Rate My Roast: Nutty Buddy

by **another_jim** on Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:07 am

Roaster's description:

RMR wrote:Thanks for offering to taste the coffees

This is my stock blend and was roasted by SC/TO on July 20. I find it peaks 5 to 7 days after roasting

25% Brazil Facenda Jacaranda
25% Brazil FVA Natural Dry
25% Monsooned Malabar
12.5% Oromia Yrg
12.5% Yemen Sanani

It's an all purpose, bu I like it for macs and caps. I pull 2 ounces at 201.

My main aim is lots of toast and nut with some chocolate. I think this does well except for occasional musty or grassy flavors from the Monsoon if the roast profile isn't right.

I look forward to your comments

by **Abe Carmeli** on Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:21 am

Day 1

I had a shot of his coffee this morning. 2 oz 16.5 grams 201f in 26 seconds. It was nicely balanced with notes of toasted almonds & sunflower seeds husks. I was surprised not to get any flavor of the Africans in the blend and for me it was mostly the Brazilians & the Malabar. There is still a slight mushroom mustiness in the finish, but it hits me after two minutes, not right away. I think balance is the strength of this blend. Flavor is a little mild/pedestrian for me. Perhaps a 1.5 oz pull will bring in more from the Africans.

Day 2-3

A shorter volume pull of 1.5 oz in 25 seconds and & 198f brought in more pronounced flavors of dark chocolate, toasted nuts and nondescript mellow and pleasant acidity. Body & mouth-feel are improved as well. However, there was a price to pay in balance, and the bitters are more pronounced. Experiments with different brew parameters going all the way down to 14 grams changed the cup profile but kept the overall score at 3.5 which is halfway between good and very good. This coffee can tolerate a range of brew parameters and can go from a very mild & balanced 2 oz shot to a very chocolaty ristretto. I personally would have loved to taste more of the African coffees in the blend, which could have brought up its overall score. It is worth experimenting with a more vivid roast of the Africans and a slight increase of their percentage in the blend while decreasing the percentage of the Malabar and/or Brazilians

by **another_jim** on Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:37 pm

The cappa passes my personal Viennese Kaffee and Schlag test: almonds/marzipan, a little chocolate, a little smoke. Very satisfying, but not wow!: A straight four in my book.

Straight shots at 16 grams and 22 seconds for a full two ounces are solid. Abe is right, there's nothing explicit from the Africans, but there is some liveliness and complexity in the bitters that shows them at work. Otherwise as advertised: toast and nut, a hint of of the Malabar wet wood & mushrooms thing. I'd rate it just short of being very good, a 3.5.

The contrarian shot, 12.5 grams, with a long flush to 197F, and a medium pull is better, a 4: very sweet,
mostly brazil rooty-nutty, with "bright-bitter" wood and toast, a bit of chocolate, and just enough acidity to keep it lively.

I'm no fan of the Vivace/Malabar Gold/Liquid Amber blending style. These blends haven't fared well in competition; but they are popular with customers. I think their appeal is more to customers used to milk drinks rather than coffee professionals used to cupping lighter roasts. But this blend is a good effort in this style, and I recommend it based on that.

If you want to get a little livelier, emphasise the African bean more. If it is a post-blend, roast the African portion maybe a little lighter and definitely faster. If it is a pre-blend, up the proportion of the Yrg at the expense of the Brazilian beans.

by HB on Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:52 pm

This was a very easy blend to dial in and predictable. A nice crema and tiger striping; the dominate flavors are nuts (walnuts and almonds if pulled cooler) with reminiscent oak overtones. An enjoyable albeit simple blend; if you're willing to tolerate some hints of sourness, try pulling a few degrees cooler and you'll be rewarded by more berry/almond overtones.The body was silky smooth. While the front taste was consistently enjoyable, I was unable to avoid a lingering bitterness/ash finish that marred an otherwise solid 3.0 espresso.

by **RMR** on Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:57 am

My thanks to the illustrious panel of judges! The information that you have provided has been outstanding and I can't wait to work on the next revision...

Clearly the next effort will cut back on the monsooned coffee and bring the africans up in concert.

