The Cup

Ermera – Organic
Origin: East Timor
Producer: unknown
Farm: unknown
Varieties: unkown
Elevation: unknown
Harvest: unknown
Process: unknown
Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee – Baltimore, MD
Roast Date: November 30, 2009 – ???
Cup Date: 12/5/2009

Catadors: Jenny (6), Ilenia (1), Rebecca (4.5), Devlin (4), Stephanie (1), Jeremy (5), Joy (3), Kimmy (1)
Average Score: 3.19

Fragrances:
Rubber bands, wax, lipstick, peach, wheat, oat, grain, bean soup, smokey, brick, fresh pumpkin, chicory, burnt peanut shavings

Aromas:
Chocolate-covered cherries, roasted crust, NYC pretzel stand, powder, water, cooked, marshmallow ash, coffee, the bottom of a car seat of a smoker

Break:
Ant killer, caramel (x2), dusted bread, sour plant, salad with italian vinaigrette dressing

Brightness:
Dull, semi, none, high, low, not

Flavors:
Pleasant despite the darkness, burnt scotch, wax, slight apple, smoke, rubber, cherry syrup, no taste, plastic, burned marshmallow, brussels sprouts, burnt, ashy, non-coffee, metallic

Body:
Full (x2), heavy, dreary, light, medium

Aftertaste:
Buttery, burnt charred ashes, urn, heavy, swampy, camel, lipstick, lingering carbon

Likes:
Nothing. n/a.

Dislikes:
All. B L A H. Dusted bread. Yep, everything – made my face go YUCK. A terrible coffee.

Descriptions:
A surprising cup of coffee that begins with hints of milk chocolate & cherries and finishes with a full buttery smooth aftertaste.

This coffee is pure bile. Disappointment in a cup correctly defines what this is. Ant killing agents, charred wax, burnt scotch, lipstick, ashes and tarred gravel encompasses the aromas and flavors of this life-depleting cup.

Hmm.

It’s really hard for me to write about this coffee because the taste was non-existent. But it wasn’t bad, it was good for those who don’t care about coffee.

With fragrance of bean soup and cinnamon. High acidity and plastic & lipstick flavors. Light body is best quality.

Ashy with minor moments of warmer flavors. Marshmallow and caramel are present but buried by roaster.

Again, with the fertilizer.

This coffee tastes like someone left it in a back seat of a car full of chain smokers. It tastes like this as well: metallic, burnt, ashy, but full. The lingering carbon taste is great for someone w/o taste.

Jay’s Notes:
Sometimes I wonder if I’m just asking for it. Since the last time we sampled coffee from Baltimore’s premiere local roaster it performed less-than-spectacular because I think it was old coffee, I wanted to give Zeke’s another chance and went straight to their coffee roastery in Baltimore’s Lauraville neighborhood.

While at the roastery, I asked them to direct me to the coffee that would most exemplify their style and their coffees. They initially directed me to a blended coffee – of which I’m not interested in sampling. I want to see what kind of coffee they can roast and after perusing their selections, decided that I would go for the one I thought would be most interesting: the Ermera Organix from Timor.

Timor coffee is not something you see very often in the coffee business but it was a part of Indonesia so maybe there’s something interesting growing there. And if Baltimore’s premiere coffee roaster has it on offer then I’m willing to make a $12 bet that they’ve done their homework and it’s going to be interesting.

Well, the Ermera certainly was interesting…

As always, there’s a dearth of information about the coffee from details on origin, varietal or even something as simple as a roast date. I went to the roastery because I thought it would be safe to presume that the coffee would be fresh, but after sitting another night in my truck, the coffee failed to lightly perfume the interior with the smell of coffee. Only supposedly fresh roasted coffee from Zeke’s does this.

What more is there to say about this coffee that the catadors above haven’t already said? It’s a shame really because I’m always hoping for something tasty from our premiere local roaster but I guess I’m still waiting – and spending twelve bucks each time…