Potosi – Natural Anaerobic SL34 – Forward Coffee

This natural anaerobic Colombian coffee was part of the June 2021 “Forward Five” from Forward Coffee. Forward Coffee is led by Cole Torode, the 2018 and 2019 Canadian Barista Champion, and sources some of the most amazing coffees in the world. The Forward Five is a curated collection of coffees that are “always thought-provoking, competition worthy, possibly experimental, with mixtures of old-world and new-world practices, fascinating varieties and are overall conversation coffees.”¹ The collection from June was a wild mix of coffees and this coffee from Cafe Granja La Esperanza’s farm, Potosi, was likely my favorite.

The coffee began with a rich fragrance of tropical fruit, pineapple, berries and red wine. The flavor profile was lush, silky and decadent with flavor notes that reminded me of pineapple, grapefruit and rich stone fruit. The body was full and syrupy while not being overly heavy. The sweet-tart acidity reminded me of orange and grapefruit citrus and the sweetness—one of my favorite attributes of the coffee—was fruit-toned and incredibly juicy. The syrupy mouthfeel and fruit notes lingered in the long finish.

The Bottom Line

This was an incredibly complex coffee with so much happening. There were so many flavors and so much evolution in the cup that every time I drank it, it seemed like a slightly different experience. This, and all of the Forward Five coffees I tried, were truly amazing coffees that deserved the special treatment they received by being part of the Forward Five.