Dominican Republic “Conacado” – Fair Trade & Organic 2010

I am glad to have this bean back. I have missed it. This is from the Conacado co-op in the Dominican Republic. They are Fair Trade Certified, Organically certified, Rain Forrest Alliance Certified and are a general hybrid Trinatario. It is a luscious, earthy bean with a bit of an understated complexity. There is no particular astringency, has a good clean flavor and actually reminds me a bit of the recent sample of Carenero Superior I received and could not get. Some sweet rummy-ness. I get some soft blackberry marmalade with solid malt notes in the aroma of the roasted beans. The beans themselves have a good balance of chocolate and acid, with no mustiness or dustiness that I often see in Dominican Republic samples. There are touches of nut (almond and cashew) flavor in the bean and a mouth watering biscuit like note that I often associate with unami.

In the past, there has quite a bit of variation in bean size, with a fair number of small and/or flat beans. But in this case, they have really stepped up the consistency of preparation and I a enjoying working with these. I hope you do too.