Ecuador Fausto Romo Sidra – Kaldi’s Coffee

I make Kaldi’s my Friday morning office, so I tend to stay up-to-date on their offerings more than any other roaster. A few weeks back I picked their latest pour over offering from Ecuador without thinking much about it. I had recently heard an amazing story about an Ecuadorian coffee farmer on the Filter Stories podcast, so I wanted to try something from that origin. When I tried the coffee though, I immediately knew this one was something special. There was a depth and complexity to the cup that took me by surprise from the first sip; I knew I had to feature it as a review on the site.

Ecuador Fausto Romo Sidra is part of Kaldi’s “Cupping Room” series, which features special, more exotic or limited coffees. I love the Cupping Room series for a larger roaster like Kaldi’s because it allows them to feature and experiment with more selective, limited coffees that they likely couldn’t offer typically given the scale of their business.

The complexity of the coffee confronts you before even taking a sip. The aroma is full of rich, nutty notes, as well as complex, floral notes. After brewing, the floral notes come to the forefront and the nutty notes take a back seat. It has a really nice, subtle honey sweetness that pairs well with the full body of the coffee.

From the initial sip to the aftertaste, this coffee excels. My favorite part was definitely the complexity though. It has so much going on and the depth of flavors, aromas and intricacies really is what made this coffee stand out.

The Bottom Line

I knew this was a special coffee from my first sip/smell. It continues to get better the further into each cup you get and with each subsequent brew. Compared to even other specialty coffee, it is a bit more expensive, but worth the splurge in my opinion.

P.S. – Check out this really great video Kaldi’s created to promote the coffee. It speaks well to the “discovery” that happened to me years ago and got me excited about the specialty coffee movement!