2012 We review David Lynch coffee and Ridgelyne Jamaica Blue Mountain

I get lots of coffees to sample in the course of a year – a lot of it I buy myself… some of it makes its way here after an offer to taste is received in the e-mail.

In 2012 I hope to write up more of the beans that I have been sampling.

So let’s jump in with David Lynch’s Signature coffee; his house coffee and his espresso.
Not going to call them a blend because I believe that they are single origin Oaxacan coffees from a single farm in Mexico.

I brewed David Lynch’s signature coffee – seemingly sourced and roasted for drip coffee. Like most of Lynch’s work, the coffee, brewed as drip, is immediately challenging – This is not your average single origin Mexican coffee and it has some odd flavors in the cup that are off putting but at the same time kind of persuasive.

There is a lot of chocolate in the cup but also subtle hints of rubber, resin and pine solvent… deep, deep in the mix.

Thankfully, my brain tuned most of the nasty stuff (which was way down in the mix – playing it honest here…) the chocolate and sugar came through.
A second brew cycle came through a little better (ran a Hario paper filter on the 2nd brew) and it offered a little bit more clarity with less “industry” in the cup.

It is said that Mister Lynch drinks upwards of 15 cups of this brew a day.
I could do two. It is not a bad coffee. Is moderately interesting and upon closer inspection is roasted by Allegro coffee. The one problem with branding coffee in this way is that most people are more surprised that an edgy movie director would put his name on a bag of coffee. It’s an odd juxtaposition.

From our new friends at Simple Industries Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario comes a couple of bags of their 100% Ridgelyne Jamaica Blue Mountain.
Now this is something I can relate to: A cup of coffee that is all fruit, a bit of chocolate and not a hint of bitter or imbalance.

One of the minor challenges of sourcing JBM is (and I am going to get spam comments in no time…) is getting it fresh (meaning out of the roaster and to my door within a week or so…) – for most of us, it is almost impossible UNLESS it is bought green and roasted locally or regionally. Ridgelyne is roasted in Jamaica and shipped to Ottawa and then shipped from there. Risky. That said, my samples had only hints of staling – likely out of the roaster 2 or 3 weeks. For most people (normal folks that do not obsess about subtlety in the cup), this is not that much of a problem.

The Ridgelyne JBM has lots of fruit in the cup; plum by and large, a mild side that Andrea thought was “Kona like” – I did not taste that. I got lots of balance, no bitterness and a very full body that was all fruit and flowers with few chocolate or cocoa notes in the cup. The website offers it for around $35/pound (down from $50/pound elsewhere…) and refers to it as the most coveted cup of coffee on the Planet. Yes, for most people, JBM is associated as old school luxury coffee – and for good reason. It tastes great.

In the rest if this blog (tomorrow likely…) I will go over some more of the details of the JBM (all good) and get back to the David Lynch coffee to talk about his signature espresso.