Coffee is seasonal. Universally, with one exception, a coffee-producing country is exporting one harvest a year. Due in large part to climate, as well as farming practices, coffee harvests taste unique year after year. So when a slot in the coffee roaster’s inventory becomes vacant, and no more of a particular harvest can be procurred, then the coffee is gone forever. It is during these times that a “green coffee” buyer must look into the Coffee supply chain and search for the next, special acquisition.

In most cases, coffee samples are requested from a coffee importer, and the coffee buyer must then roast, taste, and catalogue results for each procurred coffee sample. A small quantity of each coffee should be roasted in a manner that, when tasted, leaves all potential DEFECTS exposed. If a coffee harvest is overly defective, it cannot qualify as Specialty Grade, and thus goes unpurchased by Peaceful Valley Coffee Co.
The sample roast should also hit a sweet spot, where the qualified coffee taster can ascertain the full spectrum of positive taste that the coffee has to offer, in terms of aromatics, acidity, body, sweetness, and aftertaste. These qualities will then help the Roasters and Quality Controllers draft the best possible roast profiles. This tasting process is known as “coffee cuppping,” and is extremely important to both coffee buying and roasted coffee production. Quality coffees are never roasted arbitrarily, but are founded upon the unique genetic properties of each green coffee specimen. Bodybuilders cannot be forced to run footraces, and vice versa.

Since Peaceful Valley Coffee is a young company, every slot in the coffee inventory is supremely precious. When the Brazil Cerrado Natural began dwindling, I was very eager to taste this year’s (2024) fresh harvest. The 2023 harvest of Cerrado Natural proved to be quite satisfying—surprising even—driven by compelling sweetness and trippy earth tones. Customers have loved it, on its own and blended. Its ability to be completely itself and delicious at any roast level was so exciting! Recently, I made a few gallons of outstanding cold brew with French presses, Roaster’s Choice Blend, and lovely well water (more on that in the next blog post). Would it be so easy to just move on to the 2024 harvest?

Unless a company is big enough to reliably contract palattes of coffee, the buying process should never be easy. Every update to the coffee inventory is going to mean a shift in the schemata for tasty success. It causes a person to wonder how a coffee blend or brand can taste the same, year over year, if the harvests keep evolving.

Here is where the art of coffee roasting kicks in. Sometimes, you just have to toast a single coffee responsibly, so that it matures into an awesome cup of coffee. Sometimes, you are intentionally extracting specific qualities out of coffee beans (caramelization, body, fruitiness, etc) and constructing a blend.

To ensure success, I sampled three alternatives to Cerrado 2024 as well; coffees that would embody the same qualities I desired (fat sugars, big body, inspired acidity, ability to be blended), as well as having a unique attraction. These alternatives were:
PERU - Chonta Washed SHB
COLOMBIA - Pitalito Excelso
COLOMBIA - Pitalito Supremo
For fun and calibration, I also sample roasted the LA BASTILLA, since it will be finding a new partner for the Roaster’s Choice Blend.

As described, each coffee sample was roasted, off-gassed, then rigorously tasted and scored on a scale of 1-100. A coffee must score above 80/100, to qualify as Specialty, and every point is extremely important, in terms of the global Coffee commodities market. In the old days, buyers just looked at the seeds for defects and size discrepency, independent of taste.

And the taste of these coffees? Spectacular. The decision was a tough one to make. With Spring, everything living and sweet around us is intensifying, and it seems appropriate to brighten the scale of tasting notes for the Spring and Summer, while still maintaining constant sweetness. This means a coffee that can complement the sparkling flavors of the Nicaragua.