With all the talk of triple baskets on the La Spaziale Vivaldi I decided to dig out my old basket and give it a try. Well, sometimes it's good to revisit these things. Rick, dark, thick and creamy triple cappuccino pulled from Counter Culture Coffee's Rustico. Not something I'd want every day but a real nice change.

Cheers

Ian

I'm drinking Papua New Guinea Kimel Peaberry (City+) again. This time I gave it more attention and this is what I found:
91C, almost 15g, a bit over 1.5 oz, 25s - orange tart and chocolate, sweet, rich texture and crema;
91C, 14.2g, 1.5oz or a tad less, 25s - fruity cup: bilberries turning cherries accompanied by noble bitters - slight touch of wood,stronger smokey&cofee aroma, fluid body, thin crema, texture like juice.

Not giving much attention cup would be somewhat plainly sweet with efemeric fruitness, nothing to remember. Like for example when you're going after 'espresso is this much volume in this much time from that much of grinds' - then it will pop out - like optimized for volume and appearance and not searched for taste.



And today morning coffee was Papua New Guinea Sigri - City+ not Full City this time, and I'm very happy. Fruitness is enhanced, it doesn't hide behind yet doesn't overwhelm - the lower sweet tastes hold their own, only it is more packed together cup then at FC - but then, at FC it was not at all easy to get the best consistently, now it's completely different story - just come up and pull - it's there!

Vivace espresso dolce now 4 days post roast. It's been killing me staring at it. I think it will only get better but got a long rich pour today that was gloppy and lovely to taste. 94c on my machine at a standard 14-15g dose (using vario timer at 13.9 sec).

Roaste comes through again. Have some Vita as well and Klatch to try.

I brewed up a CCD (Clever Coffee Dripper) worth of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe natural processed Gedeo I roasted over the campfire this week for the thermos for my Wife and sister-in-law this morning, but skipped my morning coffee to take advantage of the cupping at the SF HB Get together this morning.

Got home only to find out that the coffee hadn't been touched, but the Wife eventually heated up a cup in the microwave. I'll have to roast some decaf tonight for the sister-in-law, she's been advised to cut out caffeine now. I also pulled a couple of shots of the door prize coffee from the event, intelligentsia's Black Cat Classic. The first shot, 14g at 200 F into the little 45 mm La Peppina basket almost choked the machine and tasted too hot, bitter and with thin crema. My next shot, 13.5 g at 196 F with the grind loosened up one notch was much better with nice crema and more orange citrus. Still feeling the effects from the cupping, I decided to stop there and pick it up later. (tomorrow)

Todays evening espresso was 1.5oz Panama Boquete Casa Ruiz. It is roasted Full City according to the roaster, yet the beans appear a tiny bit lighter roasted then the other FullCities I had from them, yet darker then the City+ PNG beans I had lastly.
The grind was a bit too tight - after bidding it took a good while before the pour started. 14.2 grams run right until it blonded and stopped with the first sign of it. Next time I'm going to open the grind a notch at least.
91C.

Now the taste.
Wonderful!!
I love it!!!

Fruity sweetness, blueberries and white grapes (not the sweet tasting grapes but more grapy ones) and this accompanied by straight strong coffee aroma. This taste lasted all throughout the cup, then in the aftertaste the blueberries were dominant and for last goodbye-see-you-next-time the coffee bitters appeared. I could say it was resembling tobacco taste, like a touch of good cigar. But this for the very last.

Amazingly fruity coffee! The bitters in the end are intriguing.
Over all very satisfying.

Today after lunch shot pulled on La Peppina with grind two notches too fine... to my astonishment my machine worked it out!! the thickiest ristretto I ever drank! like a bilberry jelly, incredible!

Anyway I pulled another shot and on La Pepp they're accompanied with nice bittery notes all the way through, not in the end, it is some kind of strong bitter-earthy tobacco, or you could say very aromatic high note cocoa... like a freshly ground high pitched cocoa beans or similar. Very interesting.

On the other note, increasing dose sherifies out the sweet berries for the sake of grapes (diminishes lower fruits and increases higher) - but I prefer the other way.

See you in the evening!!

Today I reopen one of the bean bags (frozen) from the HB meeting. I had freeze it, and last night I left it out to be ready for today. It was Sumatra Onan Ganjang Cultivar.

The intensity of the aroma was potent for a Sumatra. It had strong flowery fragrant notes, much more than in the HB meeting. It was a potent flavor but pleasant. In the HB meeting it was softer and almost didn't stand out. It is hard to believe they are the same beans.

I have about 3/4 lb left. I've put half in a canister and half in another (vacuum). That way, I only use one canister and I avoid getting air in the other. But I believe that this was my best day and the flavor will escape little by little.

The canister "cooking" works! The beans get impregnated by time with their own aroma instead of venting it outside (one way valve). The flavors are more intense that way.

Cheers

toscano latte, 20gs, 30 second pull, great stuff

Gasket change times for La Spaziale, fo which I am waiting all week to arrive... will you believe me if I tell you how I long for pump espresso, ...?

Recently I made an attempt to blend the Panama with the PNG Peaberries half to half for a few shots. Interesting taste: sweetness with fruit sweetness, deeply mixed, lingering, with grape taste on top of that and in accompany of bitter aromas, airy bitterness. Intriguing yet simple. I think it would be possible to go further searching for sweet spot to that, but - the Panama beans are finished.

Vivace Espresso Vita on the older side (close to 14d post roast). Am trying to tamp less hard and man I hit a heck of a shot this am. Very chocolatey and sweet. The next one not so good. I hate it when I can't figure out what I did right.

Of course it's at the end of the batch so in goes Dolce.