"pretty"

so the death matches haven't materialized as promised. those of you who were eagerly awaiting one like a pay per view cage match, get a life.

i am currently sipping on the last of what is a most delightful coffee: stumptown's guatemala el injerto. this is the maragogype version. huge...and i mean enormous...beans smile up at you from the bag and give of a kind of lavendar/vanilla scent.

i remember when stephen vick from stumptown sent me an email with the descriptors of the coffees they were donating for the jam he used a descriptor i had not really thought to use for coffee before: pretty. being something of a word junkie i tucked that one away for possible later use. but i kept it in my mind tonight as i was pressing the last of it. for beans with this much brawn there's a lot of real beauty here. very lilting. even crushed and sitting in the bottom of my personal press this coffee was still all smiles. pretty, indeed.

this is a tricky coffee for me to give apt description to. there is a definite vanilla feel in it. like one of those light purple wildflowers that grows in the median between the interstate. delicate but not about to just blow away with any passing car. it's underpinned with what seems like a very subtle minerality: faint glimpses of the same roundness that is a hallmark of edwin martinez' finca vista hermosa coffee. but it takes its own path. it is sweet and floral, slightly acidic but not crisp with that lavendar silkiness that dances around my mouth with i sip it.

i know you see this coming, but i have to agree completely with stephen's assessment. this is a pretty coffee that you must try.