Espresso 'Aida' 2006 - SERBC Winning Espresso

[MarkO]

January 2007 Update:

As many of you might have already discovered, we're no longer selling Espresso 'Aida' 2006, the all-Salvadoran espresso blend used by murky's Nicholas Cho to win the 2006 South East Regional Barista Competition. Thanks to everyone who tried Espresso Aida at home. Such an enthusiastic response to Espresso Aida makes me confident that it won't be the last custom, competition-proven espresso blend we will offer.

Nick developed the espresso blend specifically to win the SERBC, held September 22-24, 2006. An all-Salvadoran blend, it pulls extremely bright with fruit-juice sweetness reminiscent of red licorice that complements a honeysuckle mouth feel and an unconventionally clean finish. It was developed in part as a tribute to Aida Battle, a renowned and passionate Salvadoran coffee producer whose farms sit upon the slopes of the Santa Ana Volcano (Ilamatepec).

In Nick's words, "True coffee passion is expressed in the act of preparing or appreciating coffee as a drink, but that passion must also celebrate the whole journey from the seed to the cup."

For your historical records, the blend consisted of:

Finca Kilimanjaro peaberry
Finca Los Alpes peaberry
Finca Mauritania peaberry
Finca Mauritania 2006
Cerro La Rana pulped natural

Best,

Mark

[HB]

I scored a pound of murky coffee's "aida" 2006 yesterday and brewed a half-dozen or so shots this morning. First the official description:

An all-El Salvadoran blend, it pulls extremely bright with fruit-juice sweetness reminiscent of red licorice, a honey-thick mouthfeel, and an unconventionally clean finish.

It goes on to call out brewing parameters: 199.5F, 20 gram dose, 27 seconds. Since Jon's 18 gram basket conveniently arrived this week, I used it to pull the requisite 20 grams and dialed down for a ~1.5 ounce ristretto to tame the fearful brightness the description spoke of. Maybe my brightness-meter has moved, but it didn't peg to the right, but slowed about 2/3rd of the way to "very bright", settling in a seasonably appropriate cranberry citrusy flavor.

They're not kidding about the finish; it's a disappearing act that startled me. Whoa, where did it go?!? I exceeded the recommended pour times for three or four shots and it worked better to my taste, emphasizing the complexity that otherwise dropped off for the standard paced pours. The promised heavy crema also came though better and persisted longer with the slower pulls.

[Nick]

Thanks for the description Dan... but... was it good?

[HB]

I was hoping nobody would ask for too much detail... let's just say it was very good, and a lot better than I've sampled before.

[jesawdy]

I enjoyed this one, but I had some crema problems. Not sure whether to chalk it up to the blend or my machine (used Silvia, god forbid that it is my barista skills ). I would have monster crema as it poured, but most times it was a bit of a disappearing act. The crema was not very persistent. More than a few times I had an inky well staring at me if the shot wasn't immediately consumed or served.

Unfortunately, I did not take any better tasting notes than the above... and my taster's palate is pretty young. Also, and this may be a bit sacrilege, I have fallen into a cafe americano rut as of late (a double into a total drink volume of about 5-6 oz for me). I did have 2 or 3 espressos and 1 or 2 cappas, but the bulk went to my familiar friend the americano.

[HB]

The crema was not very persistent. More than a few times I had an inky well staring at me if the shot wasn't immediately consumed or served.

I noticed the crema threatened to break up faster when pulling a true double in ~25 seconds; tightening the grind and extending the pour time increased the creaminess and persistence. It wasn't the easiest blend to work with, but there were a few shots that really stood out in my mind as the best I've had in weeks.