Coffee Review: Brandywine Coffee Roasters - Costa Rica, Las Lajas - Black Honey

This is what I'm talking about. A nice light-bodied, tart cup of Central American coffee. Just the way I like it. And with some pretty badass packaging, too.

Brandywine Coffee Roasters is based in Delaware which, as everyone knows, is the epicenter of the U.S. artisan coffee roasting scene. Bought this coffee a few weeks ago and tried it in all three (3) of the different brewing methods I have in my house: drip, pour-over, and Bialetti (moka) pot. As expected, with a coffee like this, the pour-over wins out. The drip machine is, in my opinion, more suitable for average and/or not so great-flavored coffee. The stove-top moka pots are good for dark-roast, finely-ground coffee that only has a short time to get hit by the boiling water. For a complex, lighter-roast coffee you really want to get the most out of...you gotta go pour-over.

The tartness is the main characteristic of this coffee. So tart it's almost kind of refreshing, like drinking lemon-water, but I like that. Light-bodied, meaning it does not have that chewy, tongue-rasping feeling you get from a Starbucks Americano or whatever. Slight lingering flavors of blueberry and chocolate. Some Central American coffees have a taste I can only describe as "dry," by which I mean a little astringent on the tongue, leaving no trace of having been drunk. The opposite of which would be oily. I would have liked this coffee to be a bit on the drier side, but it's still good.

This coffee should be drunk outside on a porch on a hot morning, in the sunshine. It's tartness is the perfect antidote to a hot, sticky summer AM in the Mid-Atlantic. Drink it while reading some Jorge Luis Borges, or the History of Latin American Revolutions, with one leg slung over your arm chair and the fan blowing directly on you.