Jeff Parker/ETA IVtet - Happy Today
Tortoise has long been one of my favorite bands, and it's truly a mystery why we haven't sent you any of their records yet. Ridiculous. You call this a self-respecting coffee and vinyl club? No. No one has ever called it that.
Anyway - while I hunt down some Tortoise records for you in bulk, here's a record from one of the people who makes Tortoise so cool and magical. Two sidelong jams, each drifting through bleak, spacious stretches before building to a crescendo. It's powerful enough on its own at home on vinyl, but you can also hear it landing live: the hoots and whoops bursting involuntarily from the crowd This was one lucky audience, and they knew it.
Juan Danilo Florez - Urrao, Antioquia, Colombia
Juan Danilo Florez is a 42-year-old second-generation producer from Urrao, Colombia, whose Chiroso was one of our favorites of the season. His parents shifted to coffee production after previously growing lulo, a tropical fruit whose intensive pesticide requirements led to persistent health problems for the whole family. Today, Juan Danilo grows Chiroso on his farm, Las Mananitas, across four hectares of land at 2,010 masl, with close assistance from his sons. His coffee presents some recognizable Chiroso characteristics - hoppy florality, mouthwatering acidity, dense tropical fruit - alongside subtler notes of sweet citrus and rose that together make for a complex, deeply satisfying cup.
