Huge thanks to the guys at Olympia Coffee Roasters for sending us some very special coffee yesterday: the Angelo Carillo Micro Lot from Ecuador. This coffee, which retails for $17.25/12 ounces, not only has a brilliant sweetness with chocolate, toasted marshmallow, and subtle citrus, but a wonderful story behind it, as well:
“A couple of years ago we started working with small-scale producers in the Espindola Loja region of Ecuador, near the border with Peru, in partnership with coffee exporter Virmax,” writes Oliver on the Oly Coffee website. “The area has fantastic coffee potential, but the prices for coffee have historically been so low that many small producers have quit growing coffee. Those that have continued produce a rough form of natural/dry-process coffee they call bolla, where ripe and unripe coffee cherries are picked together. Bolla’s market price is so low that it barely makes harvesting worth the effort. By working with the cooperative PROCAFEQ, we have the opportunity to identify micro lots and buy carefully produced wet-process lots. This is our third year cupping lots from this project and our very first purchase from Ecuador. Farmer Angelo Carillo’s coffee impressed us with its impeccable clean and sweet cup quality due to diligent cherry selection and the farm level and careful processing.”
This amazing coffee is the very special prize for this week’s Humpday Giveaway Contest! We started this contest three weeks ago, asking a question here on our blog for you guys to answer (and the answers aren’t hard to find — they’re all in the current issue of Barista Magazine).
We ask that you submit your answer in the comments section here on the blog, or on Barista Magazine’s Facebook page. Everyone with the correct answer will be submitted into a drawing, from which the winner — or winners — will be determined!
We only have one precious bag of this coffee, so this week, there’ll just be one winner…
This coffee was just roasted a few days ago, and we want to get it in the mail to our winner as soon as we can, so we’ll announce the ONE LUCKY PERSON who will win this extraordinary coffee from Olympia Coffee Roasters at midnight tonight (PST) so I can get the coffee in the mail before I fly to Coffee Fest New York tomorrow morning.
Here’s the question:
IN HIS ARTICLE ABOUT A BUYING TRIP TO COLOMBIA, NOAH NAMOWICZ WROTE ABOUT BEING VERY IMPRESSED BY A FORMER CUP OF EXCELLENCE WINNER. WHO IS IT, AND WHY WAS NOAH SO IMPRESSED?
Thanks for playing Humpday Giveaway!
Lest there be any confusion, my previous post is time/date stamped GMT. However, I am located in the continental US.
Since I was taught to cite references:
Barista Magazine, February March 2013
Volume 8, Issue 6, Page 31
Story and Photos by Noah Namowicz
“At a cupping near Pitalito, Arnulfo Leguizamo, . . . correctly identified his microlot. I was astonished. . . . “
Arnulfo Leguizamo. He was impressed by Leguizamo’s ability to choose the coffee the same day he had cup a lot of different coffees.
Arnulfo Leguizamo, because he was able to identify his micro lot
The answer to the Humpday Giveaway Contest question, “IN HIS ARTICLE ABOUT A BUYING TRIP TO COLOMBIA, NOAH NAMOWICZ WROTE ABOUT BEING VERY IMPRESSED BY A FORMER CUP OF EXCELLENCE WINNER. WHO IS IT, AND WHY WAS NOAH SO IMPRESSED?” is:
ARNULFO LEGUIZAMO 2011 COE Winner from Columbia.
ps. I answered this question while drinking a pour-over cup of Kickapoo Roaster’s Cast Iron Blend. TO DIE FOR! Thank you.
Humpday Giveaway Answer:
Noah Namowicz was impressed by Arnulfo Leguizamo, and his ability to correctly identify his own microlot out of over 40 coffees.
Please pick me for the prize!! 🙂
Thank you,
Sara
Arnulfo Leguizamo. He was impressed that the producer could pick out his own microlot and that it was so kenyan like in its flavour profile.
Noah was impressed with Arnulfo Leguizamo. He was impressed that Arnulfo was able to pick out his own microlot that day when they cupped more then 40 coffees.