Perhaps I am to blame.
I jumped the gun and stated that we received shipment confirmation for the White Eagle. Our importing partner had relayed to me that he expected shipment confirmation that day.
Just before the coffee was to be loaded onto the ship the exporter did a final quality check since the coffee had sat at the warehouse while they waited for an available ship. You may remember me posting the delay due to heavy weather a few posts ago. As they feared, the high humidity caused the coffee to have a strong musty flavor so they rejected the shipment. They are processing another batch now so all is not lost. But, I jinxed it!
Dang it!
So this means that it will be at least another month before we can expect to have more information about availability since we are essentially starting over but we have had a good track record with this group so confidence remains high despite the setbacks this year. Sometimes it is simply matters out of the control of producers and exporters. And, we have to respect exporters practicing due diligence and not letting product out that would damage the reputation of the farmers. I would have been severely disappointed (although maybe not surprised given the weather) had the arrival sample come to me with this defect flavor and I had to reject the shipment.
Disappointing news for all.
