I received a nice box of samples from BeanFruit Coffee Company out of Jackson, Mississippi recently and up for review today is their CENFROCAFE, a Far Trade Certified coffee from Peru. CENFROCAFE stands for Central Fronteriza Del Norte De Cafetaleros and it’s a large, very productive and well-respected coffee co-op that formed in Peru in 1999. They produce something like 1.2 million pounds of coffee per year but also work hard toward keeping their coffee plants happy and well-tended. You can read some more about this coffee as well as buy it directly from BeanFruit for $14.75 for a 12oz bag.
This lot that BeanFruit has been roasting up comes from the Cajamarca region of Peru and consists of Caturra, Typica and Pache varietals. Think of coffee varietals like you do types of apples. Granny Smith, Honeycrisp and Red Delicious are all different, but they’re still all apples. That’s how varietals work within the Arabica species of coffee. These coffees were grown in the 1600-1700masl range and this is a washed and light-medium roast.
I don’t have a ton of experience with Peruvian coffee but the more I drink the more I am finding that they seem consistently straightforward, and that’s not a bad thing. I’ve written it many times here before… you don’t always need or even want a super-complex coffee. For me, the more complex it is, the more I have to think about it and mull it over in my brain, experience all the nuances, etc. Sometimes that’s fun and that’s what I want, but other times it’s nice to just have a straightforward, simple, enjoyable cup of coffee, and that’s this CENFROCAFE from BeanFruit is to me!
The aroma on this coffee leans toward milk chocolate sweetness but the coffee is brighter than I thought it would be based on the aroma. The coffee has a medium body with relatively long aftertaste of pleasant bitterness and florals.
In the warmer cup I picked up hints of spices that I couldn’t quite identify, as well as the floral notes from the finish. There are almonds as well as a mouthfeel and flavor that reminded me of orange juice. This was a nicely balanced cup of coffee but I got hints of lime in the high notes, too.
I found this CENFROCAFE from BeanFruit to be a bright, yet still sweet cup of coffee and a great start to the day as a morning coffee. It was a clean and balanced and straightforward and that’s how I like to start my mornings off, for sure!
Read A Table in the Corner of the Cafe’s thoughts on this coffee, too!