With the purpose of continuing exposing Puerto Rican coffee to different parts of the world, we got together with the renowned Belgian Q Grader, Kim Ossenblok, to carry out the first virtual international tasting with coffees from Puerto Rico. The incredible thing about this event is that 12 tasters from different parts of the world came together virtually to taste our precious Puerto Rican bean. The countries that were connected were Spain, Germany, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Belgium and Puerto Rico.
Part of the planning process was to select the first farms that participated in the calibration. We had the honor of having incredible coffees from Utuado, Yauco and Guayanilla that obtained scores of over 83 points among 12 different tasters, thus classifying them as specialty coffees from Puerto Rico.
Samples and their descriptions
Utuado, Bo. Caguana (Sample A)
- Farm: Aromas del Campo
- Producer: Alberto Mendez
- Variety: Catuaí and Frontón
- Altitude: 2,000 feet
- Process: Washed and fermented for 24 hours
- Descriptives: Caramel, orange, nuts, fresh tones of green pepper and citric acidity.
- Score: 83.25 points
Yauco, Bo. Aguas Blancas Sect. La Montaña (Sample B)
- Farm: Rancho Contento
- Producer: Gustavo Arroyo
- Limaní, Frontón and Caturra
- Altitude: 3,000 – 3,200 feet
- Process: Washing (Dry Fermentation)
- Descriptives: Lime, peach, fresh herbs, green apple. Vinous acidity stands out.
- Score: 86pts
Guayanilla, Bo. Jagua Pastos (Sample C)
- Farm: Hacienda Anita
- Producer: Remy Rodriguez
- Altitude: 2,600 - 2,900 feet
- Process: Washed
- Varieties: Typical, Catuaí and Limaní
- Descriptive: Nuts, molasses, walnuts with sugar. A very balanced coffee
- Score: 83.5
Yauco, Bo. Aguas Blancas Sect. La Montaña (Sample D)
- Farm: Rancho Contento
- Producer: Gustavo Arroyo
- Altitude: 3,000 - 3,200 feet
- Process: Anaerobic Cold Washed Honey
- Varieties- Limaní, Frontón and Caturra
- Descriptives: Raspberry, Caramel, Floral, Chocolate, Cherry, Spices, Cloves.
- Score: 87pts
Guayanilla, Bo. Jagua Pastos (Sample E)
- Farm: Hacienda Anita
- Producer: Remy Rodriguez
- Altitude: 2,600 - 2,900 feet
- Process: Honey
- Varieties: Typical, Catuaí and Limaní
- Descriptive: Caramel, hazelnut, roasted almonds, chocolate, whiskey-type liquor, sweet acidity, honeyed and forest fruits.
- Score: 84.2
These coffees are not only spectacularly produced by the region and height in which they are grown, but also by the practices of harvesting the grapes and the process that Remy, Gustavo and Alberto implemente to highlight the best attributes of their coffees. As you may have read in the descriptions of the samples, these producers work with different types of fermentations that help highlight or accentuate flavors that you would not normally perceive. This is what makes these coffees so special, the complexity in flavor and rare in the market. In fact, today the coffee of Puerto Rico is so rare at an international level that we can even baptize them as Exotic Coffees from the Caribbean.
One of the coffees that shocked the most was Sample D produced by Gustavo Arroyo. This coffee is a cold Washed Honey and it was the one that most impressed the tasters, scoring 87. When we tried this sample we were all amazed. We were able to perceive a super pleasant cup with floral fragrances and flavors of raspberry, caramel, chocolate, cherry, spices and cloves.
If there is something very valuable that happened in this tasting, it is that the producers were able to participate in it and listen to the feedback of the tasters. This helps them know where they stand with their coffee internationally. It is also worth noting that none of the tasters had tried these coffees in their lives, which makes this a super legitimate evaluation.
"A divine surprise. Sensitive coffees from Puerto Rico have surprised all the tasters in the online cupping calibration. They compete with the best coffees in the world. Thanks to the excellent work in the field of the new generation of producers" -Kim Ossenblok, Q Grader and Founder of Estudio de Café Online
We are more than grateful for all the producers who trusted and joined this project that began in a phone call with Kim and ended up in D-Nuevo Specialty Coffee tasting room. They were months of hard work and logistics but in the end we had a very rewarding common feeling. This will not be the only international tasting that will have coffees from Puerto Rico, we will continue working to replicate this tastings in a near future. Our purpose is and always will be the same, expose specialty coffee from Puerto Rico to the world.
If you want to learn more in detail the insights of Kim Ossenblok access here https://baristakim.es/cafe-puerto-rico
