When we describe a coffee as "acidic”, we’re not warning you that it will make you pucker. We’re telling you that the coffee is alive. That it has something to say.

Some coffees come and go, while others earn a permanent place in our memories. Finca Angamaza is one of those coffees.

Now returning for the third year in a row, this Ecuadorian coffee has become a true staff favorite and one of the coffees we look forward to most each season.

The first time someone explained coffee fermentation to me, I nodded politely in the way people do when they absolutely do not understand what’s happening but would still like to appear employable in a specialty coffee setting.

A naturally processed coffee is one of those things that sounds a little intimidating until you realize it’s actually pretty simple. It’s not flavored coffee, and it’s not some overly technical coffee-world secret. It’s just a different way of handling the coffee cherry after it’s picked, and it has a huge impact on how the coffee tastes in your cup.

The cup you drank this morning had a lineage. It came from a specific plant, with a genetic history, grown at an elevation, selected by the farmer for particular reasons. And almost none of that appears on the label.

The varietal of a given coffee is an entrance into the story of that lineage.