Anyone drinking La Colombe? Is so what? How's their espresso blends?

I always seem to go back to Verve Sermon

I was given a bag of "Nizza" for Christmas from an Aunt that picked it up at her nearby La Colombe in Chicago. The reason I mention the Chicago location is because I'm not sure where they actually roast, and this bag did not have a roast date on it, which was a bit concerning since I didn't know how fresh it was. I don't think it mattered too much though, as it was roasted fairly dark (too dark for my personal preferences), and pulled just fine for what it is. It wasn't charred or burnt tasting, just a traditional (darker) Italian comfort-style blend, decent in a latte. Lots of roast-y chocolate flavors and a bit of nuttiness. I haven't had any of their lighter offerings but from the cortado/gibraltar I've had in their cafe and now this, I wasn't too enamored.

When I started espresso I was ordering from La Colombe almost exclusively. the beans were fresh roasted (I'm near Philly), consistent and good.
Their Mare Blanche was Fantastic! and when I could get the shot right the brazil Blue diamond was like drinking cake (haha when I couldn't it was like drinking orange juice!)
I ended up wasting a lot of their coffee on sink shots while i was learning to get consistent pours on my LeLit.
Good coffee.

I second the Mare Blanche. I also live near Philly but it does seem difficult to get them to tell you the roast date. I also don't like Nizza but I think that's what they pull in their cafes. But the other one I like quite a bit is Lyon. It's my favorite. If you want organic the Rouge is quite good, but also on the darker side. And darker but fun is the Mario Batali Roma. However this comes in a tin and wonder about roast date. It's really a struggle with them. I've emailed several times to try and get them to list roast date but they seem resistant.

Oh? The roast date was always on the bag or the box or something for me.
That's one of the reasons I started ordering from them.
I generally ordered single origins though, or the fishtown blend as opposed to the big bag ones they go through lots of (the blends the cafes and restaurants use, their main lines).

It looks like only their workshop coffees have roast dates

I am a big fan of Nizza. First off, it is not a dark roast at all, its on the lighter side, as they classify it, and comparing it to several of their other beans looks like it is on the lighter side. Unfortunately their Monte Carlo Decaf is much darker. Nizza is one of their lightest roasts.

I regularly go out my my way to go to one of their cafe's in NYC and am always very happy with the espresso they serve.

At home I have had a hard time finding other beans with a carmel-y taste, which I really like. I find most beans over roasted and often just too bright / citrus-y for my tastes. I have tried many of the well respected cafe's in NYC, like Stumptown, Cafe Grumpy, and always find something very sour on the finish of their espresso...

A friend recently game me some home roasted organic Ethiopian beans, which was the only thing I have tried which was close to the Nizza profile (actually might have been even better).

I wish I could find an espresso bean similar to the Nizza in a Decaf...

Best,

Gary

JRock wrote:Oh? The roast date was always on the bag or the box or something for me. That's one of the reasons I started ordering from them.

I've lived in Philly since 1968, so I started with LC when they opened in about '95. I have an every-other-week subscription for Nizza and love it as much now as I did when it first came out. Despite the many descriptions of it as a dark roast, LC describes it as medium light. I think it's a different blend now from its first incarnation, but it's always been in the coffee-chocolate-caramel-nut camp and has never been fruity or flowery. It's not subtle - it has no faint overtones of anything and requires little thought or deliberation to appreciate. To me, the Brazilian component of the blend predominates.

As LC grew and it was harder to find fresh bags on a shelf, I strayed from Nizza and have been experimenting with different beans for a few years now. Most recently, I used Hairbender for many months because I could get fresh bags at a shop down the street from my office for $11. But it's now $15 and their deliveries to the same place are not regular enough for me to reliably pick up fresh beans. So I started the subscription after calling LC and learning that they ship within a day or two of roasting.

As has been mentioned by others, LC does not put roast dates on their standard coffee bags. They use "best by" dates that are apparently 8 weeks out from roasting. The freshest I could find in the LC cafes within walking distance of my office have been about 6 weeks out, and most often they're no more than 4 or 5 weeks ahead. But from the first bag of my subscription, the "best by" date has been about 8 weeks out - and I'm a Nizza guy again.

They do put roast dates on their "workshop" coffees, of which the Haitian Mare Blanche is one. Mare Blanche makes a wonderful espresso that I absolutely love - it's in the same general space as Nizza in that it's not flowery, fragrant, or redolent of stuff that belongs in your juice glass rather than your coffee cup (in my opinion, anyway, FWIW). But it's got a faint Dr Pepper sweetness that's very well integrated with its basic coffee taste, along with what I can only describe as a hint of oak - it's almost as though the liquid coffee was aged briefly in a marsala barrel. There's also a little peppery finish, and it's not as nutty as Nizza. I grab a bag of MB whenever I see one with a fresh roast date, which isn't as often as I'd like - so I assume it's not a big seller at the cafes.

Mare Blanche is one of my favorites
I got a bag a few weeks ago and was not able to pull many decent shots out of it though (absolutely user error, not a reflection on the coffee ).
bluesman - How are you pulling the best shots from that?
Grinding a little tighter? Updosing a little? Just plain regular?

I bought some Nizza a few months ago after sampling some at their shop in Wash DC. It's a light/medium roast and I thought it was excellent! Loved every cup. Quite smooth, lots of chocolate, no berries or citrus. I will order it again.