Paradise Roasters' Espresso Classico

[another_jim]

Miguel sent me a bag (many thanks), and I've had a chance to try a few shots:

Most of the really good espresso blends sold in the US are, what I would call, after-dinner blends: sweet, heavy bodied, and suitable for accompanying a dessert. But the classic North Italian espresso is supposed to be a day-time coffee; dryer, lighter and more subtle than this dessert wine style. The problem with formulating such a blend is that the powerful aromatics in coffee can quickly become overwhelming unless accompanied by a lot of body and sweetness. So many of the famous North Italian blends are kind of blah, lacking in any interesting flavor.

To get a really great blend, one needs to get all the flavors in with a very soft touch. One solution is to go George Howell's route and use a super-premium Brasil. This does get a soft, dry blend with some subtleties; but Brasil is Brasil, it can only go so far. Enter Paradise Roasters' espresso Classico; can it beat the North Italians at their own game?

I've tried the Classico a few times, and it does set a new standard for this style of blend. As a ristretto on the hot side, one gets floral and rooty aromas, cocoa, and a wine & middle fruit finish. As a normale on the cool side, one gets a light creamy body, with pleasing orange, toast and buttery notes. Both types of shots were very enjoyable: soft and subtly flavorful. The blend shows well over the entire pulling range, so is not finicky. However, I don't think I've hit its sweetspot yet. I'll work with it until I do. But I think the overall picture is clear; for those looking for a North Italian style of blend, the Classico is a must try.

[HB]

As a ristretto on the hot side, one gets floral and rooty aromas, cocoa, and a wine & middle fruit finish. As a normale on the cool side, one gets a light creamy body, with pleasing orange, toast and buttery notes. Both types of shots were very enjoyable: soft and subtly flavorful.

Miguel also sent some Classico my way. Your report does me a great service since your description is much better than I could have managed. My preference leaned towards the cooler side (~201F) and a standard double. Miguel offered these suggestions:

For the Classico, I always find the best results using a little more coffee (19g) and a coarser grind with a 25 second extraction time. It does require a higher temp, but nothing outrageous, 202 -203 is where most of my customers find the best results. As long as you keep it above 200 it should be fine.

For the Nuevo, 18 grams, fine grind. 25-27 sec. 201-202 degrees.

PS: Paradise Roasters is very proud of their ratings on coffeereview.com, all which merited 90s (click to read the reviews). If you enter "HB" in the comment box when ordering two or more 14 ounce bags, Miguel will toss in a free 7 ounce Classico sample.

[CSME9]

Ordered 2 lbs of paradise classico based on the high reviews, all my shots so far seem a bit thin in body and crema with a sour note i can't get rid off. Using an Isomac TEA at different temps but sour taste still present. Machine is kept clean, any recommendations to improve quality of espresso with this blend.

Thanks, Will

[another_jim]

As I said in my review; this is not a heavy bodied, sweet, after dinner style espresso, but a drier, day time style.

You're looking for a lighter creamy body, so you'll want to draw at virtually full length (1 or 2 ounces), not too slowly, maybe 30 seconds from the point you turn on the pump, so you get good crema.

Pull it hotter, if you find it sour -- flush one ounce less than you normally do, and you'll get a more humped profile that will lower the acidity. However, this is a dryish blend (think white wine), so the acidity will be apparent. However, no espresso should be sour.

[another_jim]

I scored a bag from Miguel when I saw him at the GLBC. This blend ages very gracefully -- it's about 12 to 14 days after roasting, and the light notes have mellowed to a sweeter tangerine/apricot and the toasty caramel notes to a milk chocolate. It's still a light blend, but not quite Trieste anymore, maybe more Florence.

I think I personally prefer it at this level, although it lacks the complex notes it has a few days out from roasting.

[peacecup]

Anyone tried Caffe Umbria's Gusto Crema? I suppose this to be a Northern Itailan blend (Emanule Bizzarri is a third generation roaster from Perugia). It tastes great to me, although I'm just a novice. I have not tried the PR Classico, and since shipping to Alaska is expensive, I though I'd see if anyone has compared the two. Thanks

[paradiseroasters]

Shipping to Alaska would only be $4.25 for 1 bag and $8.25 for 2-6 bags of coffee. Shipped priority mail. Should arrive in 2-3 days. just FYI

[Ozark_61]

PS: Paradise Roasters is very proud of their ratings on coffeereview.com,...

I ordered some paradise as well based on the comments here. How do people here find the reviews on coffeereview? I was surprised to find Zoka's paladino 2005 rated at 82 points. The review from the previous year was 90 points and the four scores on the two reviews were 92, 89 (composite 90), 79, 84 (composite 82). I'm sure there are some year to year variability in beans / blends and in personal preferences. How do you feel about their ratings of your favorite espresso blends?

Geoff

[another_jim]

I ordered some paradise as well based on the comments here. How do people here find the reviews on coffeereview? I was surprised to find Zoka's paladino 2005 rated at 82 points. The review from the previous year was 90 points and the four scores on the two reviews were 92, 89 (composite 90), 79, 84 (composite 82). I'm sure there are some year to year variability in beans / blends and in personal preferences. How do you feel about their ratings of your favorite espresso blends?

