Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Mugged: Nicaragua [AgroEco]



Subject: AgroEco
Mugged: Nicaragua, Union of Cooperatives San Ramon
Rating [see key]: 3+


I'm always elated to hear of organizations looking out for the welfare of coffee farmers. Without a healthy network of agriculture, the (coffee) world would disintegrate and thus, groups that promote sustainable and realistic aid to the coffee farms of the world are a great commodity.

One approach some organizations take with their efforts is to bring the coffee directly to consumers through an in-house label. One such organization that does this is CAN (Community Agroecology Network), based out of California. Not only does CAN work with helping farmers implement environmentally-friendly and economical practices, but CAN also sells coffee under their AgroEco label. The coffee comes directly from the farmers that CAN works with, and a portion from each sale goes to help the farmers. Curious as to whether the taste was as good as its intentions, I took their Nicaragua San Ramon for a spin via pourover, french press and siphon.

The drip produced a cup brimming with clove, cocoa, ginger and prune, with subtle flecks of oregano. A heavy and sultry coffee, the cloves proved this coffee a lot deeper than I initially expected from a light roast.

The french press boded similar, with clove, Honey Nut Cheerios, cocoa, apple, pepper and oregano. A peppery, sweet coffee with brighter notes than the pourover.

The siphon spouted also with cloves, honey, nuts, cocoa, pepper and oregano, though with a much more buttery texture. A sweet, deep coffee with strong notes of dried flower buds.

In the end, I would definitely not dub this coffee a light roast, as it embodied much more of a medium-dark flavor profile. Thus, understood to be a darker coffee, I would say that this Nicaraguan wasn't half bad, though the pepper and clove-ish aspects did not find much favor in my court. Thus, if you're in the market for a deep and spicy coffee that does great things for distant farmers, give AgroEco's Nicaragua a go.


note: coffee was provided free of charge and the above review is objective feedback.

1 comment:

Kona Coffee Tours said...

It seems to be informative post. Thanks for the share. Liked reading it.