Delightful brewed coffee with depth of sweetness, delicate accents of herbal tea, lemon zest, and elegant apple-like acidity. Full City shows brooding cocoa-roast tones and dark fruit hints. City to Full City+. Good for espresso.
I was lucky to grab some of this coffee. It sold out quickly as it is well known now to be high quality Antiguan Guatemalan coffee from an old estate. The following is a description from Sweet Maria’s about this finca:
Pulcal is an old coffee estate overlooking the colonial city of Antigua, and is situated at a range of 6000 feet in altitude. The farm dates to early colonial times (check out the neat tile crest in the first photo below), but coffee was planted in the late 1800’s and first exported in 1918. The farm is said to have a unique micro-climate in the Antigua valley, as well as hillside exposure and well-draining soils. “Inteligente” refers to a specific block of the farm, planted in old Typica and Bourbon cultivar trees. It’s all the way at the top and has the best sun exposure and ideal topography. Being at the highest point on the farm, the coffee from Inteligente ripens a little later than the rest. To form this lot, we cupped several small “day lots” (coffee lots that are kept separate by each delivery day), selecting those that had the best sweetness and brightness. The coffee is processed at the Bella Vista mill nearby. It’s fully washed using their water conserving depulpers, and then dried in the indoor drying rooms on raised beds.
There is a reason I keep coming back to the Antiguan coffees. They are among the best from America and I have not encountered a coffee drinker who didn’t like them. This coffee is particularly good and versatile at roast level and at preparation, yielding a great pour over cup as well as a rich espresso. The cupping notes from Sweet Maria’s indicate a balanced coffee, but not flat. I like the following description they posted for this batch:
“…the brewed coffee shows depth of sweetness, ribbons of toffee, caramel, and butterscotch, a dash of brown sugar, and delicate hints of herbal tea. The coffee cools to flavor notes of toasted sugar, a zesty lemon accent, and elegant apple-like acidity. Full City roasts bring out the bittersweet chocolate flavors, like high % cacao chocolate bar with roasted nibs, and a faint hint of dark fruit. Pulcal brews very well, a real crowd-pleasing coffee, that also doubles wonderfully as a single origin espresso (“SO”). Full City shots produce incredibly viscous mouthfeel, dense dark chocolate flavors are accented by a spark of lemon, and a dark fruit tone in the background that adds interest.“