners, but as it cooled it became a totally different animal, and I was in fact impressed by the sweetness, and acidity and the uniqueness of this coffee. The Colombia Los Naranjos is an excellent example of what the guys at Verve are doing, different, clean, citrus and really just a NICE coffee, they are doing a phenomenal job and they have only been doing this for 6 months! The Ritual Wild Forest Limmu delivered some florals, a hint of jasmine and lime, The Ecco was fantastic as usual, it was an espresso roast, so it had a tad bit of a roasty finish but did not AT ALL diminish the fruit and caramel that makes this blend so fucking amazing, the Stumptown Musasa delivered some very lovely cherry notes and the came the WBC blend.

DAMN. That is all I have to say and CAN say about that. BEAUTIFUL. We also pulled some shots of it.

And that my friends is when all of us, just got sort of silent. Really.

Silent in the most positive of ways. We were pretty much all blown away, and had a lot to say. I don’t want to share a whole lot, except that it was unexpected, and all around kick ass. We talked a lot about CoE, about flavor notes, roast profiles, differences in coffees, and Tacy explained a bit about blends/single origins that demonstrate/are an extension of the roaster/greenbuyer. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco, and we ended our cupping and conversation with a treat from Tacy. a GREAT lambic called Brouwerij Fonteinen Oude Kriek. oh SNAP that shit was delicious.

Thanks to Andrew, Drew and Chris for really making my Sunday a dope one. WORD!!! Things like this keep me motivated to keep doing what I am doing, regardless of where I end up in coffee once I move back to the east coast.

PEACE