||ESPRESSO|| Counter Culture Coffee - El Salvador Finca Mauritania Pulp Natural Espresso

Coffee: Counter Culture Coffee - Finca Mauritania Pulp Natural Espresso
Price: $10.25/12 oz. + Shipping = $1.15/oz.
Year: 2008
Blend: Single Origin Espresso from Santa Ana, El Salvador
Roast: Slightly darker than they roast this same lot for drip/press coffee - probably just before second crack.
What they say: "An experiment by our roasting department has resulted in one of most delicious single origin espressos we have ever experienced. Roasted to the perfect pitch for espresso, this unique, very limited single origin espresso offers rich, round notes of dark chocolate, molasses, cherry, and licorice above a smooth, creamy body." Read about it on their website

TASTING NOTES
Scores - 87, 87, 87, 87, 87

Crema: Quite dark in the cup, with a burnt sugar taste. I found the crema to be on the thin side overall.

Aroma: I found aromas of flowers and anise. I think less of the roast itself comes through in the aroma than in a typical espresso, making for a lighter, sweeter "nose."

Body: I found the body to be light overall, but not sharply bitter. Often times thin body means a poor prognosis for a shot of espresso - not the case here. While thin, the shot still goes down smooth. The sip lingers on the tongue, but more like a windbreaker than the down-blanket characteristic of many espressos.

Milk: I only had soy milk available for this espresso's tenure. The "lattes"were unexciting, but can't you say that about all soy-milk drinks?

Profile & Flavors: One thing to note is that I found myself able to pull this espresso very consistently, with only minor grinder adjustments. The major flavors I tasted were cherries and plums, with a bit of anise. I also tasted dark honey (the chunky, unprocessed stuff). Think about those chocolate covered cherries with the liquor that bursts out, but with less chocolate ... like biting off one end and eating the whole filling ... then tone the intensity down about half. Someone I was sharing this with made a comment that this espresso would be a great way to win over your regular coffee drinkers to the world of espresso. I couldn't agree more. The shots are not as big as traditional espresso blends. The Finca Mauritania is smooth instead of rich, tastes of fruit syrup instead of melted chocolate, and is sweet instead of smokey. If your typical espresso is a port reduction, this is a "coffee consommé," that being a concentration of all the flavors you might expect to find if you brewed this coffee in a press pot.

Pairings: Good dark chocolate is the perfect compliment for this espresso. I thought it might actually make a good breakfast coffee, so I tried it once in the moka pot, and made enough to get a small cup to sit alongside my chocolate chip pancakes. Success.

Buy Again? Again, my overall impression was positive. Compared to SO Costa Rica espresso I tasted earlier, I preferred this one for sure. That being said, I would probably only recommend this in two situations: 1) The SO aficionado, who wants to try any SO espresso worth trying; and 2) The lonely espresso lover looking for a way to slowly sway friends toward espresso drinking.