Snobbery Revealed! Two Weeks in the Life of a Coffee Snob

I am often accused of being a coffee snob. Doesn't really bother me. 'Cause it's kind of true.

But snobbery is all relative, isn't it? I mean, it's not like I only like one particular type of coffee. It's just that I only like quality coffee. And as I've said before, especially here in NYC there are tons of great coffee to choose from.

To prove that I'm not too much of a snob (but definitely a stickler for quality) below is the list of the coffees I've had over the last two weeks. I've posted them in my personal order of preference but all of these are excellent cups from talented roasters. Check them out yourself and maybe you can become a coffee snob, too.

Valle del Santuario (San Ignacio, Peru) roasted by Counter Culture. By far, my favorite over the last couple of weeks. I stumbled across this one by pure accident at Everyman Espresso. A pleasant, well-rounded, sweet cup with hints of vanilla.


Finca El Colmenar (Guatamala Amatitlan) roasted by Oren's Daily Roast. I've been enjoying this one for the few days at work in a nice little french press I got for myself at the office. A nice fruity cup. Yum!

Ethiopia Sidamo #3 also roasted by Oren's. (As I stated in an earlier post, I also have some green beans of this which I haven't tried roasting yet. I'm hoping I can do these beans justice when I do.) Hints of berries here -- just what I like in an Ethiopian. Also check out my earlier post on Oren's if you're not familiar with them.

Panama Hartmann Honey roasted by Gimme! Coffee. I first had these beans at Cafe Grumpy (don't remember the roaster). Nice body to this coffee and syrupy taste. The great guys over at Gimme! keep blogging and tweeting about it so I picked up a bag again this week at Cafe Royal. Glad I did.

El Salvador Pulp Natural Finca Mauritania roasted by Coffee Llama (that would be me). I picked up these beans from Sweet Marias and made a decent city roast for Easter dinner. A nice mellow, sweet cup. Decent, even in the horrible drip coffee maker we used. I'm looking forward to another roast that I can brew properly and hoard for myself.

I also roasted a few batches of a Brazil Moreninha Formosa Raisin Coffee MicroLot. The first batch wasn't too impressive. Some hints of caramel but not much else. I made a second roast a little darker and it made a much more impressive cup. A lot more fruit came out under the caramel. But it was a bit darker than I usually like my beans. I have enough beans to roast one more batch. I'm going to try to get somewhere between the two previous roasts.

Anjilanaka, Organic Bolivia roasted by Intelligentsia. I used to get this coffee at a now defunct cafe on Bleeker Street. Smooth, fruity and chocolatey. Luckily it's now available at Ost Cafe. And now that Ninth Street Espresso carries Intelligentsia I'm pretty sure they carry it now, too. In truth, I probably like this coffee better than my own roasts, but I couldn't resist the tempation to list myself above Intelligentsia. :-)

All in all, I think this is a pretty good selection for two weeks of coffee drinking. Can't wait to see what I can get my hands on in the coming weeks!