Coffee Klatch Roasting WBC Blend

[another_jim]

The blend Heather Perry used for the USBC got rave reviews. Now it's been tweaked by a brain trust from Klatch (Heather and her dad, Mike), and the people at Paradise and PT's. The result is the WBC blend.

If you have some money to spend, you can try it by sponsoring her WBC run: $25, $50 or $100 gets you various levels of goodies, including a batch from the roast going to Tokyo for the competition.

This is of course a shamelessly commercial post, but I'm not apologizing.

[another_jim]

Small oops. I got word of this via their newsletter. At the moment, click on the Gold Sponsor on the home page or the Silver and Bronze sponsorships on their News Page

[jesawdy]

Thanks Jim, I was confused myself. You can find links to all three sponsorship levels here. I assume that the WBC Blend is slightly different than the USBC blend.

EDIT - Also, act fast:

Roasting now through Wednesday July 25th. WBC Championship Blend is not for individual sale single sale. This blend is only available to sponsors, and for a limited time.

[another_jim]

I got my package of Heather's WBC blend on Friday, and have pulled a few shots.

Go Heather!

It strikes me as distinctly different from the USBC blend. The shot pushes the envelope on acidity and uses an incredible level of sweetness to make it work. The effect is like apricot-orange jam or liquor, or perhaps like a good Muscat dessert wine in that it's both a crowd pleaser and rewarding to the connoisseur. The low end is mostly cinnamon flavored caramel, with just a hint of nuts and wood.

It's hazardous to guess at constituents from the taste; but my guess is that compared to the USBC version, the proportion of DP Yrgs has been raised, and that of the Sumatra and Brazil dropped. I can't place the Yrg, it seems like it may be a blend of the Biloya and the Adado.

The crema persistence was a bit better than the USBC too; but the body was a scootch lighter, although still good.

The conventional wisdom is that the WBC judges are, on the whole, more "North Italian" than the USBC judges, preferring lighter, more acidic and aromatic espresso to the darker, more chocolaty ones favored here. If this is true, then Heather's blend will get very high flavor marks. No matter what the judges' taste preference; this is one heck of a blend, in fact, as a home roaster, I'm very envious, since I like it better than my own efforts.

[another_jim]

Heather took 2nd place at the WBC and won the new individual prize for best espresso (congrats to James Hoffmann, who posts here on occasion under the King Seven handle, for winning overall). It seems clear that using the best possible blend made from the best available coffees, as Heather did, will become mandatory at barista competition for those looking to place highly. This is, to my mind, a very positive development. The competitions are primarily aimed at raising the level of barista skills, but if it has the side effect of raising the bar on the other three "Ms,"espresso blends, grinders and machines as well, so much the better.

I hope we'll see the WBC blend on sale at Klatch; it really is worth tasting, there's judges a lot more experienced than me saying so now.

[Marshall]

Two weeks ago my culinary group had a morning pit bbq just outside of San Dimas at an historic adobe (cooked overnight on 4 feet of buried wood embers). I talked about a dozen people into following me to Coffee Klatch afterwards (despite Starbucks supplying free coffee for our event). I was hoping to pick up some more of the USBC "Championship Blend" (had 2 lbs so far) and the new WBC blend, but they were all sold out. . They were even sold out of the Esmeralda BOP winner!

But, we had very nice Belle Espressos all around.

I will never forget what an eye opener it was for me the first time I visited Coffee Klatch and realized a roaster in a non-descript, outer-suburb strip mall could outperform all the quaint "Italian" coffee shops of Greenwich Village, North Beach and the North End. Location is definitely not everything.

[Marshall]

Now Mike is offering it as a normal sale: $18.95/lb., max. order of 5 lbs. http://klatchroasting.zoovy.com/product/WBCC1

[ckroaster]

Thank you Jim and Marshall for your comments on our WBC Espresso Blend which Heather used to finish 2nd in the World and also was awarded Best Espresso in the World at the recent WBC in Tokyo last week. I would like to clarify a few points below:

1. The WBC Blend is different than the USBC Blend. We originally offered only to sponsors but decided to share with all espresso lovers.

2. The WBC Blend is for sale but only for a limited time as the Ethiopian Component is in short supply and we may not get more. This is why there is a 5 pound limit per customer.

3. Jim, you nailed the difference and why. With the USBC Blend we used a Sumatra Blue Batak and small amount of Ethiopian Natural. With the WBC Blend we switched to the Sumatra Lake Tawar and were able to increase the Ethiopian component. The Brazil did stay the same. All components (like all our blends) were roasted to three different temperatures and times then post blended.

4. As for the Ethiopian component, we carry and sell both the Biloya and Adado and love both as SO espresso's but found they do not play as well with others so chose a different Ethiopian Natural.

