Swanky New Coffees

First up is Congo.

That's in Africa, for those of you not up on your geography. This coffee is roasted medium to dark, and has a heavy syrupy body. It kind of reminds me of Sumatra, except with a bigger bite. Some other flavor notes: sweet, spice, winey, oak.

Some Congo facts:

It sits smack in the middle of Africa, and was founded as a Belgian colony in 1908. They called it The Republic of Congo. It gained its independence in 1960. However, a colonel, who led a coup in 1965 and declared himself the president, changed the country's name to Zaire. (by the way, when I was in fifth grade, I wrote a research paper about Zaire.) In 1997 the regime was toppled, and the name changed back to the original Republic of Congo.

Our other new coffee is Ethiopia Natural Sidamo.

This coffee is delightful. It's organically-grown by 300 smallholder farmers. It's processed naturally using a sundried process. Some of the tasting notes: lemon/lime skittles, blueberry, sparkling acidity, sweet.