A.M.O.C. / Panama / Boquete / Anaerobic Natural Catuai (Harmony Coffee)

This coffee taught me that it is important to start with what you think is tasty and then work backwards. No one should tell you what tasty coffee is, or even try to convince you that coffee is tasty at all. I like coffee, but sometimes I feel like I am trying to convince myself that it is tasty. Just because you are being told something is tasty because it is more refined or has more "good" characteristics, does not mean it is. Just have what you like!

Side note: try to not be exhausted when picking coffee from a pour over menu. If you are too sleepy, you might read the prices wrong and assuming you're getting a good deal based on the coffees you're presented with when in reality you just glazed right over better, cheaper, coffees. This also helps with what I mentioned above: don't get something just because you are being told it is good! If everything looks too expensive or uninteresting, feel free to forgo it, you won't lose out on anything.

I've been trying to beat out the skeptic in me for months now, but unfortunately, the skeptic came back for this coffee. The menu purported ripe tropical fruits. I don't know what tropical fruits they are having in Rotterdam, but I associate tropical fruits with softness and sweetness, and rarely with the flavors I got out of this coffee. I got "bright red fruits." That's how at least one online coffee retailer described it as well. It tastes like a sour plum, some assortment of fruits that you can't put your finger on the names of but yet you associate with sour red skin and flesh.

This coffee, and this cafe, has prompted a lot of internal reflection. Do I like coffee? Yes. Do I like spending a lot of money on it? Absolutely not. I still have the satisfaction-per-dollar metric engrained into my head, despite never tying it to a real set of values. Coffee can be satisfying. But if it costs over five dollars, it starts facing some serious headwinds to be have good SPD. This coffee may have been good. I wish I could tell you, but my low SPD rating biased me.