Kaldi's is selling the first- and fourth-prize winners from the 2009 Colombia Monserrate Cupping Competition. The farmers of the Monserrate coöp showcased fifty-nine coffees. Every farm is a micro-lot; the "Lo Mejor" yielded only 1,000 pounds of unroasted coffee, so supplies will be limited.

I'm a little late with these tasting notes. When I flew back to Saint Louis after Christmas, I accidentally left my scale in Oregon, so I couldn't give these coffees a fair test. I've had both coffees without the scale, but I'll have to wait to buy more of the fourth-place bean before posting tasting notes on those.

Before diving into my tasting notes, I'll describe the brewing process. I preheat a three-cup French press with boiling water. I also preheat my double-wall glass, though preheating the glass is probably unnecessary. The coffee is coarsely ground just before brewing. I use 18g of coffee and 250ml of water, which is poured just off the boil. The coffee steeps for 3'30", at which point I stir the coffee and skim the "foam" off the top before pressing. Mark Prince has a good video on the process.

So, how about these beans? The Lo Mejor is a top-flight coffee. The whole beans offer aromas of bergamot, but when brewed I found that shifted to nutmeg. The mouthfeel is not dense, but still velvety—a well-made cup of hot cocoa comes to mind. It's a bright coffee—I get some citrus notes, but more in the area of a lime than a lemon or an orange (the Kaldi's notes suggest mango, bergamot, and green apple). It finishes with a hint of tobacco.

I've had this coffee for seven days and the tasting notes are based on what I tasted today. Unfortunately, Kaldi's did not put a roasting date on the bag. When it was fresher, it had much more citrus. I like it better now than I did then—at no point would I have characterized it as an unbalanced or unpleasant coffee, but I am not personally a fan of huge citrus notes in coffee. If you love a well-balanced, citrusy brew, you really can't go wrong at $12.80 (including tax) per bag.