Since you should never say never, we ALMOST never take delivery of a coffee without having cupped it first. But the fact is that once in a while we do just that as in the case of the three Rwanda Cup of Excellence winning lots we got in yesterday. We bought those on the recommendation of Andrew Blyth of Royal Coffee New York. If we wanted some, we had to place the order about the time the coffee was leaving Rwanda for a long trip to the US and we had to do it without first having had a chance to sample it. But we knew three things: First the coffee was from Rwanda (expect some cocoa or milk chocolate, ripe fruit, medium-light body, good balance, moderate+ acidity and a nice well rounded finish), second the three were Cup of Excellence winning lots (expect zero defects, superior processing, and an outstanding cup featuring the character of the origin, and the very best Rwanda has to offer in this crop year) and Andrew said buy it (expect some great advice from one of the most knowledgeable experts working in coffee today).

We've had a chance to taste them now and all our assumptions were correct and we were definitely NOT disappointed. This is really good stuff. The down side is we only have about 65 pounds of each and there won't be any more. So, not to pressure you or anything, but if you want to try the best of the Rwanda crop you should order some now. We think that, like us, you won't be disappointed.