Valentine to Ecuador La Hacienda
Carrie Masek
Until a few years ago, we’d never seen Specialty Grade coffee from Ecuador. Then the country launched it’s Tazo Dorado, a contest for the best coffee grown in the mountainous nation, and we discovered a new love, the fantastically complex and balanced coffees of Ecuador.
Everyone mentioned Ecuador when we started talking about valentines, but while all of us love this coffee, Leland loves it best of all.
Leland has been part of the Coffee by the Roast family since the beginning. He’s swept the floors, roasted the coffee, and helped us with blends. After completing college, he came back to apply his economics education to the business, and his artistic nature to the design of our current website. Leland is a singularly gifted young man, and one place where he outshines us all is in the cupping and describing of new coffees.
He didn’t like coffee much when he started, but even in his first cupping session, he recognized and articulated more nuanced flavors than even our most experienced cupper. Leland has grown to love coffee and especially enjoys those coffees where the different flavors weave together to create a complex and balanced tapestry of flavor. We weren’t surprised when he claimed Ecuador La Hacienda for his valentine. Here it is:
From high upon a mountaintop
Come cornucopias of fruit
A winey spark in every drop,
And chocolate richness, absolute.
With sweet, smooth pleasure in the cup,
So many flavors to adore,
The perfect Andes wake-me-up,
A fresh brewed cup of Ecuador.
Thanks for reading today's Valentine. Join the conversation and send a valentine to your favorite Coffee by the Roast coffee by leaving a response in the Facebook thread or a comment on this blog. Or, if you'd like to send your valentines to the wider world of coffee lovers, leave us a coffee review on Google or on your favorite review site. Not only do we value your opinions, but reviews help more people find us. Help us connect coffee lovers to fresh, quality coffee and spread the love of coffee this February!
~ Carrie, Paul and all of us at Coffee by the Roast