The HB moderators got a gratis sample of this coffee; thank you, Peter Giuliano.

Brewing: This is a Valhorana, El Rey, Japanese department store level chocolate bomb. Hints of fruit, spice and nuts, tons of brown sugar when it cools off. Oaxaca coffee is famous for its chocolate taste, but this organic shade grown coffee is much higher quality and purer tasting than usual.

Espresso: Oaxacas have a poor reputation for espresso. It is claimed that the chocolate taste does not translate and that the body is too light. But everything about this coffee screams SO -- it's massively sweet and low acid when it cools, and it has decent body. Maybe with our better knowledge of dosing, temperature, and our better grinders, it's time to look at Oaxacas again.

After a little playing around, I got a terrific comfort food shot from this coffee -- molten chocolate, brown sugar and a winey, alcoholic acidity. The secret is to both grind fine and updose, so the shot is very ristretto and takes about 35 to 40 seconds. To keep it from getting bitter, flush long and pull at low temperature, around 197F.

The coffee disappears in milk; brewed or espresso, it's balanced for black.

The fine print on my endorsements: I get free coffee, I get paid to review coffee, and I buy coffee for myself; but I only post about them when they are a worth talking about, regardless of transaction.

Wow, that's a beautiful description. I think the words alone could sell this coffee. Very nice description.

Agree on the cupping notes.

FWIW - I also found a sweet spot for espresso at a higher brew temp, with a coarser grind and quicker and shorter extraction (201f, 18.5g, 24s, 1.25oz).

I'm in the middle of the Oaxaca now; I've brewed a couple of vac-pots, and mostly I've gotten TONS and TONS of brown sugar, really more like molasses, very sweet and mildly burnt, in a good way. I hadn't gotten the molten chocolate, and I figured that might be because I tend to underextract my vac-pot brews, which works well for me for my favorite fruity Africans (and similar)--a dose of 21-23 g for my 3-cup pot, a grind just north of the Vario's "filter" setting, a temp of 195-200, steep time of 45-60s, and a draw-down of about 30-40s. At that recipe, the Oaxaca is pure brown sugar with a mild bit of acidity. Cold, some peppy fruit comes out to keep it interesting; cherry is pretty close to what it is for me. I cupped it at about the same grind for one cup, and a notch coarser for a second one, and steeped it for 3 and 4 minutes respectively. The cupping samples did have more cocoa in them than the vac pot, but I haven't found it to be a total "chocolate bombs." Cold, the cupping brews are a balance of mild cocoa and fruit acidity dominated by brown sugar, which really DOES sound like a perfect espresso recipe, but I haven't gotten it to deliver yet. Brewed, I like my underextracted vac-pot a little better for its enhanced clarity and lightness.

FWIW, my sinuses stopped up a week ago, and after they seemed to clear a bit, they got a lot worse right before the weekend. I've been feeling fine since Saturday, but my nasal passages aren't really doing the job they should. So my tongue is pulling the brunt of the taste load, which is maybe why I'm picking up so heavily on the brown sugar and not so much on the more delicate flavors. So, I could be The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat on these notes. Hopefully I'll be more cleared up soon.

I brewed it again yesterday and today. Chocolate is usually a robust flavor that gets stronger as the coffee stales, but on this one it's really faded, and more or less gone except for the aftertaste and in the cooled cup. Now it's still nice, but almost all brown sugar and baked apple.

Very odd; and new to me.

It's been a week now, and this coffee is aging strangely. The cup is very striking when cool, mostly brown sugar along with a winey flavor that, along with the sugar, makes it remisicent of a dilute rum. There is some chocolate, but subtly, like a cocoa dusting on the sugar.

It's been a fun coffee. If you try it, get it locally or have it expressed, since you want to start on it a few days after roasting.

My soundbite impression: milk chocolate, ripe cherry, brown sugar (molasses), mild ripe tomato acidity. In my experience, it seems easy to overextract - 30 seconds too long steep and it's bitter-ish. I used French press (no pull method), ~15 grams / 8 ounces, 3:30 steep, fairly fine grind. I've put some aside in the freezer so I can return to it in a week or so.

I have long admired the roasting prowess of Peter G and CCC, and jumped at the chance to evaluate two of their newer offerings: 21st de Septiembre (a light roast Mexican SO) and the Espresso Rustico blend. In the past I have enjoyed several of their classic espresso blends, including Espresso Toscano, Espresso Aficionado (a lighter roast, excellent for straight shots), and Espresso La Forza (a darker roast, better with milk). I requested a bag of Toscano for comparison purposes, and Dan was kind enough to comply.


Living out on the edge of the civilized world, coffee takes a bit longer to arrive. Coupled with a busy work week, I did not begin sampling until last weekend, five days post roast. A Robur grinder, Spaziale S1, and Yama vac pot were used for testing.

I first dipped into the 21st Septiembre bag. My preliminary impressions (15-16g doses, 88-92C setting on the Spaz S1): mild, sweet, good body, loads of caramel (close enough to brown sugar), but far less chocolate than expected, with little if any obvious fruit flavors. A decent SO espresso, not terribly exciting; should make an outstanding base for an espresso blend. Holds up reasonably well to small quantities of milk (macchiatos).

I continued to sample this coffee over the next few days, both as espresso and vac pot brew. Oddly, I could not reproduce the overwhelming chocolate flavors described by Jim; at most, I got only slight hints of milk chocolate. Following advice from Jim and Chris, I tried updosing my espresso pours to 18g and pulling at 86C. The resulting brew was too sour, but some chocolate notes emerged with milk. At 88C the sourness became lemon citrus, with hints of candied fruit and marzipan in milk. Still very little chocolate. My first impressions held up well: this roast works as a SO espresso, but would be better suited for an espresso blend.

I also tried the 21st Septiembre as a brewed (vac pot) coffee. My first attempt produced a bland flavor profile, with decidedly bitter overtones. After this indication of overextraction, I ground coarser and reduced the brew time up north. My second attempt used a 1:14 ratio of coffee:water, coarser grind, 60sec brew time. Better, bitterness way down, nicely rounded, with a slight nuttiness. Overall, balanced but uninteresting; still no chocolate or fruit. It did not improve with milk.

So why no chocolate? One thing for sure: it's not an inability to taste chocolate flavors. I recently polished off a bag of Klatch Brazil Ipanema Dulce, a cocoa bomb if there ever was one. And I've been drinking some home roasted Yemen that has pronounced dark chocolate overtones.

Speculation: this roast peaks early and fades rapidly, with a very narrow window of interest. (Jim began sampling immediately, and noted the strong chocolate flavors on day two post roast.) So if you order this coffee, don't wait: start brewing it as soon as it arrives. It does not appear to age well.

Conclusion: IMHO this coffee is too bland for a SO specialty offering, and should be relegated to blend status.