A Cupping Guide on
Fresh Harvest Coffee
Everyone in the coffee industry knows the difference that a fresh coffee makes!
Fresh coffees are the ones we love, complex, sweet, and unique, while a past-crop coffee becomes papery or even cardboardy as it ages, even if it was once delicious. It's easy to see why the harvest is our favorite time of year - because we get to taste a whole new bunch of delicious fresh coffees! But for us at Primavera, the fresh harvest each year brings a different kind of challenge: coffees that are a little too fresh.
Too fresh? It doesn't sound quite right, but it's true. Our value chain is a short and direct one; farmers harvest and process their coffees, then take a sample, make the short trip to our warehouse or office, and drop off samples to us. Some of the samples are only a couple of weeks off harvest, which would be rarer to see in a longer value chain. What does it taste like when a coffee is very fresh? The coffee, even one that tastes absolutely delicious, might have a slightly papery characteristic, or even a slightly dry aftertaste like citrus pith.
Other times…
we find that the coffees are "too tight" or "too compact," to use a metaphor; once the coffees have a few weeks to rest they will "open up" or "relax." We often see that recently landed coffees taste even more lovely than expected since they have had a few additional weeks to rest. Think of it like drinking a coffee an hour or two off roast - it is just so fresh that it needs more time to open up!
What does that mean for you as a buyer and cupper? That's for you to decide! The most important thing is to cup with an open mind, and if possible, to try and calibrate to this freshness over time in order to see the potential of a lot that is still fresh. (We promise it will be worth it!) We're here to assist you in this process, and communication is key - if you have any questions about freshness, let us know because we're here to help you to find the coffee that best meets your needs. Cheers to another great year of fresh and delicious coffees from the Primavera team!