Sourcing from a roaster who buys seasonally can be frustrating. Your favorite coffees come, generate excitement, and then disappear. Sometimes these frustrations are balanced by the arrival of the next great lot of coffee from some new origin. Other times, the frustration is balanced when one of your favorite coffees returns the next year through a direct trade relationship. When Red Rock started serving Four Barrel in January, we had fallen in love with Guatemala Concepcion Pixcaya for its smooth body. We were not able to serve it initially because its season had passed and there was no more. So when we heard that Four Barrel bought the full lot from this farm in San Juan this year, we were elated.
The high elevation - 1828 meters - allows slow development of the sugars in the fruit, resulting in a sweeter cup. The syrupy goodness leading off the Pixcaya (pronounced "pish-AYE-uh") is reminiscent of marshmallow. This fades into body that will be familiar to fans of Guatemalan coffee. In this case the body carries heavy chocolate and subtle orange zest. The cup is pleasantly balanced and finishes very clean for its high body.

The Kenyan auction system provides some of the best coffee in the world. Producers in Kenya go to great lengths to bring out the best their climate and terroir have to offer. Some of this work is comparable to that done in other countries - attention to detail in the picking and production. Much of what makes coffee from Kenya stand out is their development of unique varietals designed thrive in microclimate systems and be resilient to disease. These factors are definitely at play in this peaberry lot from Kirimara.

The meticulousness of production leads to a clean cup that is characteristic of nearly all specialty coffee leaving Kenya. Varietals SL-28 and Ruiru-11 provide rich, dark berry flavors balanced with herbaceous notes of fennel and dill. Peaberries are a mutation of the seed, representing about five percent of a random lot of beans, causing the bean to not split. Typically, peaberries remain in bulk coffee. When they are sorted, they are often discarded. Recently, it has been discovered that their aggregation provides exquisite intensity of flavor and distinctive richness of body. These are definitely true of the Kenyan in your possession.

It has been some time since we have been as excited about a coffee as we are about this one. The export company Virmax provides support for specialty coffee and maintains relationships with growers in all the major growing regions of Colombia. Virmax pays commensurate to quality and buys only the best beans that each farmer has to offer. Some lots are as large as the co-ops that sell them, but some of the best lots come from a single farmer. The latter instance brings us this three bag microlot from Huila in Southern Colombia.
Rodrigo Romero has been growing coffee on his farm, La Esmeralda, for 35 years. The combination of his attention to detail with this year's microclimate in southern Huila has produced a masterpiece. Citrus and chocolate aromas yield to flavors of pear, cherry, clove, and honey. This exquisitely balanced cup is also marvelously clean. The supply on hand will likely last us only one month, and we are pleased to be able to share it with you while it remains.

Roasted coffee is one of the most complex culinary items, with flavors ranging from chocolate to blueberry to tobacco to orange. Part of our mission at Red Rock is to promote the appreciation of fine specialty coffee.

Red Rock Coffee Tastings provide an opportunity to taste four of our fresh-roasted, single origin coffees side by side and better experience, understand, and appreciate the nuances of flavor that make coffee unique. Join our team of coffee aficionados for a sensory education experience.

- Develop your coffee tasting palate
- Grow your appreciation for specialty coffee
- Learn how to enhance your home brewing experience
- Take home a bag of the coffee you like best

Space is limited to 8 seats per tasting.

Cost is $25 and includes a 12oz bag of your favorite coffee from the event

Email John Dustman to reserve your spot or sign up and pay for your seat at the register!

Red Rock Direct continues to show love to the firstfruits of the Central American harvest. This Costa Rican crop comes from Tarrazú, the country's most well known coffee-growing province. Here, at about a mile above sea level, the Gamboa family has been cultivating the glorious bean since the 1800's! This single origin crop is actually a blend of Caturra and Catuai varietals.
When freshly ground, the coffee will give off mild floral notes akin to lavender, which find their way to the cup. There they are met with mild acidity of apricot and white grape. These flavors cool to balance quite nicely with mild, creamy body and honey and butterscotch sweetness. We think you will agree that the meticulous crafting of farmers in the Montes de Oro has in fact produced a cup of gold.

It is rare to see an Indonesian coffee perform as this wet-processed wonder does. A pure Djember varietal, the Sulawesi Toarco delivers bright aromatics with notes of pine and citrus becoming beautifully balanced notes in the cup, quite reminiscent of a Latin coffee. However its Indonesian character still shines through with savory, garlicky depth.

I often wonder to myself when drinking this coffee how it is possible that such an infusion of subtlety can be perceived at all. How is it feasible that these flavors exist in coffee? Well, it's quite simple really. Coffee in its pure form is a cherry, the fruit of Coffea Arabica. Just as a cherry pit still tastes of cherry when it is dried, so are the flavors and sugars of the coffee fruit infused into the seed during processing, then heightened and further developed by roasting. When a talented roaster is given a batch of well manicured green... MAGIC HAPPENS!