has anyone tried the new shakisso natural sundried from counter culture

I've got some on the way. I mostly roast my own but after reading Dan's tweets about the Shakisso I decided to try some. I signed up for their newsletter and received a $5.00 off coupon. This covers the shipping so if it's just one bag you want with their 10.95 sale price that's a pretty great deal!

I'm really looking forward to trying it. Should be here tomorrow.

brad

For convenience, Michael is referring to Counter Culture's Shakisso Natural Sun-Dried Single-Origin Espresso, an Ethiopian coffee from the Sidamo region. Nathan from CCC announced it in the Marketplace section of the forum last week.

My order arrived yesterday; my batch of 6 bags was roasted 6 days ago on the 8th. It's a little fresh still, but making some nice shots. I am so far abiding by their brewing recommendations, give or take: 18-20 g, 199-200F, 1.5-2 oz. It's a real berry-cocoa bomb with some citrus and floral herbs for me so far. Today's shots were marked by good definition in the berry (distinct, clean strawberry) and a hint of lemon acidity. The herbal notes have been a backdrop to this today, and of course chocolate is there on the bottom giving good balance. It's best as a straight shot so far, though the milk drinks have been decent. I think it's really going to come to life this weekend as the over-fresh edge dulls.

Dan mentioned on Twitter that it's the best SO in awhile. I'm digging it so far, and I'd recommend it very strongly.

sounds good

i have two bags roasted on 1/11 so i thought i would wait a few more days before trying it

I received mine today. Even though it was only about 3 and a half days old (roasted on the 12th, had to be in the morning since it shipped around 3:00ish that afternoon) I had to pull a shot. The dry aroma was loaded with berries. Luckily the shot pulled perfectly with the setting that my Mazzer was on. I got about 1.75 very nice looking oz in 25 seconds from an 18gr dose. The first full sip that I took I was hit by what tasted like cherries to me. The sips that followed were heavy with nonspecific sweet berry (I just couldn't put my finger on what kind of berries it was reminding me of) and cocoa. The shot was very enjoyable to me and I'm looking forward to tasting this every day as it changes. I think it's going to be very nice when some of the flavors mellow a bit and I'm thinking that the cocoa is probably going to smooth out to a smoother chocolate.

I just finished up my first roast of la tessitura and now this...espresso is treating me well these days.

brad

I have really enjoyed this is a 4.5 to 5oz cappuccino too. The berry and chocolate comes through nicely. I enjoyed a bit as drip last night as well. Tastes like it smells.

brad

I've enjoyed the Shakisso natural sundried. I do get a lot of berry from it but a nice cocoa underpinning to keep it from getting too fruity. One thing I've found is the berry starts to disappear pretty quickly after day seven. For me this is a coffee that doesn't need a lot of rest and needs to be consumed quickly. I heard a rumor about a new Ethiopian on the horizon at Counter Culture Coffee. Let's see what the next few weeks brings.

Cheers

Ian

without getting into a lot of details on flavors, i like this coffee, but i find it much better 7+ days after the roast date then when i first started

hmm...good coffee, not outrageously fruity. I found CCC recommended brew temp to be helpful (199) as i was initially tempted to pull at 202 but didn't like them that much.

I haven't played with too many naturals lately, but like all of them, this one has loads of crema. Even more so than usual? It seems it approaches robusta-like crema. the pull will often start out as a stream, then transition to just big goopy drops halfway through the shot. The crema has larger than normal bubbles, and seems to almost reduce the mouthfeel. Anyone else experiencing this? I'm at normal pressure, maybe 9-9.25 bar.

I do get pretty crazy, big-bubbled crema out of it myself. It's big and voluminous, but nothing like robusta to me, which is more like a dense, stiff meringue--this crema for me is still soft and somewhat less stable, as you say a bit less mouthfeel. I don't pull it as high as you, assuming that our gauges are working similarly (which probably isn't a fair assumption), preferring to top out at 8.75 bars or so, with some taper near the end. I still like it best right at 200F; 202 was really awful for me, muting the fruit and making it taste kind of ashy. 198-199F was decent but not as good as 200, though I can't remember why now... been more than a couple of days since I pulled it at that temp.

I had a local coffee shop owner over last week and we pulled some. I've gotten strawberry from Shakisso pretty regularly, but he was really convinced it was strawberry cheesecake, especially in the aftertaste. I can see it. Really jumps out in a short cappuccino with the added creaminess. Anyway, when you say "not outrageously fruity" do you mean that you don't get much fruit, or just less than you expected? I thought it was quite fruity on that sixth day when I first tried it, and like Ian said it cut back later on (though it's still there for sure). I think my coffee shop friend was trying it on its 11th or 12th day out, and we still picked it right out and found it quite nice.