I got an email ad from Stumptown a couple of weeks ago that highlighted two Ethiopian coffees, an origin of which I'm particularly fond (yes, I know changes in the market have reduced the availability of high-quality Ethiopian SOs.)

My regular supplier, Terroir, seems to be out of Ethiopian espresso roast at the moment, so I went on the Stumptown website and found that they actually have three Ethiopian coffees: Duromina, Suke Quto and Nanno Challa.

The Stumptown Ethiopians aren't roasted or promoted for espresso, so I emailed asking if they might work for that application. Twelve minutes later, I received a reply from Shari Bagwell saying that they had tested two of the three for espresso, the Duromina and Suke Quto, and they were delicious. She also provided me with detailed brewing parameters:

For the Ethiopia Suke Quto:

Brewing Guidelines
Dose 21g
Volume 1.5oz
Temp 200-201
Time 7 sec to drop, 25 sec total, one light settle

When extracted as espresso, our Suke Quto accentuates a balanced composition of flavors including chocolate malt, canned peaches, orange hard candy and caramel.

For Ethiopia Duromina:

Brewing Guidelines
Dose 18.5g
Volume 2oz
Temp 200-201
Time 22 sec

Extracting our Ethiopia Duromina as espresso produces balanced flavors of black tea, caramel and tangerine juice gracefully melded together by a buttery body.

Shari said these are the parameters that worked for them and that I should experiment with what works for me and my equipment. Good advice. I'll certainly try their rather heavily updosed parameters, but will also try the lower doses (14g-15g) and temperatures (196F-198F) that have typically worked well for Terrior SOs. It'll be interesting to see whether the Stumptown roast, which looks a little darker than Terrior's, requires higher dose/temperature.

But the real reason for my post is Stumptown's delivery of the coffee. When my current batch of coffee in the freezer ran out last week, I placed an order on Stumptown's website for the Duromina and Suke Quto. I usually order late on Friday or over the weekend to ensure that the coffee doesn't have to sit around at a shipping depot over the weekend. This is particularly important for coffee coming from the west coast to where I live on the east coast. Hopefully, the coffee gets roasted on Monday or Tuesday and gets in Priority Mail or UPS in time to reach my place before the next weekend.

Shortly after placing the order, I got an email saying the coffee would be roasted and shipped by Priority Mail the next day. Since that was a Saturday, I figured it was really a form letter and that all this would actually take place on Monday. You can imagine my surprise and pleasure when I found a box of coffee from Stumptown sitting on my doorstep Monday morning. The coffee had been roasted on Saturday and mailed the same day. Amazingly, the USPS actually moved the shipment over the weekend, taking a mere two days past roast to reach NH from OR!

Now, I don't think I can always expect USPS to be so efficient, so I'll probably order on Sunday in the future just to be sure that the coffee doesn't sit around for even one day. But I thought it was pretty cool that Stumptown roasted and shipped on Saturday.

This was a great buying experience. I'm hoping the coffees will prove as good.

That's a great recommendation, and I ended up placing an order with them. I've tried Hairbender before, I can buy it at a local cafe, but I've never tried any of their SOs. It's really useful to get some recommendations for which SOs work well as espresso, and some brewing parameters too, there aren't a lot of roasters that offer up that kind of information.

Let's hope that their quality, offerings and customer service only improve now that they've got some private equity backing.

Stumptown has a shop in Manhattan and I believe they roast in either Brooklyn or Queens. Twice a year I visit NYC and buy some Hairbender, always roasted the day before. It seems to me that they should be shipping to the east from NYC, not Portland but what do I know. I just hope Duane remains in charge and the quality doesnt bottom out.

Marvin

Been pulling shots of their Ethiopia Duromina and it's a really tasty/interesting espresso. I've been moving closer to their recommended parameters above, but my shots have still been a little more ristretto. I'm getting lots of spice - cinnamon, clove and pepper (which I've never tasted in espresso before, but really enjoy here), over some floral and light fruit flavors (barely any sometimes). A touch of acidity, and no real sourness, but very clean flavors. I don't think I've ever tried a washed ethiopian before (at least not that I remember), and it's definitely a completely different range of flavors than I'd expect.

--------------------------------------------------

Edit/update: Pulled a shot this morning that was very close to their recomended parameters, and got the flavors they described, but I'd put them in reverse order. The fruit was most prominent, I'd call it pineapple, with a nice mouthfeel, over some caramels and a little tea. If I really strained (or maybe tricked myself) I could taste some of the spice from the ristrettos, but it was a background flavor, and mostly in the aftertaste. All in all a nice clean cup, but I've tasted a few good coffees like this, and I've never tasted an espresso with such strong and clear spice notes as this coffee when pulled as a ristretto. I'll be trying it like that again tomorrow, if nothing else just to make sure the change in taste isn't due to the coffee aging.

Highly suggest trying their Holler Mountain Blend!