drgary wrote:And for Red Bird in particular, I think the expert reviewers on this site, malachi included, suggested that it gets away from you if you don't pull it at or near ristretto. When I do that it's quite good.

I don't remember Red Bird being reviewed though, are you sure you are not mixing it up with something else?

I found Red Bird good at 18g making about 26-30 grams of espresso in about 25-27 seconds at 198F... Not ristretto pull.

Good catch, Dennis! Memory betrayed me. I was reading malachi's review of Gimme! Coffee's Leftist Espresso Blend and somehow confused that with Red Bird. My bad!

Anyway, I've been pulling it pretty ristretto and liking it. Part of this is dialing in my Microcimbali, which seems to like a very full basket and slow flow and when I do that it rewards me with chocolate espressos with Red Bird and Counter Culture's Apollo and Decaf Espresso Rustico.

But I don't believe there's a "right way" to make espresso. So much depends on equipment and personal taste once you've got it in the "that's very nice" range.

I've had a few more days to play with it and yesterday it really started to hit its stride. Here is how I pulled it: 17g in a standard double basket/ 198.6/ 1.75g/ 5 sec PI + 30 sec extraction/ 10th day post-roast. It's really sort of strange but this coffee seemed to prefer a very narrow temp preference - .5 F up or down seemed to make a very noticeable difference in its taste. Once I settled on the temp I started playing around with doses and shot times, and without a doubt, this blend pulls best as ristretto dosed normal, pulled a bit longer. Shots cut off shorter were ok, but a bit unbalanced. It really was quite by accident that I ran the shot 35 seconds - I never went beyond that so I can't comment on what that might do to the shot.

Interesting... I had heard so much about Redbird, and when I finally got some I was disappointed. I was expecting something different I guess. I've read the threads here about RB, and how forgiving it is. But that's been my experience. It's definitely not forgiving. In fact, it tasted flat and dry. After much experimentation, however, I'm finally getting some nice shots out of it. I find it really needs to be updosed, into the 19 or 20 g range. Brew ratio around 2/3 and a longer extraction - in the 30 second area - , Temp 199. Finally the coffee starts to give me some better flavors... some fruitiness. But not an easy forgiving roast by any means.

Interesting - my experiences with Red Bird have all dialed in quickly and played nice. Maybe I was just lucky, but this was also the case with Red Bird decaf and Blue Jaguar as well as the Red Bird blend itself.

For the Red Bird blend, my best results came with:

• Age: 5-8 days post-roast
• Dose: 18.5 grams
• Grind: a nudge or two finer than other common references, e.g. Black Cat Classic or Metropolis Redline, but close to Vivace Vita.
• Temperature: 198F
• Pre-infusion: none
• Duration: 29-31 seconds after first drops from bottomless PF, but some even -5 seconds to +8 seconds (cut at blonding) were also very good
• Basket: 18g VST

My experience has been similar to Anthony, but it was months ago. Very easy to dial in and not too fussy about temperature. But it's probably a different style than your previous coffee so it takes a few shots to get used to it. What I meant by that is that Red Bird isn't a very bright coffee so if you come from a brighter coffee before this, it's probably not what your palate was expecting.

What I meant by that is that Red Bird isn't a very bright coffee so if you come from a brighter coffee before this, it's probably not what your palate was expecting.

I do prefer fruity, brighter blends.

innermusic wrote:I do prefer fruity, brighter blends.

Then Red Bird is not the blend for you . . . OTOH, I prefer the rich, bass, chocolately notes, and I find Red Bird very easy to dial in, and very consistent.

Just my 2¢, and worth far less, I'm sure.