Dominican Republic Coffee | Santo Domingo | Montana Verde Estate

Coffee Details

• Origin: Dominican Republic | Region: Constanza
• Estate: Montana Verde (Green Mountain)
• Variety: Primarily Typica
• Harvest Period: November 2010
• Processing: Washed fermentation, natural sun-drying during the post-fermentation stage
• Appearance/Defects: Light green color, 0.5d/350g

Cupping Analysis

Cupping Roast: Dropped at the middle of first crack, cinnamon roast, roasting time 12 minutes

Dry Aroma: Floral notes, cool fragrance, caramel, oily aroma, chocolate

Wet Aroma: Chocolate aroma, nutty oils, sweet lime fragrance, berry notes

Slurping: Excellent oils, a refined ripe acidity with berry sweetness, caramel sweetness, and sweet milk chocolate, with a soft and varied acidity and a clear sweet sensation. This batch represents high-quality Caribbean coffee with exceptional balance between acidity and richness, delivering a full and abundant complexity of flavor.

Dominican Republic Coffee Region

The Dominican Republic is an agricultural nation whose main foreign-exchange income comes from sugarcane and other agricultural products, and it has also become a famous tourist destination in the Caribbean. With the establishment of free trade zones, the country's development is increasingly progressive. Interestingly, Dominicans have a strong coffee-drinking culture: the country produces approximately 350,000 to 500,000 bags of green coffee beans a year, yet over 75% is consumed domestically.

Years ago people were accustomed to calling coffee from the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, and after independence the country made Santo Domingo its capital. To display their status as an independent nation, however, exported coffee bags no longer carry the Santo Domingo label; most estates or cooperatives still use hand-painted designs to keep their romantic charm and show off the country's traditional craftsmanship. The Montana Verde coffee we received this time sits in the valley between two high mountains, Pico Duarte and La Pelona. The valley is called Constanza Valley, one of the Dominican Republic's six major producing regions. This area still preserves original forest, where about twenty local farmers work together to sell the green beans from their coffee plots under the Montana Verde name.

The coffee varieties cultivated in the Dominican Republic include Typica, Caturra, Bourbon, and Catuai. Among premium cultivation estates, 85-90% still primarily grow Typica.

In terms of climate, some regions see almost year-round rainfall, which leads to continuous flowering. As a result, coffee flowers and fruits throughout the year and harvest periods are less distinct. So the harvest and processing times in Dominican regions must be judged on local conditions.

Coffee is grown mainly on terraced mountain slopes or in valleys. The country has six producing regions, but premium-grade coffee is grown at the higher elevations. The main regions are Cibao, Bani, Azua, Ocoa, Barahona, and Juncalito. The three with the better market reputation are Bani, Ocoa, and Barahona, and Barahona in particular is home to many famous estates. This lot of Montana Verde, a cooperative brand, and the Green Sandalwood Manor acquired earlier are both produced in Constanza, Barahona.

In terms of flavor, the Bani region offers a more mature, sweet, and gentle character, similar to Haitian coffee. Barahona features elevated aromatics and bright fruit acidity while keeping an excellent body and oily texture, characteristics similar to Jamaican or Puerto Rican beans. Caribbean coffees are renowned for their smoothness, and Dominican beans are considered the most valuable, especially when compared with Puerto Rican and Jamaican varieties.

The Dominican Republic lies in a hurricane zone, and farmers fear most the devastation of hurricanes, landslides, or occasional drought. Because of consecutive hurricanes in recent years, high-quality beans have been extremely scarce. Although the 2010 harvest batch showed improvement, clean, high-quality lots remain rare. Fortunately, two major cooperatives in the region have jointly hosted three cupping competitions and taken part in SCAA and related activities, which has greatly raised the region's profile and helped improve quality. Even so, high-quality beans are scarce, and clean, rich, and varied lots are rarer still. In the first round of competition, 80% of samples scored below 80 points with the judges; by the semifinals, lots scoring above 85 points could be found. This Montana Verde lot, selected by our team, received a judge's score as high as 86.5. Thanks to early ordering, the purchase price was very reasonable, and we will offer it at a special price to consumers.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A washed, balanced, softly sweet island coffee like this Montana Verde shares a lot with FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe staple, long a first stop for new specialty drinkers. Known for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body, it is clean and easy to love, and its friendly price makes it an excellent entry-level single origin.

If you enjoy a little more fruit in a similarly clean cup, FrontStreet's Sun-Dried Red Cherry from Yirgacheffe is made from fully ripe cherries dried as whole fruit, giving citrus acidity, a berry-juice texture, honey-like sweetness, and a creamy smoothness. Both are washed or cleanly processed coffees that reward the balance this Caribbean lot is prized for.