5. In competition Heather used batches from the 24th and 25th. Eight days old and opened 12 hours before she competed and ran the shots at 26 seconds, just at an ounce, and a temp of 201 to 201.5 controlled by the flush (can explain this later). As for taste, we believe the WBC is a slight bit brighter with chocolate and orange up front but sweet berry and spice in the finish. We made the changes because we loved the new flavor and sweet syrupy wine like finish. We were very glad the International Judges agreed

6. Marshall, when you were in a couple weeks ago we were not selling the WBC blend in the store and must have been out of the US blend. As for the World Record Esmeralda Auction Panama, we do have it but only roast to order. We believe if you pay $100 for a half pound it should be fresh so we take orders, roast on Monday, then ship that day for internet orders or deliver to our stores on Tuesday.

7. The WBC Espresso was developed exclusively by Klatch Roasting (my roasting and tons of shots with Heather who was the final word). We experimented with dozens of different beans, dozens of different roast degrees, and hundreds of different blends all tried as shots. That said, Miguel at Paradise was a great friend in helping me source great coffee so I could concentrate on developing the WBC Blend and training with Heather. Jeff at PTs was a great friend in not only allowing Heather to train at his facility when she was back there, but also sending USBC #2 Pete Licata to Tokyo to support and train with Heather. And for those who know Heather, Pete got no vacation as they practiced hard all day every day. Pete did a great job and was a valuable aid to Heather and Team USA. And while not every roaster was a friend who helped the US effort, our friends at Zoka stepped up big time by allowing Heather to train at Zoka Japan and helped us find milks, creams, and various misc items we needed in Tokyo. I also have to thank Team Sweden, John Sanders, and our host in Japan who all worked together with Heather to rebuild our grinder when it broke the day of Heathers practice at the competition.

Thank you again to all who supported us and I hope the points above clarify and questions about our WBC Espresso Blend.

[another_jim]

Thanks Mike for the explanation. Here on HB, we've been having a very lively argument about Barista competition and what it's doing for espresso in general. I rather think the answer is in, and you and Heather are some of the main people giving it. I've posted my thoughts here

[julioale]

I received the WBC Blend yesterday. Coffee Klatch has a very fast service. I order on monday and received it on tuesday for less shipping charges than the UPS 2day.

With the coffee, Klatch includes a letter with some details of the blend and the Heather method. "Heather prefers the dose up method with 22-24 grams of coffee extracted at 26 to 28 seconds and just an ounce. We set our machine at 201 degrees. We believe the espresso is at it's best within 21 days of roast."

It's a lot of coffee for one ounce and it stays fresh for a long time.

[ckroaster]

Julioale,

I must clarify. We include the detailed instructions but I may need to correct so there is not a misunderstanding. You see, we only use double baskets and portafilters so when I say one ounce I mean one ounce each side. Still a lot of coffee but where we like best (and fortunately the judges). As for 21 days, we have opened bags at three weeks and enjoyed killer espresso, but I would not want to open the day you receive and still be using 21 days later. To clarify, I believe the espresso is best between the 5th and 12th day with the 8th day being what we used for competition and what we recommend in our instructions. Hope this clarifies our instruction sheet, we will correct for future buyers.

[k7qz]

I've been experimenting recently with Ken's 14 gram shot routine per dbl basket linked here: http://www.home-barista.com/forum...tion-t4501-80.html

I received a pound of the WBC blend a few days ago and have been pleased with it as well. As posted above, the fact sheet provided with WBC blend suggested "22-24 grams of coffee extracted at 26 to 28 seconds" pulled at 201 F.

For those following Ken's thread, I've achieved some very tasty shots using his 14.00 grams per dbl basket (tighten the grind to pull the shot in 26ish seconds). I've also played a bit with LM triple baskets. 18.00 grams pulled ristretto via said triple basket produced an explosion of syrupy sweet orange marmalade tinged with cinnamon and spice. 17.00 grams in the triple resulted in a mellower version of the same.

Way to go Klatch!

[HB]

This week I'm using my travel kit, an Elektra Microcasa a Leva and Mazzer Mini. While away from work, I look forward to something new and unexpected, so I brought along a sample of the limited time offerings from the site sponsors. The last two days are Heather's / Mike's WBC Blend from Coffee Klatch Roasting:


Not a cloud in the sky today, light breeze, temperature in the 80s

My attention was lagging this afternoon and subsequently the brew temperature for this (second) espresso was a teenie bit too high. Even so, the lever espresso machine gods clearly are feeling generous this week, as it's been nothing but good to very good espresso, including the "fruits and nuts" WBC blend. Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but I hope this enjoyable blend will be added to the regular offerings at Klatch's.