I've been trying to reduce/eliminate the monsooned malabar but have never found anything that seems to work very well. I've had some batches of this coffee that are a sour and musty as a damp wash rag! Despite this liability, I have yet to find another bean that offers the creamy mouthfeel and body that seems to accompany monsooned coffee when it is good. I've tried sumatra but still haven't found a bean or roast that really does the job. Any thoughts about how to move in this direction would be very welcomed.

My next question is whether the judges would be willing to take samples of the next version - it would be very interesting get your thoughts of blend as it is refined.

by **Abe Carmeli** on Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:52 am

RMR wrote:I've been trying to reduce/eliminate the monsooned malabar but have never found anything that seems to work very well ... I've tried Sumatra but still haven't found a bean or roast that really does the job. Any thoughts about how to move in this direction would be very welcomed.

Try an aged Sumatra instead of the Malabar but perhaps not more than 15%. The bad ones will be woody, the good ones will be like fine heavy brandy. The best I've tried is from Terroir, but I'm not sure they still have it.

RMR wrote:My next question is whether the judges would be willing to take samples of the next version - it would be very interesting get your thoughts of blend as it is refined.

Speaking for myself here, I'd be interested to see version 2, so feel free to send me your sample.

by **cannonfodder** on Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:33 pm

I was going to suggest the same thing Abe did. Cut the MM out completely and go with an aged Sumatran. Different beans prefer different roast levels but you could try it at full city just before or at the first snap of second. That keeps the charcoal flavor out but mellows out some of the funk that some of the aged Sumatrans have. FYI, my running house blend is Yemen, aged Sumatran and a nice peaberry Brazil yellow bourbon, Full City, City, City+ roast levels for my particular beans.

by **another_jim** on Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:21 pm

The attraction of Monsooned Malabars is its relative consistency. Aged Javas and Sumatras went from a few heavenly to many sewage plant ones (some people still kid me about a blend I sent out about 4 years ago).

However this has changed. An air conditioned warehouse in Kuala Lumpur now ages high grade washed Lintongs for four to five years. These coffees are carried by green by Terroir and Paradise, and Bob and I have scored them at around 90 each of the three or four times we've tried a new batch. In other words, they completely outperform MM.

There are still some inconsistencies: some have worked better at unusually light, some at unusually dark roasts, and they may also need to run anywhere from 1/8th to 1/4 in a blend to add just the right level of their characteristic oak-cask flavor.

by **cannonfodder** on Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:12 pm

The blend I have been using is 50% Yemen, 30% aged Sumatran and 20% Brazil yellow bourbon peaberry, or two different Brazil's at 10% each depending on what I want. I have one of those good Sumatrans, at a light roast is brighter with some fruity complexity, darker roasts (start of second) the flavor shifts and I get a heaver flavor with pronounced sherry cask flavors that will linger on the tongue for an hour.

by **RMR** on Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:27 pm

Hi,

Version 2.0 of Nutty Buddy is a slight variation:

25% Brazil Facenda Jacaranda
25% Brazil FVA Natural Dry
10% Monsooned Malabar
20% Oromia Yirg
20% Yemen Sanani

The hope in heading into version 2.0 is to accomplish a couple of things. First, the judges comments strongly suggested that the original blend could use more character and that the African coffees were "missing". By boosting their proportion, I'm hoping to get more of them to appear. The second comment was that the monsooned coffee might be a liability so that was the clear bean to bring down.
Last, two judges noted ashiness in the coffee which I puzzled over a bit but I think I understand now. In my SC/TO I've been pre-blending the Yemen and Yirg with the hope that the smaller Yemen beans would get to a slightly higher degree of roast than the Yirg. The idea being to get the chocolate from the darker Yemen and the fruit and herbs from the lighter Yirg. Well, I pulled a small sample of this two bean blend to cup and noticed that my roasting strategy has largely failed. This blend simply goes too dark under the conditions that I'm currently using to roast and I'm willing to bet that this accounts for a reasonable contribution to the issues - ash and not much African character. In version 3.0 (if we keep going), I'd probably opt to roast the Yirg and Yemen separately.

Again - it will be great to get some feedback and I'm enjoying this immensely!


Contact Us	Legal disclaimer and copyright: This content and all its parts are copyrighted, all rights reserved. Content including all text and images in part or in whole may not be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission. Home-Barista, Home-Barista.com and related logos are trademarks of Home-Barista.com, LLC. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. By accessing this site, you agree to the terms of service. Overall speed: , current page: s, avg: s, max: s