I have not.

But I am eager to hear impressions from others, particularly in comparison to the standard 49th epic and/or the 49th organic espresso, as these are currently my favorite beans.

I've had it lots of it as they are located 5 minutes from my house. It's a heavier roast style as per the Epic. Personally I find the decaf of La Mill, Vivace, Ecco and even Klatch to be much more to my taste - I'm not really into BMD's (big milk drinks). I would say that the Klatch decaf espresso runs a somewhat similar style. My personal favorite is the La Mill decaf and they're a heck of a lot closer to you. Try anything from them they are doing good things in LA.

wildbwilson wrote:My personal favorite is the La Mill decaf.

They appear to have two decaf espresso blends. Which one are you referring to, and why do you like it?

Best,
David

David,
The one I have had a couple of times is the regular decaf that is available at the cafe. I don't believe it was the organic decaf. Both times I had it last winter I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle character of the roast. My memory has faded on the particulars and naturally coffee is an 'in the moment' experience. The first time I was at the cafe I was surprised at how well the decaf stood up as a straight shot and in a small milk drink - not a chocolate bomb style roast. I drank them side by side with a regular shot and cappa. My interpretation of LaMill after a very limited (about 6lbs) trial, is they are working on developing nuance in their roasts rather than going for power. The big contrast for me at the time was the visit between them and Intelligentsia down the road, extremely good as well with a very different character to the shots. Klatch seems to fall somewhere in between ( in my, again quite limited (10-15lbs), experience). A couple of months back I was in Portland on business and visited Billy Wilsons, Barista cafe, he was pouring the Ecco Cafe decaf which had a similar quality of character. I don't really know what more to add as I did not take notes and only have the memory of 'get more whenever possible'. It's good to know that there are some top notch roasters who are attempting to give their decaf blends the same attention to detail as their regular blends albeit with far more limiting input materials.

Trio of 49th from left to right - Epic Espresso Swiss Water Decaffeinated, Sammy Piccolo's 2009 WBC Signature Espresso, Wondo Worka Yergacheffe:

Not sure how helpful a photo by itself is (worth 1,000 words I'm told).

I'm not a decaf drinker though, so I can't give you anything by way of an actual taste comparison.

But for me, that's a little too.... dark.

Ah yes, that pic reminds me of why I'm always excited to get beans from elsewhere, the old vancouver 'charbon' roast profile, similar in colour, texture, taste to that which I fuel the Weber with.