Geoff

Espresso tasting is a tricky business:

-- there's a lot of shot to shot variation even on very good machines handled by very good baristas
-- espresso blends change dramatically in balance in the first week to ten days after roasting
-- the tongue tends to overload, and the taste of the previous shot **definitely** affects ones assessment of how the current shot balances (try this for yourself -- take the blend you're rating, drink it right after a light roasted, acidic blend, then right after a darker roast, bitterish blend, and you'll be very surprised.

I've become extremely sceptical of most espresso testing, even my own. I tend to place more credence in tests that are repeated ad nauseum -- how do you like the blend after pulling shots from several roasts daily for a week or two? How does that latest tweak on technique or equipment stand up in repeated side by side tests?

Ken Davids is a great taster, and if he's rating one shot of Paladino at 91, and another at 82, he's probably close both times. The problem is whether this has much to do with the blend or with a myriad of other factors. Coffee cupping is low tech, and this is it's ultimate strength, since there are no other factors beside the coffee. It's rather different with espresso.

Of course, if everyone were as sceptical as me, we wouldn't get anywhere; so lets hear it for the optimists.

[jrtatl]

Jim,

Your insight is always amazing.

IMHO, I've always felt that the wine critics have it a tad bit easier than the coffee critics. The wine folks can taste from bottle after bottle of "similar finished product." However, coffee is made, typically, on a per-demand basis (be it demitasse, cup, or pot). Each person making the coffee, as well as each machine making the coffee, will do it differently.

Cupping guidelines obviously go a long way to standardizing the process, but don't completely solve the problem (differences in roast level, etc).

Anywho, this topic is about the Paradise Espresso Classico (EC), so I thought I'd contribute my $0.02 (wouldn't it be nice if there was still a "cent" symbol in use?)

I found the EC to have incredible longevity. The degassing was popping the top off my mason jar well over a week after the roast date. I used the blend from approximately 5 days post-roast to approximately 14 days post-roast. The crema seemed to get thinner as the beans aged, but overall, I felt that the crema was solid and yet the mouthfeel was, at all times, light and airy.

From what I can recall, the flavors seemed mild and sweet. The nose was noticeably floral (hyssop maybe?); the finish winey (like a panama). Generally very smooth and pleasing. Reminds me of an espresso I am more familiar with: Espresso di Carlo from Mr. Espresso (but the paradise has a little more oomph in the varietal flavor; whereas the mr. espresso seems geared more toward roast flavor).

Well, please take the above comments with a grain of salt. I just returned from poker night, three sheets to the wind.

Jeremy

[cannonfodder]

I finished off my Classico today. Wow, that pretty much sums it up, did I say it was yummy...

[jasonmolinari]

Hey, anyone roasted this coffee green? I got a pack of roasted espresso classico, and a 5lb bag of green. I hope to learn the roast level from the roasted one, but if someone has a final temp and time of roast i'd find it helpful.

thanks
jason

Y

[malachi]

I ordered some paradise as well based on the comments here. How do people here find the reviews on coffeereview? I was surprised to find Zoka's paladino 2005 rated at 82 points. The review from the previous year was 90 points and the four scores on the two reviews were 92, 89 (composite 90), 79, 84 (composite 82). I'm sure there are some year to year variability in beans / blends and in personal preferences. How do you feel about their ratings of your favorite espresso blends?

Geoff

Complicated question.

1 - coffee is an agricultural product. it changes (sometimes quite significantly) harvest to harvest.
2 - coffee also (because of the above) changes week to week while green.
3 - blends, as a result, are reformulated very, very regularly.

That might address the year to year (and month to month and week to week) question.

It is very hard to do espresso tasting.
You really need to have an unusual combination to make it work. You need equipment that allows you to "tune" for each espresso (temp, pressure, etc) and which is highly consistent shot to shot (to give you better sample size). You need a very good barista. You need a pool of skilled cuppers (realistically if you're tasting a single espresso you probably need at least 4).

As for Coffee Review...

My own, personal, humble thoughts:

1 - Ken Davids is a very skilled cupper and is very knowledgeable.
2 - While my personal tastes in coffee are clearly different from his (based on his reviews) I respect his cupping reviews and am glad he does them.
3 - I am far less comfortable with his espresso reviews. From reading them over time, I am of the opinion that he is without the skilled barista to make this work and, in particular, is not varying either brew temp or dose to suit different coffees.


Finally, as for the Paladino, my own tasting earlier this year was actually similar if not of a slightly lower score. I felt that there was a bean that was quite off in the blend and over all it tasted scorched.

[jasonmolinari]

Just tried a couple shots of Classico. Quite nice. As Jim said, it is dry, like a white wine. So far i've pulled it at 200 and 201 18-19g double normale (just under 3oz.).
I'll try it as ristretto this afternoon. So far, nice, but not my favorite. I like thick, deep, sweet heavy flavors. This is very light bodied and dry.

jason

[Climb14er]

We'll I found another espresso blend to compliment the Black Cat I enjoy and one that's closer in taste to Ambrosia.

Paradise Roasters Espresso Classico.

This is one great tasting espresso!

It's got smoothness and crema and taste that's rich w/o any bitterness or acidity.

It's a blend that's similar to Cafe Fresco's Ambrosia and I think that's why I like it.

The communication was good with the company and they shipped a fresh couple of bags.

However, for the life of me, I cannot understand why they ship 14oz rather than a full pound.

Can you?

This aside, I'm extremely impressed with the espresso blend.

Can anyone recommend any of their other coffees, single origin, for a French Press?

Kudos to an excellent espresso.