Barefoot Espresso Bigfoot

[roblumba]

Anyone else try Bigfoot. I bought a couple pounds the other week for the first time. I was getting good shots from it and it was definitely chocolaty. But about halfway through the pound and decided to try upping the temperature by .6F on the GS3 and wow! Chocolate really came through, especially in milk. It was a bit heavy for espresso, but It was like having a Mocha Latte in milk.

My wife doesn't get impressed by espresso very often, but she was genuinely amazed. I was actually suspicious for a moment that they had substituted some cocoa beans in the blend, but I reminded myself that it would have gummed up my grinder.

That was definitely something unexpected from an espresso blend. Definitely worth trying again.

[Beezer]

I just ordered a couple of bags of Barefoot Bigfoot, plus some of their Bossa Nova blend. It's supposed to arrive today, so I haven't had a chance to try it yet. I'm looking forward to giving it a shot, so to speak. I'll post my thoughts after I've tried it.

It must be nice to have a good roaster so close to you. There's nothing comparable in Fresno, so I have to order from other cities. Fortunately, deliveries from Santa Clara are very fast. If I like their coffee, Barefoot may become my new "go to" coffee when it comes time to order up new beans.

['Q']

I got a bag of their Sweetness and a bag of the Bigfoot. I'm mostly through the Sweetness (which i was impressed with) and have yet to try the Bigfoot. Unfortunately I left town and so the beans have aged more than I wanted them to, but I'll still try them out. I will most likely order much more from Barefoot, especially since ground shipping gets to me next day.

[roblumba]

Yeah, it is really nice to have Barefoot nearby. I can actually work them into my lunch hour since they are only a few miles from my workplace. I'll typically go to Panda Express across the street from them and then stop in to see what their most recent roast is. On a prior visit they had just roasted Kneebuckler, so I picked up some of that. This time it was Bigfoot. Since they roasted Bigfoot the same day I was there, I picked up a couple pounds and froze 1 lb for later. I'm using a bunch of small mason jars to freeze them and putting them in our deep freeze. So far it seems to be dethawing, extracting and tasting identical to the fresh beans. We'll see.

They have some interesting blends lately. I really haven't tried Barefoot for over a year because I was just settled into using Ecco Caffe on my Giotto. Now that I have a GS3 and have been updosing a little, 1lb is not lasting a week the way it used to. And of course, I'm just itching to try different blends on the GS3 and Barefoot definitely has some interesting blends these days. Bigfoot, Sweetness, Kneebuckler, Boss, and Element 114. It seems like they have a flavor profile to satisfy any tastebud.

Kneebuckler is another I would highly recommend. I was getting some really nice berry flavor. When I drank it I was describing it as a red berry of some sort but I don't know of any red berry by name that tasted like this. Anyways, it was amazing. And you can really smell the fruitiness from the fresh coffee and in the cup.

[timo888]

I've had very good very lightly roasted Barefoot espresso blends in the past through SohoEspresso, when they were operational. No other roaster I've tried roasts their northern blends as lightly as Barefoot Redwood, which worked exceptionally well in my Cremina at high temps.

At the moment, Barefoot is tied in to FedEx only, and FedexGround/HomeDelivery can take as long as 8 days coast-to coast, if a weekend intervenes. But Barefoot is planning to offer USPS Priority in the near future, so those of us on the east coast can enjoy their wares, fresh, at a reasonable shipping cost. Light roasts typically have a shorter shelf-life than darker roasts.

Could you describe the roast depths of their new blends, Bigfoot, Bossa Nova, and Kneebuckler?

Regards
Timo

[roblumba]

On each bag they have the roast depth printed and they have a key to the roast depths in the store. I'm surprised they don't have that information online. Next time I'm in the store, I'll recommend they put that information on the website because people would be interested in it.

[Beezer]

I pulled my first shot of Barefoot Bigfoot this morning. The pull looked very nice on my naked PF, rich and reddish brown with plenty of tiger striping. Taste was a bit off though. I was shooting for around 198, but I think I need to bump it up a couple of degrees. What's the recommended brew temp for Bigfoot?

[Beezer]

To answer my own question, Barefoot recommends brewing their Bigfoot blend at 200 degrees for 26-30 seconds.

http://stores.homestead.com/baref...spresso/Detail.bok

Time to try another shot, this time at 200 degrees.

[roblumba]

When I was in their store they were pulling Kneebuckler at 201.5. So I think although their recommendation might say "around 200", or ~200, I think they are actually going a little higher.

At somewhere around 201.5 I was getting the rich chocolate.

200 was still a tad low when I was pulling shots.

[Matthew Brinski]

But about halfway through the pound and decided to try upping the temperature by .6F on the GS3 and wow! Chocolate really came through, especially in milk.

Hey, you weren't supposed to say that!

I posted a question to you about this here: http://www.home-barista.com/forum...5901-40.html#74229

Matt

[JimWright]

Went through a pound of the Bigfoot over the past 5 days, starting 4 days after roast. I found it hearty and tangy with a bit of spice, and not overly bright, earlier in the week, mellowing as the week went on, but I was able to bring these notes out again by bumping the temp up a little.

I started early on with the temp at a bit over 202, but found this a little too much when the coffee was really fresh (good flavors but also a touch of bitterness), and that it was initially great at just under 200, then pushed back higher at the end of the week.

I also found that this blend did great with longer pulls (a full 2 oz. double from a medium-dosed double basket), much more so than some other blends.