Mexico La Joya Chiapas 100% Bourbon

This is a coffee I roasted for my wife's PTA meeting later this week. I try and keep around a stock of coffee that tastes like, well... coffee. I figure not everyone wants their coffee to taste like fruit, wine, etc. I picked up a few pounds of this last year, and I really need to start using it up.

I have roasted this coffee a lot in the past, and like most bourbon varietal coffees, it takes color beautifully. However, the lighter roasts I have done with it haven't been appealing, being sour and characterless for the most part. Interestingly, a few months ago I gave away some of this, roasted into second crack, for a friend to use as espresso. Unfortunately I didn't taste it before I gave it away, because it got rave reviews. Apparently some nice orange tastes came into play.

This time around I decided to take it to a Full City roast:


I think I am getting to the point where I can tell a Chiapas coffee from its aroma. There is crumbled earth and a mild fruitiness that blends in perfectly. It reminds me of the soil of Mexico, fertile and rich. The taste is traditional coffee; nothing too unusual. There is that gentle fruitiness; nothing too intense, but something keep your interest as you finish the cup. The roast notes were perfectly blended as well, with some bittersweet notes going on. Overall a nice coffee; nothing to make me want to buy more, but a real crowd pleaser.

Mexico Organic Chiapas

I often call Mexican coffees my "palate resets". After drinking lots of over the top Kenyas, Ethiopias, dry processed fruit-bombs, etc. it is nice to drink some unassuming beverages that taste like "coffee"; nothing too complicated, just a cup you can enjoy with the morning paper and not spend time analyzing flavor components. If I had a cafe, something like this Chiapas would be my house coffee. It is complex enough to intrigue the hard-core coffee drinker, yet at the same time it is eminently approachable for the masses.



This roast behaved quite oddly. In retrospect I know that it was due to roasting on a day where we were having record heat and humidity. I think that the voltage at the outlet was lower than usual due to power company load, and things heated up in the roaster much slower than anticipated. Still, the coffee came out great.

On the first day, the aroma and taste were very nutty. I think hazelnut is the best descriptor. It is sweet, but with some interesting earthy tones. Several days later, it is a different coffee. If I was drinking this blind, I would almost think it is a dry processed Ethiopian coffee. The aroma is brown sugar and graham cracker, with some coconut lurking around. The taste is pure milk chocolate with a fruity background. The nuts have receded quite a bit.

Overall this is a really good coffee. I like the fact that it isn't too heavy, but it has a unique character true to the Chiapas region.