Great report. I just drank my first coffee from Supersonic two days ago, their espresso blend. It is aromatic, rich, lively and a fantastic coffee altogether. The taste notes mention "blood orange" and, despite the limits of my amateurish palate, I could completely discern this in the cup.
I will try more from them. The only thing that bothers me a bit is their pricing which is among the highest I've seen in the industry. I wished they'd introduce some sort of a perk for mail order clients such as free shipping for a certain minimum order.
Great coffee and great technology and knowledge behind it. Somewhat unaffordable for me to become a regular.

endlesscycles wrote:without question it's a brilliant burner and a machine of the highest quality. The coffees I've had from Lorings (I've sought them out since I'm in the market for one) all have a common, very positive quality that I find in utterly clean mouth-feel; I've attributed it to lower oxygen, and so less baking/charring/whatever of the fine edge of the crease, which I think is an inevitability and detracts from cup quality in the same way as scorching does. Supersonic coffees are quite clean. Roasters who go deeper such as Nosa are also quite clean.

KUMA uses Loring and their coffee cups quite clean, mmmm good stuff. I've not always found that in DOMA, a longtime Loring shop. (quite limited experience with both, to be fair)

Marshall's comment certainly makes sense, if the flat of the bean isn't in contact with a traditional drum with external heat conducting straight thru it, it should prevent some of that high conductive effect. I'm not saying the drum walls of the Loring are cool, but they're not as hot as a traditional drum. I suspect he can get similar results with his fluid bed roaster however.

I've started challenging myself to try coffee much further out from the roast date than I normally would. Traditionally I'd take a coffee off my home bar after about the 9th day, maybe a few days longer if it's a good natural processed Ethiopian or Yemen. But lately, going back to coffees that are in the 3 week range are still quite capable if stored well. Today I'm going to brew a cup of the Sota that I still have from this meetup, which is now 30 days old.

TomC wrote:...

The outside color of coffee roasted on a Loring certainly attests to a gentler heat. It always appears less developed than it is.

On topic of Supersonic Coffee Roastery: I've heard through the grapevine there are some major changes happening to their space. Any more public knowledge?

Not public

I did read this yesterday: East Bay's Supersonic Coffee Going It Alone After Split with Investor (Daily Coffee News)

Hmmm. Some of that info is already old news and not quite correct.

They have a pretty solid social media team, they'll make their changes known in due time.