Cusco’s Cask
$35.00
Roast: Medium
Region: Cusco
Farm: Palmira
Process: Washed
Elevation: 2100m
Variety: Typica & Caturra
Cup: Whiskey, Cherry, Almond
Cupping Notes
Yolanda Alvarez’s coffee is back in a whole new way! For the lovers of our rotating whiskey coffees, this one is sure to leave a legacy.
Here’s what we’re tasting:
Whiskey. Of course, we always joke that the first and clearest note in our whiskey coffees is whiskey. While that’s consistently true, let us give you a rundown on what whiskey you’re tasting here. As always, we’ve partnered up with a local Colorado distiller, Wood’s High Mountain Distillery in Salida, CO. For whiskey enthusiasts, you’ll love this coffee, which was aged in Wood’s finest 5-year whiskey, Dawn Patrol. That technically makes this our highest-dollar, most-aged whiskey coffee to date! We think you’ll be able to taste that!
Cherry. We were so pleased to taste sweet cherry notes in this cup. Paired with the spices of a 5-year whiskey, it makes a beautiful combination. The subtle tartness of cherry especially translates to the cup in a pour-over. Cherry is always a great addition to whiskey, as the two are well-known partners in many popular cocktails.
Almond. Adding to the “this tastes like a fancy cocktail” aspect, we tasted sweet almond in the cup as well. If you’re thinking to yourself “What do almonds have to do with cocktails?” you may not be alone. . . but I’m glad you asked. We were actually reminded quite a bit of amaretto, a popular liqueur, which is almond-flavored.
Amaretto, whiskey, and cherry. . . sounds like a delicious cup shaping up. Don’t take our word for it though!
Farming Notes
We are pleased to present a fan-favorite coffee in a brand-new way!
Through our relationships with Red Fox and Rachel Stanich, we were able to bring Yolanda’s coffee to our customers yet again.
Here’s what Red Fox said about Yolanda’s coffee:
“Yolanda Cabrera Alvarez has been producing coffee for over 32 years and a member of Valle Inca for 3 years. We are excited to offer Yolanda’s coffee as a first-time quality separation.
Nestled in the Yanatile Valley in the Department of Cusco in the south of Peru, Valle Inca functions as a producer group where Prudencio Vargas Saenz, who created and runs the group, buys parchment from farmers, reinvesting premiums in the community’s infrastructure to help them continue to improve quality. Prudencio, who lives in nearby Calca and brings the benefits of his former experience as an agricultural loan officer, once operated outside the aegis of a collective, but after years of running Valle Inca informally, he formalized the organization this year in order to gain organic certification, Fair Trade certification and the ability to export on his own.
Member-wise, Valle Inca is growing fast with 101+ farmers currently in the fold. It’s no surprise that more and more farmers want to work with Valle Inca. In the community, Prudencio is known for his honesty, trustworthiness, dedication, and drive to invest and reinvest in his community, genuinely engaging their goals and concerns. He also pays higher prices than farmers had access to prior to the founding of Valle Inca, which has helped to improve quality as well as overall community health over time.
Leaders like Prudencio are rare, and the quality of connection between leadership and producer shines through in the cup. At their best, coffees from Valle Inca display elegant honeyed florals, crisp red apple, and a pleasant tannic quality like oolong tea. These coffees cup beautifully, but where they really shine is in a brewed cup off the production roaster. And while they have a lot to offer specialty professionals in the way of nuance, they’re also wonderfully approachable for consumers.
One of the things that makes Valle Inca so exciting is that there’s still so much untapped potential there. There are many more hills and mountain peaks where producers we haven’t yet connected with are growing great coffee; and Prudencio is working hard to find them and bring them into the specialty market. Right now, Valle Inca is producing an exceptional amount of beautiful 85–86-point regional quality coffee. Going forward we expect to see even more 86–87+ lots. In fact, a lot of the coffees we’ve purchased this year are actually out-scoring themselves as they mature post-harvest.
Over the last four years, Valle Inca has grown alongside us. From our first year where we bought two lots from Valle Inca, to the present year where we’re lucky enough to have over 1,000 bags from them, they’ve never ceased to impress us. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for Valle Inca and are excited about the coffees this harvest has yielded.”
As always, we are extremely grateful for our friends at origin, working tirelessly to produce the most amazing coffees.