Extra Special Coffees - In Search of the Perfect Cup

[nickrey]

What do you buy for Father's Day for the father whose tastes run to the esoteric and gourmet?

If you're my kids, and this is a question that they have to deal with often, you buy a pack of Esmerelda Special Geisha coffee from Panama, which is what I received this year.

It is billed as the world's best, and most expensive, coffee.

And it really is a special coffee. Definitely the best I've ever tasted.

My question is this. Are any eGulleters taking the next step in coffee and going for the extra special blends?

If so, what have you tried? How did you brew it? Is coffee the non-alcoholic version of very fine wine or pure malt whisky?

[weinoo]

Most of the coffee I brew at home is considered very high-end; perhaps not best in the world, but the roasters from whom I buy tend to seek out fine product.

I haven't tried the Esmerelda from Panama, but I'll keep an eye out for it. Did you get it already roasted and if so, how fresh was it when it got to you?

I'll often brew a really fine coffee two or three different ways to see what I like best; pour-over, French, maybe even siphon if I feel like getting that equipment out.

Since coffee to me is a morning/daytime drink, I hardly connote it with wine or whiskey - I don't know if that answers your question, however.

[nickrey]

It was brewed especially for Fathers Day, so very fresh. Am travelling soon so am thinking of vacuum sealing what's left over in my chamber sealer to keep the air away.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'm blessed to live in a coffee-producing country. The very best I've ever had was grown here, but I'm 100% certain that it's not exported - it's a gran cru cup from criollo-type coffee grown with cacao above 2,500 meters in Cariamanga, Loja. The cherries are picked overripe, then fermented a minimum time, then sun-dried and roasted in small batches, and ground by hand.

It's comparable to a very good wine or whiskey - lots of depth and nuance in the flavour, and distinct notes of chocolate and cherry. Unfortuately, as it's a friend's plantation and he's growing primarily for his own and his family's consumption, I only get to drink it when I visit him. He won't even ship me green beans so that I can roast my own, the meany.