Sunday, February 1, 2015

Coffee Review: Coffee Exchange Guatemalan Chajul

French Roast coffee is always marketed as a dark roast, strong, and full of flavor. Most of the time I think it just tastes burnt. Rarely do I encounter a French Roast that doesn't taste like the roaster burnt it and calls it French. Then there is Coffee Exchange, here in Providence.

I recently bought their Guatemalan Chajul. Here is what Coffee Exchange says about their coffee:

The Guatemalan Chajulense American Roast is medium bodied with a sweet aroma and lemony aftertaste, with the French Roast version reminiscent of dark chocolate and brown sugar. Chajul is in the Ixil region of Guatemala, where The Coffee Trust, founded by co-owner Bill Fishbein, concentrates its sustainability efforts in education, healthcare, food security, economic development and capacity building. With the devastation visited on this community by La Roya, the Coffee Rust disease ravaging Central America, to which Chajul has lost 75% of it’s coffee, a major effort is under way by The Coffee Trust and Cooperative Coffees as well as Coffee Exchange, to help Chajulense coffee farmers get through this terrible time with uprooting bad plants and replanting Roya Resistant coffee plants.

This morning, I brewed some in the Chemex. This is normally not how I brew a first time coffee, but I did this morning. When I opened the bag, I smelled a dark chocolate aroma for sure. As I ground it, I smelled it even more. 

Tasting it was quite the experience. I wouldn't say I got the lemony aftertaste, but there was a hint of fruitiness to it. No this roast was heavy on the chocolate and brown sugar. It was a sweeter coffee than I expected. There was no burnt taste at all. Oddly, I would say this was an intense and smooth coffee. That's not a normal combination. 

On our Bean Scale of Strength, this coffee is a 4 out of 5 beans. It's a strong coffee which will get you going. I had a cup and a half, and I was ready for my run this morning. That's pretty strong.

For people in New England, and especially in Providence, go to Coffee Exchange. They are roasting some really good coffee - every day. 

http://www.sustainablecoffee.com

Charlie

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