Australian Mountain Top XF

Sweet Maria's Coffee

Mountain Top is a farm in SE Australia, about 2 hours south of Brisbane and 5 minutes west of Nimbin. This selected area is unique because of the altitude and unique volcanic red soils. The farm itself is on the slopes of the extinct volcano, Mt. Warning. The area is a lush, subtropical environment, and is unique in coffee since this is the southernmost growing area I am aware of. It's also unique in that this growing area is quite distant from where most Aussie coffees come from, at least the Skybury from Mareeba in the north, which is a fully mechanized farm akin to Kauai coffee. And this is the first time we have bought an Aussie coffee, after years of evaluating Skybury samples and finding the flavors to be somewhere between copy paper and plastic wrappers, this is such a relief. Now, for the preparation; it is a little embarassing to call this Extra Fancy because compared to a really nice Kona XF, the green coffee is not much to look at. It has a peculiar rounded form which is somewhat like Bourbon cultivar, and somewhat like Mundo Novo.My 300 gram sample has one broken bean, and a couple other oddities that won't affect the cup but make it seem that XF grade is a stretch. Nonetheless, we are not "eye-cuppers" here - we don't judge coffee by making pronouncements about the green appearance, since many perfectly prepared green coffees cup like cardboard. Now the cup... the best part... The cup is crisp and light-bodied. It's an odd term but very appropriate here: juicy! This cup is very juicy and has a very nice sweetness to it that is almost like pine sap, sharp sweet. In a way, it shares some cup qualities with Isle of Saint Helena coffees; the body is thin and their is this sweet clarity in the cup. How many times can I use the word "sweet" in describing this coffee? It would be a great training tool to show people what "sweet" coffee is... and it has brightness, something I have never truly experienced in an Aussie coffee. Overall, the flavors exist in a compact range, and the sweet aftertaste seems to linger for an appropriate amount of time given the lighter body. We will have a limited amount of Mountain Top this year and when this arrival is gone, that's it!

Average Rating:

Add to Favorites

For more information on this product, visit Sweet Maria's Coffee's website.

Dig Deeper