Barefoot Coffee Roasters switched up their blends lately and I would like to say that I'm just totally the happiest coffee drinker I can be. I've been living in Barefoot'ed heaven lately.

The two blends that I've been consistently impressed with are "Boss" and "Element" over the past several months.

Boss has a nice fruity berry component from an Ethiopian and then there is very well balanced chocolaty lows and sweetness. It's incredibly yummy as espresso and incredible in milk.

Element is just like the right balance of spice, zest, and low end flavors to make it a comfort food. It's sweet, chocolaty, some spice to give it a bit of a bite but not too much.

And the best thing about these two blends, is that they are cheap, and they age well. I've been getting 3-12 ounce bags to use over a 7 day period. I've used them as early as 3-4 days past roast and as late as 14 days past roast. They behave excellent and pull well across the board.

I'll have to check my parameters to be exact, but I've been using a La Marzocco triple basket, dosed just to the top of the basket. No overdosing the triple. A little on the hot side (202-203) on a GS3. A 28-30 second 1.7 ounce dose seems to work very well.

BTW, I've tried some of there other SO's and they are also very good, but some of them are also very finicky but fun to explore and taste nonetheless. When you consider the price / value ratio, it's really hard to beat Boss and Element right now.

I've also been enjoying those blends whenever I order them. Unfortunately, I don't order them that often because it's easier and cheaper to get a five-pound bag of Belle from Klatch and then freeze most of it and live off it for a month. But sometimes it's a nice change to get some Barefoot instead. I think Boss is my favorite, maybe because it's more of a chocolate comfort food kind of espresso.

You're a lucky guy to live so close to Barefoot that you can just pick some up whenever you like. I'm jealous. I was hoping to visit this weekend to watch Stage 2 of the Tour of California (and drink some Barefoot of course!), but now it looks like it's going to rain so I'll probably pass. I hope to get back to the Santa Clara/San Jose area when the weather improves.

Certainly everyone may have a different opinion regarding what constitutes a cheap, or inexpensive espresso, but I wouldn't call $16/lb cheap. I'd say it is average for a home barista, and for a regular person $16 is quite expensive for coffee.

The espresso from Counter Culture, Intelligentsia and Stumptown is all slightly less expensive than Barefoot, and I'd consider those average for the specialty/barista market. They certainly aren't as expensive as some reserve or SO espresso's out there, but cheap?

I think an espresso like Belle from Klatch at $13/lb or Redline from Metropolis at $12.25/lb is more deserving of being described as cheap when quality is factored in.

Barefoot kicks butt fo' sure!

Damn those coffee hippies!

The boss! Is great so is the element. I really enjoy the illili darartu from
ethiopia, S.O. Spro to the face.

Get you some!

Jon

When you say $16 are you talking about shipping too?

Yeah, Barefoot is just a short drive down the freeway from my workplace. So I've been going every Monday after lunch to drop by. I think Boss is $11 in the store and when I buy 3 bags I get $1 off each bag. So 3 bags for $30 plus I'll get 2 free shots of espresso from them awesome barista's. After 10 bags, the next one is free. So it's like getting another 10% off on top of that. And now they now know me well enough to ask how my GS3 is doing and talk about the coffee for a bit.

Apparently, they are not only surviving this recession, but when I asked one of the Barista's if they are surviving these layoffs, he commented that they are hiring! What!? Well, that's good news for me, because I sure do like having them around!

BTW, I learned that the green beans are also for sale at half the price of the roasted version. I never knew that. I didn't see it on their website either. It was just by happening about the subject in conversation that I asked them if they sold green beans.

I also learned that they use a Hot Top as their test roaster and use the Probat for the real roasting. But when they use the Hot Top, they don't go to complete final roasting level. They go lightest possible to really get the flavor of the bean, without any added roasting flavors.

I stopped by Barefoot about a month and a half ago, and I noticed that they had a new Dalla Corte Evolution. Has anybody else noticed and/or asked what made them switch? It seems like a pretty neat machine, but I have not seen one anywhere else. It seems most shops either opt for the Synesso or the GB5, but I have heard that Dalla Corte is quite temperature stable and each brew group has a dedicated boiler.

Are they still serving the 'Hot Rod' espresso blend? I saw it on their website a few weeks back, but it was quickly taken down. I can't remember what it was, but it would have been cool to try.

Yep, they have the Dalla Corte. I actually didn't ask why. I know the GB5 was in the back and had been broken for a while with a boiler crack. I don't know what became of that, whether they fixed it or sold it and went to Dalla Corte. I don't know. I'll ask next time I'm in.

Some of the guys there took some time to dial it in, but they seem to be cruising along on that Dalla Corte. There's mixed feedback form the Barista's. Some like it better, some don't and there's pluses and minuses, etc.

I imagine that having the dedicated boiler for each brew group allows them to better showcase their different blends and SOs (assuming different optimal brew temperatures for each offering). I had stopped in just a few days before I saw the new machine and they were still using the Nuova Simonelli Aurelia, so perhaps I came right after they had switched. In the cup, the espresso seemed to be just as good (if not better) from the Dalla Corte, but perhaps thats just my perception and not actually true. Either way, its cool to see a different machine! I wonder what made them decide on it over the Synesso.

Yeah, they have groups at different temperatures and but I think with each Barista, they have different preferences and there was definitely a learning process for them. The new variables for the Barista are the temperatures and the different basket size. The La Marzocco baskets are wider and shallower while the Dalla Corte are narrower and deeper. They are finding that it responds differently in terms of amount that you dose into the basket. Here's two such comments

- The Dalla Corte doesn't like the larger doses in the same way that the La Marzocco.
- The Dalla Corte basket narrower / deeper basket is supposed to be better in terms of reducing chanelling, but some feel it's worse.

Either way, after a couple weeks, the Barista are pulling shots as good as ever.

Sure happy that they are nearby. I'll have to try some of their green beans sometime. I've not seen them on the shelf. Special order?

Mark