Miguel Ortiz, Honduras

The Review

Smell

The brewed cup begins smelling like a savory affair. There is lumber and rosemary laid out next to a warm brownie with a lemon slice sitting next to it.

Taste

The palate is met with a slightly bigger than average body that brings savory and bitter tones with it: balsa, cocoa, dried pine needles. Then the acidity presents it's lemony and drying -- it pulls at your tongue as the finish comes around and it departs the way a dry wine would. Then as the cup cools a bit, there is a sweet component that remains secondary but comes to balance the savory. It's a bit like the warm brownie noted in the cup's smell. The acidity becomes more dominant as cooling continues. At this point the way it behaves on the palate is more like grapefruit than lemon. The final result is some complex interplay between the savory and acidity. There is just enough sweetness to give some balance but the acidity and savory are the stars of the show.

Thoughts

The coffee is described as Juicy in the provided notes which is a desirable and tempting suggestion. For me, a "Juicy" coffee is one where the sweetness and acidity have a certain proportion so that you get an acidic "pop" jumping off a bed of pleasing sweetness. The combination yields something that is enjoyable, reminiscent of fresh juicy fruit, and a bit surprising to the palate. This Honduran coffee from Miguel Ortiz + Madcap is interesting because it is a bit like a juicy coffee, but the complex interplay that creates the effect is a pairing of an acidic and a savory component rather than a sweet one.

This Honduran coffee provides an interesting sensory experience that stretches the understanding of what "Juicy" might be. Not only was this an enjoyable coffee to explore but the experience demonstrates that how tightly we bind our memories and expectations to our present experiences effects the outcome. With coffee, if we come expecting something very specific we risk missing the opportunity to be shown something new. Of course it's really the same thing everywhere else in life too. The human experience is peppered with instances where we have to wisely discern how much we allow our interpretation of the past to inform our experience of the present. If we forget what has come before we are in danger of not learning as we should. If we hold too tightly to what has come before, we risk being able to grow. Here's to wisdom, openness, growth, and tasting some great coffee along the way.