Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Taaroo

2022 Review

10oz. 

It's not quite the heavy hitter as it as that won the competition. Either that or my taste notes have become more jaded. I've tried the coffee a few times now and I must say it's still "there" just less what I like anymore which showcases somewhat how my taste have changed. Leading the way was a nice fruity note but not a "fruity" coffee. I'd say it's more fruity pebbles in a sugary sweet cereal kind of way. I also get that oat/cereal thing going on that sometimes can read toasty. There's a nice layer of honey circling around the jasmine tea like notes. If you have to pin me down I'd say this is more like a fruity jasmine tea than a coffee.  

I'm leaving this review up because it's so hilarious. 

2018

Remember Champagne Supernova? (hint it's that song that comes up after you've listened to weezer once on spotify). I loved that song when it was released. I literally remember the release of it. I liked it before it was a single, lol remember single days. While listening to the album I had already been on board with earlier songs so when this played I was thinking oh we havent seen the grand finale.  This is going to just smash it.  It's one of the last vestiges of days gone by where you could see something great coming and get super excited for it in the music world. Now don't get me wrong I'm not waxing for 90's musical culture to come back. 19.99 for a cd's was equally as stupid as some of the current craft coffee prices. Much as those who were privy to the cost to make a cd back then those of us now who know the prices some of us in coffee pay, you know what future is coming. 

But back to the song. I love that song as one of the most perfect songs ever mixed and recorded beating out She Bangs The Drums by the Stone Roses were it not for a weak kick drum. Ok, sure, Bowie fans or some Queen fans will point to songs and be like this dude is crazy - and, hi! That's cool, because that's just like your opinion, man.  I mean every bit. Every note is perfectly placed. Every note perfectly sung - and if you watch the most recent movie 'Supersonic' you'll see a clip of Liam singing it and watch my head melt in real time back to 1996 when I first heard it you'd know I mean every moment of it. The creshendo, the solo, the guitar tones, the reverb, and then coming back to verse racing towards such a beautiful and clean ending. Man the ending.  Everything is perfect.  They recruited John Squire and Johnny Marr for a series of live shows later in the year and those guys who kill it utterly stank up the song.  Lesson here is: don't mess with perfection. 

As I sat there as a teenager in the spring of 1996 and my mom, a child of the 60's herself graduating in the summer of love, yelling up the stairs to turn that beatle sounding band D-O-W-N. I thought: No mom.  This was it. This is my music.  This is my summer of love.  Now, granted, I was still a teenager living at home, utterly single with my only true companion a banana boat yellow mountain bike, a SNES because the N64 wasn't out and heck my part time job at Winn-Dixie wouldn't pay for a single person's lifestyle anyways. But! As I sat there I could see the hit coming .It was a good feeling. That's what this coffee was. I saw the hit coming. My co-cupper Jay too. It wasn't even a question. This coffee was a hit from the moment it was made.

When buying this I received one 90gram sample, which is WAY too small for my roaster, but that it turned out so good from basically me roasting within inches of destroying this illustrates to me how good this is. When we were cupping this coffee it was almost like staring into the future. We were thinking if this doesn't at least place, then it would be me that messed up. It could only be on me for not making this thing a total winner. It was that spectacular and of course I'm being fairly dramatic describing this coffee. So plain talk, it's an extremely fruity and super sugary sweet with a refreshing and crisp finish. Kinda like fruity pebbles if it were a coffee. 

This coffee was a winner in the good food awards because I didn't mess with perfection. I did my job and it slays. Enjoy.

This coffee is 1/2 of the coffees I entered that placed in the Good Food Award competition.

http://goodfoodfdn.org/awards/finalists