For those who roast their own beans for espresso I thought I would give people here a heads up on my impressions of some of the newer offerings at Sweet Marias.

First I roasted up some of their Java Kajumas Curah Tatal just a bit into second crack but not at all very dark. After sitting for 3 days I tried it at a dose of 14.2 grams with a tight grind so I pulled 45-50 ml in 26 seconds. Tom was right in that this coffee has the least apparent to taste acids that I have yet experienced in an espresso especially. Yet, it was an amazingly terrific drink. It is bursting with chocolate and lots of underlying sweetness. I will certainly continue to enjoy this as a SO espresso but it has to my beginners impression it has great blending possibilities.

To that end I also had from a few days earlier roast some of my last years crop of Ethiopia Idido Misty Valley roasted to about FC that I intended for both French Press and possibly espresso. This is one of my very favorite coffees as French Press and a SO shot of this at The Blue Bottle Café in San Francisco earlier this year made me come home and purchase my first home espresso equipment. I first prepared a shot of the Misty Valley alone (again 14.2 gm dose) and it was its usual balanced fruit bomb with underlying citrus and chocolate hints. I was on a roll so far today with making espresso that puts a smile on my face.

So, now I combined a 50-50 mix of the Java and the Misty Valley to make a classic Moka Java blend and pulled a truly great shot. For those who are into that kind of sweet fruity chocolate espresso I think this blend will be a winner.

I also purchased a bit of Colombia Huila Concurso San Pedro on Tom's recommendation as a good coffee for SO espresso. In general I really enjoy Colombian coffee as French Press as I see them (especially good Huila region coffees) as classic "crowd pleasing" coffee. They defy IMHO the descriptions using fruits and chocolate and to me they taste more like "coffee" then any other. This roast was a bit lighter barely FC if that and as espresso it was true to its origins (to me very coffee-like - sorry but that my honest taste impression) with plenty of underlying sweetness but too bright for my tastes as is for a SO espresso. I will roast a bit darker next time and/or blend it. It is totally drinkable and even enjoyable as I prepared it but not up to the previous three espressos I described.

This exercise was the first time I tried something like this with espresso and it was really educational for me to learn about the characteristics of different beans. All the espressos described were pulled on my Anita with as close to 14.2 gm of beans as I could manage and with a tight grind so I extracted about 1.5 oz in 26 seconds. All were also pulled at the same temperature which I estimated based on Eric's probe and what I've read to be about 201*.

Geoffrey's recommendation of the day, however, is the Java Kajumas Curah Tatal as SO or especially for blending.