{"id":1735,"date":"2015-12-29T10:14:38","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T16:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2015-12-29T13:31:38","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T19:31:38","slug":"the-best-of-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1735","title":{"rendered":"The Best of 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

This time of year, indie-music snobs the world over take great pleasure in making and criticizing each others’ year-end best-of lists. I didn’t make a list of my favorite albums because I really didn’t buy very many\u00a0this year (though, I do have a favorite album – “Carrie and Lowell” by Sufjan Stevens<\/a>. Devastating, beautiful, haunting, poetic, redemptive, intimate… I can’t say enough about how affecting it is!), but I thought it might be fun to revisit all the coffees I drank this year to make a “best of” list of all the java\u00a0I drank in 2015.<\/p>\n

“Everyday” in this context doesn’t really refer to price, as it seems like the vast majority of craft coffee ranges between $16-20\/12 ounces anyway, so it’s all pretty comparably priced. It’s more about what I would be comfortable drinking on a regular basis and serving to other people that visit.<\/p>\n

“Splurge” coffee is coffee that I may save for special occasions or to share with other coffee snobs. It’s coffee that I may not want to drink every day since it’s so distinctive, but is exceptional when I am inclined to drink it. It might be priced similarly to\u00a0the “everyday” coffees.<\/p>\n

Favorite “everyday” espresso:<\/strong> Chromatic Coffee Gamut Espresso<\/a>\u00a0($16 for 12 ounces)<\/p>\n

This should come as no shock to anyone that read this review back when I published it back in August. It’s delicious both as a straight shot and with milk, but if I had to choose, I would choose this with milk, as it becomes a rich butterscotch\/caramel treat in the cup. It’s managed to hold the distinction of being the only espresso blend that Shutterbug\u00a0(who is not a coffee snob at all) has requested I purchase a second time. I think at this point we’ve probably purchased 4-5\u00a0bags or so and we have no intention of stopping! It’s on regular rotation at our house and it’s definitely the closest thing we have to a “house” espresso.<\/p>\n

Favorite “splurge” espresso:<\/strong> Klatch Coffee Golden Bean Espresso Blend<\/a>\u00a0($19.95 for 12 ounces)<\/p>\n

This espresso came with a fair bit of hype, so I went into this tasting cautiously, but the result in the cup shattered my expectations and then some! I was really pleased with how surprisingly forgiving the beans were – at no point did I get a bad shot, and some of the shots were among the most exceptional I’ve ever tasted. It is amazingly\u00a0fragrant and complex, and in my opinion it’s a shame to add milk to this. But, if you do, it creates something akin to a lavender latte.<\/p>\n

Favorite “everyday” coffee:<\/strong> Cultivar Coffee Colombia La Esperanza<\/a>\u00a0($18 for 12 ounces)<\/p>\n

This was a tough category, as there were a lot coffees vying\u00a0for this spot. This roast from Cultivar edged out the competition though, because the flavor of this brewed both in a Hario V60 and in a french press is soul-restoring! It helped that I had been pining for a Colombia La Esperanza since having that Ritual<\/a> cup in Los Angeles back in April. Dark chocolate, plum, spice… delicious and approachable yet interesting enough to make you really focus on the flavor.<\/p>\n

Favorite “splurge” coffee:<\/strong> Square One Coffee Roasters Panama La Esmerelda Gesha Boquete<\/a>\u00a0($19.95 for 12 ounces)<\/p>\n

There are more expensive coffees I’ve had this year, but I don’t think I had anything that gave me more pleasure than this coffee. Was it that I bought it in New York City on the eve of finally seeing my favorite band of all time<\/a>? Was it the experience of opening it at a coffee cupping<\/a> with great friends and having all four of us blown away by the complexity? It could have been either or neither\u00a0of these things… I do know though that this particular bean was remarkably sweet, fragrant, complex, and hard to really capture in words. It was astounding brewed in a french press.<\/p>\n

