Wild Cherry Pacamara
Desnudo shipped their Wild Cherry Pacamara, anaerobic natural, Lot 90, roasted on August 10th. For anyone reading this later on it's safe to say it was shipped soon after roasting and brewed while fresh for tasting. Whole bean instead of ground always, as I like a fresh grind for my pour over in the Chemex. Their page lists cherry Jolly Rancher, hibiscus tea, and sour plum, and they call the coffee intense, fruity, and sweet. That is their profile. It is also what I got in the cup, which is the part that surprised me.
Desnudo is an Austin roaster working lots out of Huila. Farmed by Martín Horta, they say the cherries are fermented off the air for 192 hours, then get pulled out of that stage with a mechanical dryer they call thermal shock before a long dry. That is their process note, not my tasting note. What I can vouch for is that this does not drink like a quiet morning coffee. I started at 25g to 400ml and the cup felt a bit thin. Made a small adjustment to 37g to 600ml, with a slightly coarser grind than I usually run and got an ideal cup. At that ratio the body was no longer thin, and I also realized I had landed closer to what they recommend on the site (perhaps I should have started there...whoops). They post a 1:15 starting point at 212°F, plus a brew guide if you do not want to guess.
The smell is prominent before the first sip. The Jolly Rancher / sour plum / hibiscus notes are in the flavor and in the nose, and they are more pronounced than I expected even after reading the bag. It caught me off guard initially, and then I found myself settling into the cup. Tart and a little funky are definitely words on my mind here but unique in a way that inspires curiosity is the tone I keep coming back to. This is a fruit-forward, candy-adjacent coffee that means it.
If your palate lives on caramel and chocolate notes, this specific lot is probably not the bag you finish and immediately reorder. But like me you could probably see someone else loving it. That type of clarity is why I keep going back to their list looking for a lot that leans the other way. For me this is a specialty brew, the bag I reach for when I want something different, or when I know the other person at the table loves a fruit-forward cup.
That is why this lands at Worth A Try instead of higher. The coffee did what it said it would do. I just do not want this profile in the rotation every week. The roastery still feels like one worth exploring. The lots are distinct enough that you can actually shop the tasting notes instead of hoping a generic bag surprises you. The rotating roasts also provide incentive to check back to discover your next new favorite.
It is also an easy gift. These are not the standard boxed holiday coffees. You pick a lot with a point of view, send it, and the person either finds a new favorite or at least drinks something they have not had before.