Favorite Espresso Blends 2012 - Page 2

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RapidCoffee
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#11: Post by RapidCoffee »

heavyduty wrote:I also found that stirring the shot really synergized this blend and kicked it up a notch (at least for me). I wonder if any of the reviewers did this and found it helped (or not).
My protocol for these reviews is to extract into a tared shot glass, so that I can note both the weight and volume. The espresso is then poured into a cup for tasting, which makes stirring moot. To elaborate further: I slurp from a spoon to taste the straight espresso, then stir in a half teaspoon of sugar and taste again, then pour in 1-2oz of frothed milk and taste again.

Regardless, I always stir (or swirl) my espresso prior to drinking.
John

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#12: Post by heavyduty »

RapidCoffee - Thanks for your response. I have read your protocol many times on the last 2 yrs. reviews. Admittedly, I skipped over it this first review. The other reviewers don't do this, so I was curious. I'm sure stirring a shot has been covered here many times, but I have just recently begun to experiment with this. I'm trying to do this more as most of the time I just plain forget to. Would stirring a shot of a 2 bean blend improve it taste-wise more so than a multi-bean blend or a SO? It seemed to do it for me on the Rustico.
Tomorrow came sooner than expected.

Paul

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shadowfax
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#13: Post by shadowfax »

heavyduty wrote:The other reviewers don't do this, so I was curious. I'm sure stirring a shot has been covered many times, but I have just recently begun to experiment with this.
I always stir my espresso if I have a spoon, or swirl it as vigorously as I can if not (this never works nearly as well). I always have a spoon at home, so during these reviews, all my shots are stirred. I'm not sure when I started doing this, but I remember finding that it usually improved the shot, and especially when tasting shots with friends, improved the consistency of our impressions. I've never bothered to mention this, as I just assumed this was something people do. IIRC it's part of USBC tasting protocol.

But I'm probably very wrong on that assumption. This thread (w/poll) may be very old, but certainly supports the idea that not many people do. It's probably best to move any extended discussion to that thread.
Nicholas Lundgaard

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another_jim
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#14: Post by another_jim »

heavyduty wrote:Would stirring a shot of a 2 bean blend improve it taste-wise more so than a multi-bean blend or a SO? It seemed to do it for me on the Rustico.
Stirring folds the crema into the liquid (think of folding beaten egg whites into a dough), and this usually creates a more structured mouthfeel and flavoring. Stirring with a slow folding motion is the best technique.

Mostly, the crema on its own tastes dry and bitterish, while the liquid on its own will taste too extreme. In all such cases stirring will improve the shot. Sometimes both crema and the liquid taste good on their own. But this is rare, and I don't think there are any rules in predicting it.

It's easy enough to check: make the shot without swirling it while it pours, and taste the crema. If it tastes good, don't stir.
Jim Schulman

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TrlstanC
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#15: Post by TrlstanC »

I happened to have, in my freezer, some Apollo 7.0 and Rustico (what I assume is the previous blend before this one), so I pulled a few shots of each this morning. When I dialed in both of them before I ended up around 17-18g and around 25s for ristretto. At these doses the Apollo was lemoney, with some berries, and a dry finish. The Rustico was more complex, and pretty much as advertised, with nuts/chocolate/sour cherry and balanced sweetness. I'm assuming that this new blend of Rustico we tasted blind doesn't share any components with the last version, they didn't taste very similar to me.

I also tried both at higher doses, 21g, which was my favorite for the latest Rustico (although that was a bit of an outlier among the reviewers), and surprisingly both worked relatively well there as well. The higher dose brought the lemon out in the Apollo, along with some lighter fruit flavors, kiwi or melon. The flavors were still well balanced though without any strong acid/bitter, enough sweetness, and still nice and clean. The Rustico got a little ashy at higher doses/temps, but dumping the first couple seconds cleaned it up a lot (my guess is those first few drops have a lots of fines in them), and the flavors shifted towards nuttiness, with the chocolate and sour-cherry lingering more in the aftertaste.

The one flavor I didn't get this morning was that brandy/chardonnay oakyness that really stood out for me in the review. I'm guessing the Ethiopian (if that's what it is) in the latest Rustico is responsible for that, as well as some of the other flavors that popped up during the review. All in all, this reinforced the feeling that this Rustico is something of an "Apollo light" - not quite as complex (or traditional) as it used to be, but gaining some tasty fruit and brandy flavors instead.

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Eastsideloco
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#16: Post by Eastsideloco »

another_jim wrote: WHO SHOULD BUY IT This blend bridges the gap between relatively unchallenging comfort food blends and very difficult SOs. It is a good skill building blend, since there is a choice of good tastes in the extraction space, bit also a few spots to avoid.
Great reviews, everyone. Thank you. I'm looking forward to putting some of these preparation notes to use.

Jim's comment above resonates with me in particular. I've been using CC rustico, rustico decaf and toscano blends at home for about a month. I'm low on the learning curve with my machine, and have found that these are in fact good skill building blends. They are tolerant of experimentation and exploration. It's harder to pull a bad shot with these than the SOs I've used. I've enjoyed these straight up and with milk.

