I've been a fan of Klatch Belle for many years. This has always been an easy to dial in adult hot chocolate/ caramel latte treat for my family. Recent shipments however have been an entirely different experience. The roast appears darker and more oily and I am finding a new funky bitter aftertaste that has been difficult to make corrective adjustments to. This has been a blend that I RARELY have to change any parameters. 20gm 198F 30 sec with a Compak k10 and Brewtus 2. All my other standard blends are drinking fine
eg Redline, Hairbender

Any similar experiences, suggestions?


Thanks

Robert

Roasters have accidents, just like drivers. If you think the roast went too far and tastes ashy or charred, give them the heads up, and I'm sure they'll make good.

try decreasing the temp and taking the grind a little coarser (upping dose).
if the next batch has the same issue then they're changing the blend. after all, coffee is an agricultural product. it changes season to season, year to year. you'll need to adapt with it.

another_jim wrote:Roasters have accidents, just like drivers. If you think the roast went too far and tastes ashy or charred, give them the heads up, and I'm sure they'll make good.

I once visited one of their locations before (San Dimas) and seem to recall a fairly young looking guy doing a roast. What I'm trying to say is that there must be more than one roaster at Klatch, and I wouldn't doubt that there would some amount of variation between roasters, or even roasts. I also recently sampled a 12 oz bag of Belle Espresso. It was darker and oilier than I remembered, but I didn't notice any funkiness.

I appreciate everyones comments. I normally expect some variations in natural products but I've been utterly spoiled by the extraordinary consistency from this roaster through the years. I was taken off guard and a bit stunned. My morning routine had been simple and flawless. I was not equipped to figure things out at 5:30 am before a mad dash to work. I normally expect variations in life. I'm better prepared to deal with them after the dawn and a good cup of coffee.

My last bag of Belle was also somewhat oily as well even though the roast was only 2 days old. It didn't have any weird smell or flavor though. This was probably back in May and I haven't gotten any more because I have been using Roaste to try out other roasters.

I received a very concerned and nicely detailed email from Mike Perry at Klatch regarding my issues with Belle. He found no defects with the individual bean components or the blend on his end. One point he brought up was the possible effects of heat on the shipment. There was a extensive heat wave during transport and truck temperatures can get quite extreme and radically alter flavor. He sent a 6 lb bag of Belle to replace the 5 lb bag I had purchased.