Cameroon Peaberry Coffee

An elegant new arrival from the highlands of Cameroon

Marvelously delicate Coffee of the Month for March
Ari Weinzweig, CEO & Co-Founder of Zingerman’s 

coffee bag of Cameroon Peaberry

One of the things I love about working with single-origin coffees is that I feel like I get to travel the world regularly without really having to leave home! In the last year, we’ve featured Uganda, Costa Rica, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ethiopia. This time, the coffee of the month comes from a country few Americans will ever travel to, but that, of course, has a fascinating culture and history. Cameroon! It’s the only country in West Africa that has the altitudes required to grow great Arabica coffee like this (most all African coffees are from the East and Central parts of the continent). The country is often referred to as a microcosm of Africa because of its geographic diversity—everything from beaches to mountains, deserts to rainforests, all in 200,000 square miles. There are two distinctly Cameroonian styles of music—makossa, which comes from the cities, and bikutsi. It has about 250 different regional languages and uses both English and French as national languages as well. Cameroon is famous, too, for its folk wisdom. I love this beautifully telling Cameroonian saying: “No matter how fast a man is, he cannot outrun his shadow.”

This particular Cameroon coffee is a peaberry—those wonderful genetic mutations that manifest as small, “single” coffee beans rather than the usual “split bean” we see 95 percent of the time. The coffee comes to us through a direct trade program that works hand-in-hand with farmers in the regions of Oku and Mbessa to provide training and technical assistance, especially in organic growing, and helps the farmers get their beans to market. It’s got a nice cocoa-iness, almondy, toasted sesame, almost like a bold tannic black tea. If you can’t decide between strong tea and a cup of coffee, this one might just really hit the spot! It’s savory and succulent, mouth-watering, maybe a bit magical! Really nice after dinner, especially after a bit of a spicy meal. It’s definitely an up-and-coming star in the coffee world. Emily McIntyre, writing in Fresh Cup,” advised us all to, “Mark Cameroon specialty coffee in your minds. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it in years to come.” This month’s offering is a chance to get out in front of the curve! I’ve been enjoying it daily since the first of the month!

You may not be able to outrun your shadow but you can sure get over to the Coffee Company, Deli or Roadshow to grab a cup while supplies last!

 

Excerpt from Ari’s weekly Top 5 E-Newsletter. To stay in-the-know about things that Ari is excited about in the Zingerman’s family, sign up here