And here is my top 10 list for most enjoyable cups I’ve had in 2015!<\/p>\n

10. Ascension Peruvian Silk Blend <\/a>(AeroPress)
\n9. Counter Culture Kenya Kamavindi<\/a> (Chemex)
\n8. Cultivar Colombia La Esperanza<\/a> (french press)
\n7.\u00a0Klatch Panama Elida Honey<\/a> (Hario V60)
\n6. Chromatic Gamut Espresso<\/a> (flat white)
\n5.\u00a0Counter Culture Ethiopia Kochere Birhanu Zerihun Organic<\/a> (Chemex)
\n4. Heart Kenya Kiangoi<\/a> (Chemex)
\n3.\u00a0Sterling Kenya Nyeri Gachatha AA<\/a> (Hario V60)
\n2. Klatch Golden Bean Espresso<\/a> (straight shot)
\n1. Square One Panama La Esmerelda Gesha Boquete<\/a> (french press)<\/p>\n

As always, these are just my opinions… If I missed your favorite coffee this year, please don’t send me hate mail – send me suggestions for things to try! Cheers to even more deliciousness in 2016!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time of year, indie-music snobs the world over take great pleasure in making and criticizing each others’ year-end best-of lists. I didn’t make a list of my favorite albums because I really didn’t buy very many\u00a0this year (though, I do have a favorite album – “Carrie and Lowell” by Sufjan Stevens. Devastating, beautiful, haunting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"My top 10 coffees from this year. What a fun list to make!","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9,13,114,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/tn_FullSizeRender.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3044,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3044","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":0},"title":"Review: Heart Coffee Roasters Panama Geisha Hacienda la Esmeralda (Portland, Oregon)","date":"April 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a coffee I was absolutely salivating to try as soon as I saw an email alert that it was available! The first Geisha coffee I ever reviewed for this blog was from Square One Coffee Roasters, and it was their Panama La Esmeralda Boquete. It was my top-ranked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Central America"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tn_IMG-1689-e1522429168592.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1662,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1662","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":1},"title":"Review: Octane Coffee Costa Rica El Higueron (Atlanta, Georgia)","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent interview I heard on the Sound Opinions\u00a0podcast was discussing the music listening habits of Spotify users, and the featured guest\u00a0stated that their internal research indicated that most people who use the Spotify streaming service stopped listening\u00a0to\u00a0popular\/current music at an average age of 33, and that people maintain a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Central America"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/tn_FullSizeRender-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6648,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=6648","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":2},"title":"Review: Native Coffee Company Colombia Golden Hour (Dallas, Texas)","date":"March 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This coffee is incredible. It's easily the best coffee I've had from a Dallas-area roaster, and it rivals some of the most enjoyable coffee I've ever experienced anywhere in the world. Let's dive in! From the Native Coffee Company's website: NATIVE is the exclusive roastery + showroom of Diego Bermudez\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chemex"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_9879-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5706,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5706","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":3},"title":"The Top 10 Most Prestigious Coffees in the World","date":"March 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Note from Margaret: This is a guest post from Zach Parkes, the brains behind the site Try New Coffee. All opinions expressed are his own and are not necessarily endorsed by me (though in reading this post, I noted that we do share a lot of the same opinions!). Thanks\u00a0for\u00a0writing\u00a0this\u00a0guest\u00a0post,\u00a0Zach!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/4.-Kenya-AA.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5356","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":4},"title":"The best of 2018","date":"December 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I always come to the last few weeks of the year unsure about if I've had enough \"good\" coffee to fill up a top 10 list... until I skim over all of the reviews I've written over the past 50+ weeks. Then, I'm always like \"oh yeah!!!\" It's like looking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advice"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG-5732-e1545445900354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3046,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3046","url_meta":{"origin":1735,"position":5},"title":"Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Panama Carmen (Dallas, Texas)","date":"April 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of the Panamanian coffees I've tried have been ridiculously expensive Geishas (and I sure do love those!), but I also am quite fond of beans from Panama in general. 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