San Cristobal Clasico and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

This afternoon, I decided to celebrate my last official vacation day of the year with a brand new cigar and a cup of home roasted coffee.

The San Cristobal brand is new this year. It was released a few months ago from Ashton Cigars. This is their first new release since La Aroma de Cuba in 2002.

The Clasico is a Robusto sized (5×50), 100% Nicaraguan tobacco blend, maduro cigar. I paid $8 (US) for this stick. That’s a little bit higher than most cigars this size.

The cigar is rolled by Jose “Pepin” Garcia, in partnership with Ashton. Jose seems to be the new “Rock Star” of the cigar industry. He also has a very successful line of cigars with his own name on the band.

The maduro wrapper is leathery and fine veined. With the cap clipped, the pre-light draw was very loose. That concerned me at first. My first draw brought forth TONS of smoke. More smoke than I have seen in some time. This is a strong, earthy cigar. Exhaling through my nose gave me a very sharp, spicy bite.. almost painful in strength. The ash was very white and fell off after the first inch was smoked. Of course, I was not expecting that so, it fell into my lap. I hate when that happens. I feel that was caused by the looser construction. I kept the cigar over the ashtray after that when I was not smoking it.

I had to give the wrapper a few mid-course corrections while I smoked it. It wasn’t too terrible, just a pet peeve of mine. The volumes of blue smoke continued till the end.

The second half of this enjoyable afternoon was my home roasted Ethiopian Yiracheffe coffee. This roast had rested for six day, which is about as long as I like to keep coffee before drinking it. I roast in small batches because I am the only coffee drinker in the house. I prefer roasting smaller batches a few times a week to ensure freshness.

I roasted the beans to a city roast. I seem to like the Yiracheffe a little on the lighter side. I think it has more flavor that way. Once brewed in my french press, the coffee had a golden color and gave off an aroma that reminded me of a red wine.

This was a smooth cup of coffee, with an earthiness that matched well with the cigar. As the cup cooled, I could detect a faint sweetness similar to honey in taste and aroma.

All in all, I picked a good moment to enjoy the outdoors, the neighborhood was quiet as the illegals weren’t due for landscaping until Friday and the neighbors service had finished earlier in the day.

I can certainly recommend the San Cristobal if you enjoy a full-bodied cigar. I also encourage you to try home roasting if you are a coffee fanatic. If you don’t have a quality roaster nearby, it’s the only way to enjoy a fresh, quality cup of coffee at home. The only downside to home roasting is that it will spoil you for any other coffee. Nothing else can ever come close.