Kudos for Coffee Klatch Experimental Espresso

[Barnstormer's~Betty]

I ordered and received 2 lbs. of Coffee Klatch's Experimental Espresso (batch 011 and 012). These photo's are from batch 011.

I recently tried the WBC blend and couldn't imagine this coffee getting any better, but this new blend is on a platform of it's own. The similarity it shares with the WBC blend is that there's no need to sissy it up with milk or sugar. Coffee Klatch has discounted the coffee at $12.95 per pound (plus shipping), to encourage people to try it. I'm glad I did!

June

http://klatchroasting.zoovy.com/p...ntal_Espresso.html

[jffhn]

I'm intrigued; sounds great. I'll probably order some. But while I understand that 'Experimental' does not mean of questionable quality, it would be nice if the price were reduced or free shipping offered.

[Barnstormer's~Betty]

I'm intrigued; sounds great. I'll probably order some. But while I understand that 'Experimental' does not mean of questionable quality, it would be nice if the price were reduced or free shipping offered.

Point taken.

However, I'd be interested to know the reaction of a subway operator when you ride to your local roaster and ask for a fare reimbursement upon safely reaching your destination.

I am a Klatch repeat customer for their consistent (damn) good coffee.

June

[HB]

But while I understand that 'Experimental' does not mean of questionable quality, it would be nice if the price were reduced or free shipping offered.

Considering that Heather won last year's USBC with such an "experimental" blend, I don't think she needs to offer financial incentives to garner interest. That said, a small discount for HB members would certainly be appreciated (hint, hint).

[another_jim]

It came in a plain black bag hand marked D/O/0 5/S - C, with the slash marks showing alternative readings (there's a reason for using old fashioned words, redundancy). The roast date was 4/14, but it smelled none the worse for wear. If you ordered this, and your bag's arcane markings are different from mine, the taste may be different too. I dosed at 16 grams, rather than my usual 14, since this is closer to what it would taste like using standard Barista competition technique and gear.

This blend starts out with sparkling with apricot and plum. Sparkling mouth feel in regular coffee is rare, and usually a sign of extraordinarily high acidity; in espresso it's unheard of, for the same reason. But in this case, the acidity was either mild or compensated by sweetness. The sparkling gave way to a buttery caramel and dark chocolate finish. The aftertaste was mostly from the fruit, and very refreshing.

The good shots I made ran around 4.5 to 5.5 on taste (roughly 90 - 95 points); however, competition scores are usually lower due to the difficulties and delays of serving 4 drinks at once. My mouth feel scores would be higher than usual too, because of the sparkle; but I'm not sure how other judges would react. I like this blend more than what I remember of Klatch's last year's USBC and WBC blends.

[ckroaster]

Thanks for the feedback and comments. We are always trying new things in search of the perfect shot. This year we thought it would be fun and useful to get help from others as we develop a new blend for competition and friends. As you may know, our WBC Blend was awarded Best Espresso at the World Championships last year but as new varietals and crops became available we did not want to sit on our laurels. We tweak and try new blends every couple of days and thats why we code them (hopefully so people can provide feedback). At the Western Regional Competition in March we used Experimental Blend 031 and it was awarded "Best Espresso" at the WRBC. We have renamed this 'Wests Best Spro" and do offer it for sale. As for our experimental blends, we like almost every blend at 7 to 9 days past roast, 201-203 temp, and we normally dose up. We will be discontinuing the experimental blend next week as we head to SCAA and the United States Barista Championship. If you would like to get this, order by next Monday. As for a special to HB members on freight, check out the Anniversary Special starting this week
mike