It has been a whirlwind week for the folks at Temple Coffee, which scored a chart-topping 97 points at www.CoffeeReview.com for its Guatemala Hunapu coffee.
As I reported earlier, the score was the highest of any coffee in North America in 2010. Once the news hit the coffee obsessed among us, Temple's website lit up with orders from all over.
"We even had an order from Poland, which we had to cancel," said Sean Kohmescher, Temple's owner. "We checked and it was going to cost $185 to ship it."
I was lucky to score a bag of the coffee, but I had to buy it via the website and have it shipped to my house just a few blocks from where it was roasted.
Turns out, I could have scored some had I walked into the flagship shop on 10th Street. According to Nick Miller, an editor at Sacramento New & Review -- the fine weekly that balances cogent news, edgy opinion and enough pot dispensary ads to give our own Marcos "No Toke" Breton fits - the coffee-loving newsman with the obviously impeccable timing and taste was able to walk out with 12 ounces of the 97-point beans, thanks to a barista giving him "the best upsell I ever had." Turns out, there were a few bags of the beans remaining despite all the commotion from all over the country.
On his fine blog, Nick then went on to say, "feel free to pass by my pad Saturday morning for a cup."
If he provided an address, I would have joined him, assuming he doesn't make his coffee with a French press, or, if he uses a Chemex he pre-rinses those hideous paper filters - or, better, if he is wise enough to use the amazing Aeropress.
I don't like to provide tasting impressions by comparing my coffee to flowers or raisins or blueberries, but I will say that these beans made an incredibly smooth and balanced cup of coffee, with a mouth-feel that was practically creamy. That said, we don't have a lot of benchmarks for such high-scoring super-premium coffee around here, so I am going to defer to the folks at Coffee Review.
Alas, these special beans didn't last long. Temple is already sold out, even without Poland and thanks to the aforementioned upselling downtown. Sean tells me the shop is focusing on getting its coffee into the two local Whole Foods stores in the days ahead.
That's the latest success for this coffee shop, which is clearly enjoying some serious momentum.
Temple also sells its coffee at Corti Brothers and Taylor's Market.
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