There’s a kids on Christmas morning sort of giddiness when the coffee lovers at PT’s sip Hacienda La Esmeralda Special Mario Carnaval.
It’s PT’s Coffee Roasting Co.’s most expensive cup of coffee, but those who love it find ecstasy packed in every bean. People around the country seek it out through PT’s Web site.
During a recent cupping, PT’s co-owner Jeff Taylor sipped the coffee.
“It buckles my knees,” he gushed. “People will buy hugely expensive bottles of wine all the time. Coffee like this, that’s that good, it’s worth the price.”
THE BUZZ: When Hacienda La Esmeralda Special Mario Carnaval enters a competition, it almost always wins. In competition, it routinely is given the highest scores possible, Taylor said. “If there was a perfect coffee, this is as close as it gets,” he said. In previous years, a taster at a competition said that when he sipped Esmeralda Special he “saw the face of God in the cup” — a story included in the coffee book “God in a Cup.”
THE SECRET: Hacienda La Esmeralda Special Mario Carnaval comes from the beans of the Ethiopian varietal, Geisha, grown in Panama. A simple glance at the beans shows something is different. They are elongated. This particular lot is grown at about 6,000 feet. That high elevation leads the bean to mature slowly and something about that slow growth seems to give the beans extra time to soak up delicious flavors.
THE TASTE: Put away the sugar and milk. You don’t add anything to a cup of Hacienda La Esmeralda Special Mario Carnaval coffee. There’s a clean, clear taste with touches of citrus shining through. It’s wonderful hot and different but wonderful as it cools. “It’s just this beautiful, floral sweetness, mixed with citrus,” said Robin Seitz, retail manager and director of catering.
COST: $55 for a 10-ounce bag (now available at a discounted $50.35). PT’s has sold much of this year’s Mario Carnaval and plans to sell the rest during the holidays. Yet to come out are 300 pounds of another batch from Hacienda La Esmeralda: Mario Pascua, a great coffee though it doesn’t rank quite as high as Mario Carnaval.
If you think the price point might make Mario Carnaval hard to sell, Taylor isn’t worried. “We have people who wait for it to come out every year,” he said. “People who buy this coffee are fanatics about it.”
More info:
www.ptscoffee.com
