My roaster of the year, 49th Parallel Coffee
(if I were to do another 'best of the year awards) garners that opinion
from me not because they had the best espresso I had in the past six
months (they didn't); nor because they provided me with the most
epiphany moment single origin (that came from Ecco Caffe). No, 49th
Parallel is my choice for roaster of the year for two reasons. I did
not have a single coffee from them (or blend) that I could rank less
than 80 points on the espresso scale, and very few below 90 points on
the cupping scale. And second, they were so consistently great the
entire year, especially on their blends, that it kind of reset the
standard for me on how a roaster should do. Throughout 2008 and now
well into 2009, I've had Epic Espresso, their signature blend on a
weekly basis, and saw the blend start out last year great, and only get
better as time progressed. It never had a downtime. I can't say that
for any other blend I've tried more than once or twice last year.
I
also had some of the best single origin brewed coffee of my life last
year thanks to their offerings. Standouts include the Beloyas (still
available!) and the Aricha, both from Ethiopia, but also some great
finds like the Costa Rica Herbazu Estate, the Kenya Rioki Estate, and
the totally bargain priced Ethiopian Ademe Bedane (this drinks like a
$40/lb coffee, for $16/12oz). I could go on, but if you haven't tried
49th Parallel yet, you're missing one of the best roasters in Canada
and the US.