No, no, not the Notre Dame Esmeralda. I’m talking Hacienda La Esmeralda Special. Big name for a big coffee. Hailing from Panama, this coffee made and still makes waves in the specialty coffee business. Buyers go beyond sanity to get their hands on this coffee and then sell it for an astronomically high price- Intelligentsia was selling theirs for $50/half pound.

I decided, once and for all, to splurge on the coffee. After reading “God in a Cup,” I became even more eager to try this coffee. So I made a trip out to Intelligentsia’s Millennium Park location, paid $14 for a Chemex for two and prepared myself for the treat.

I took a careful slurp. Paused. Thought about the taste. Took another careful slurp. Paused again. Then I looked up at my coffee-loving boyfriend and said, “I don’t think I like this.”

And I waited for the lightning bolt to strike me.

Before you gasp in horror and keel over in a faint, let me say something else. I don’t like Kenyans. Okay, now you can go and faint.

I attribute the fact that I don’t like both Esmeralda and Kenyans to the reason as to why I’m interested in coffee. I merely haven’t reached that point yet. My palate does not appreciate bright coffees just yet and I’m okay with that. There are many great coffees out there that I can enjoy more and perhaps in a year, I’ll love Kenyans and Esmeralda.

But for now, I’ll stick with the Disney movie.