July's subscription offering will be from Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco, showcasing their "Friendo Blendo". I'm really excited to see how everyone does with this coffee, as this has been my go-to home espresso blend the past several months. It is a blend of 1 Colombian & 2 Ethiopian coffees, and has a wonderful balance of sweetness, florality & fruit.

I frequently visit Four Barrel's flagship cafe in San Francisco and have had many chats with their barista's about how they pull this coffee. I''ve found great success in replicating their methods on my home setup. Thought it might be worth sharing with everyone what i've learned:

Four Barrel roasts VERY light and these beans are especially hard, so i'm grinding quite fine. Last year I was using my HG-1 with this coffee and it required some serious hand-cranking effort!!

I've found my sweet spot dosing between 17-18 grams depending on the age of the coffee, and I usually extract between 28-31 grams in roughly 31 seconds (they seem to hit about the same in their shops).

This blend really seems to like hot temperatures. Right around 204* is where I've seen their cafe machines are usually set, and i've been pulling great shots with my Linea Mini's temp wheel set right around 204* as well.

I'm also using fairly soft water, Crystal Geyser (Shasta). But when I REALLY want a tasty treat, I blend in some Acqua Panna water which really brings out the sweetness and flavor of this blend.

The shop has often recommended to me waiting until day 10 to start pulling this coffee, and I can confirm that magical tastes come out around day 10, if I am patient enough to wait this long

Can't wait to read what people think of this coffee!!

Danny,

Thanks for the advance information. I'm looking forward to trying Friendo Blend for the first time.

Rocky

My coffees arrived today.

This month's shipment was two different coffees, not two bags of the same. We got Friendo Blendo and Ethopia Bulga.

Four Barrel is local to my area and I'm familiar with Friendo Blendo. Not one of my go-to blends, but a good one none-the-less.

Looking forward to trying the Ethiopa Bulga. Big fan of Ethiopian SOE's.

Roast date of July 9, so it went out super fresh. Probably going to need to rest until next week to really reach its peak.

Mine arrived today, but the bag of the Ethiopia Bulga split open spilling the beans all over the inside of the mailing envelope. I guess due to the summer heat

Wow. LMH contated me on their own and are sending me another bag. Very classy folks at LMH.

Super impressed with this months package!

Came with The Four Barrel Barsita Training Guide, a nice card with the details and recipes on each roast for the two different bags of beans, Ethiopia Bulga, Friendo Blendo.

I got into the Bulga this AM and I really like it, only two shots in so far.

Pulling at Temp 201, Dose 18.9 and Yield 38.

So far, I'm really enjoying the Ethiopa Bulga. Really nice strawberry notes and good sweetness.

Friendo-Blendo, I'm already familiar with. Blend changes from time to time I think. This bag has notes of orange-citrus and is just starting to come into a good range after resting 7 days.

I pulled shots with the Ethopia Bulga yesterday and today. I must say that one shot this morning was one of the best I've ever had with Ethiopian coffee, just a really great flavor, balance, and finish. Using my Linea Mini, it was 202° F, 20 grams in, and 30 grams out in 28 seconds. Tomorrow I will get into the Friendo Blendo.

Rocky

I like the Ethiopian as well, so far at 18.5 gs in, 27+ gs out in around 30 seconds

was surprised at how much coarser I had to grind compared to the MACAP

The Bulga is really coming into it's prime now 10 days post roast. Pulled two back to back shots with incredible caramel sweetness and great strawberry notes, medium body and a moderately lingering finish.

I'm pulling as indicated on the card. Seems to work very well. 18.5g in, 29-30g out, 199F, 35 seconds.

The blendo is good, but I'm really fond of the Bulga.