By Tony Gudkov
This summer, Corberosa's An Adventure In Every Cup! motto brought me to the rich coffee quarters of Lima, to the Festival of the Sun set in Cusco's airborne streets, and even to the farmhouse of a Peruvian man who had never tasted coffee, save a rare can of store-bought instant. I aeropressed him Corberosa's Ethiopia single-origin and he described it as "something from another world." That is what I call adventure in a cup!
In Lima, I visited two boutique cafés to taste their specialty pour-overs, à la Chemex.
The first was Terrua Café. Their beans came exclusively from Fundo Santa Josefa, Villa Rica.
The café's inviting jungle facade and earthy interior demonstrated its focus on the entire coffee process, from cherry to char: my barista informed me that beans were often roasted in-house, depending on the availability of their owner/chief roaster.
The house coffee I received (which I believe was their "Friendly" variety) was sweet but not chocolatey, which surprised me. It was very well-rounded with low acidity for a medium roast. It had a berry background and as it cooled I caught an earthy apple flavor that reminded me of a yellow apple's core I had once bitten into in the apple orchards of Northern California.
Next, I stopped by Savannah Café. Their beans came from Cusco via Ferma La Concepción. Savannah's house special was a medium-dark with heavy, dark chocolate notes and fair acidity. The focal point was a bitter citrus, which reminded me of the dehydrated orange peels I tossed into my Negroni the night before. Despite the darker roast and higher acidity, I found this cup smoother and more drinkable than the last thanks to a consistent flavor that did not flex much as its temperature changed.
In Cusco, amidst the spiritual shuffling of Inti Raymi, I stumbled upon an unlabeled cave that served an entire menu of specialty cafés from lamargaritacoffee in individual-sized drip coffee pots.
I chose café supernatural, an off-menu coffee recommended by the barista at (what we later discovered to be) Three Monkey's Coffee for its unique, tropical flavor. Initially, this was the lightest coffee I have ever tried but as it cooled the tasting became an intense cacao experience: bewildering but fascinating.
As foreshadowed by our barista, I got an instant pineapple flavor. This delicacy was accompanied by an intense cacao smell. However, the first chocolate flavor was subtle, like a drop of mocha. As it cooled, the chocolate spread, and underneath I found a floral smell and taste with more vegetation than I expected. Due to its unusual bitterness and softness, I suspect chamomile. My favorite part of the experience (aside from the eclectic presentation and warm, wooden interior of the signless shop) was smelling my empty glass and inhaling one of the strongest dark chocolate notes I have known in a coffee, comparable to that of our dark roast Sumatra that boasts a Baker’s chocolate body. Afterward, a barista sold me bottle 40/40 of his own, homemade liquor derived from the honey of Andean bees. Up in the Andes, I found adventure in a cup (and a whiskey glass).
This semester I am studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France. It seems that the 3rd wave has not swept over much of this fine, old country but you can bet that I'll be taking my espresso like the locals wherever it has. Stay tuned.
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