Also, my wife really appreciates these blends, which are meant to recall traditional Italian espressos. She studied in Rome for a year. While that was 20+ years ago, it's entirely possible that the Rustico is evocative of espressos drinks she had in Rome. If so, that's one of the things CC was going for.

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#17: Post by shawndo »

It has been covered before, but stirring never even occurred to me until I saw a barista at RBC do it. I tried it when I got home, and my shot flavor improved like magic!. I'm a stirrer convert now and went out and bought a bunch of demitasse spoons immediately!
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

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Bak Ta Lo
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#18: Post by Bak Ta Lo »

Shawn,

Yep, got me too, I have an old solid silver "cupping spoon" I keep around for, well, cupping. I have started to stir my shots with it. I think it sometimes changes the shot, I need a double blind taste test to confirm how much of that is in my head. :wink:
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#19: Post by HB (original poster) »

People's Daily by Social Coffee & Tea Company

UPDATED 04/20/2012: Revealed Favorite Espresso Blend #2 identity:
Social Coffee & Tea Company wrote:Luscious mélange of black currant, chocolate, dried fruit and caramel with a nutty, creamy, syrupy finish. A monument to superior blending, our flagship espresso hails from Brazil, Costa Rica and Ethiopia.
ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION:

As noted in the introduction, this year the reviews will be done without the reviewers knowing the identity of the coffee. I organized the purchase/delivery of coffee, but the others will receive a plain bag of coffee with no hints about recommended brew parameters. As another twist, the reviewers will include an invited guest. For this round, Jonny Balogh (Jonnhy) will join us. Welcome! Since my evaluation isn't blind, I am holding off posting my thoughts until a few others post.

The review begins this weekend; until the thread is unlocked, please see Nominees for "Favorite Espresso Blends 2012" review for questions/comments.
Dan Kehn

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#20: Post by jonny »

I'm honored to have been selected as one of the guest reviewers for Espresso Blend Favorites 2012. Quick low down: I use an '83 Maximatic (Livietta) with an Elektra MCAL basket. Boiler pressure bounces between .9 and 1.1 bar. Brew pressure is set to 9 bar blind. No restrictor orifice/jet. Flash boiling stops at 2.0 ounces flushed, medium temperature is around 3.0 ounces flushed and low temperature is around 4.0 ounces flushed. The grinder I am currently using is a Mazzer Major with full hopper, basket weighed upon grinding. So, here goes nothing!

Initial impressions and cupping
The coffee arrived in a generic, sealed, one-way valved, silver bag. Upon inspecting the beans, I see no surface oils but even color, no wrinkles. I wasted no time and immediately started the kettle and measured out for cupping. Ground dry fragrance is malty, sweet and pungent. I smell root beer candy. We all know dry fragrance says little about taste, so on with it! Upon wetting the grounds, I smell blueberry jam mixed under the malt tones. Breaking the crust just smells herbal, malty, simple. Hot tastes have toasted marshmallow, honey and nuts, hint of vanilla bean, and blueberry if you look for it, with dark chocolate on the finish. As the cup cools, I get an interesting watermelon and cucumber taste with the blueberry coming forward a little more and honey and nuts defined as peanut butter.

Onto some espresso!
Right off the bat, I can tell you that this coffee is for those who like a simple coffee that tastes balanced and sweet without a whole lot of thinking. I'd call it an "easy listener" if it were music or your "daily driver" if it were a vehicle. This coffee has a medium acidity, medium body, low complexity, quick and clean finish, and relatively easy to get a good shot at different parameters. Cup aroma foreshadows the taste with low brightness and baked bread. I hung out in the medium temperature range and found my best shots in the ristretto realm, although lower ratios produced good shots as well.
In order of brew ratio from low to high:
Shot #1
Dose, Yield & Ratio: 14.3 g in, 25.3 g out = 57%
Temperature: medium-high
Notes: The higher temperature brings out the toasted marshmallow (broken down into caramelized sugar and vanilla) with a hint of hickory.
Shot #2
Dose, Yield & Ratio: 15.0 g in, 23.5 g out = 64%
Temperature: medium
Notes: malty herbal aroma, green tea, watermelon rind sourness. Although this had some nice flavors, at this ratio, a slightly higher temp is probably more balanced.
Shot #3
Dose, Yield & Ratio: 13.5 g in, 17.5 g out = 77%
Temperature: medium-low
Notes: This produced a simple and mild cup with mostly nuts and honey. Milk chocolate finish. Not super interesting but one might call it a "crowd pleaser."
Shot #4
Dose, Yield & Ratio: 14.0 g in, 16.5 g out = 85%
Temperature: medium
Notes: This was probably one of my best shot. It produced the largest spectrum of flavor. The cup has a nice milk chocolate aroma. Taste has roasted coriander seed, a hint of blueberry, and a clean finish.
Shot #5
Dose, Yield & Ratio: 15.0 g in, 17.0 g out = 88%
Temperature: medium-high
Notes: This cup was also very tasty. Again, raising the temperature just a bit makes it just all toasted marshmallow and quite sweet at this ristretto range.

Obligatory nude photo. This says absolutely nothing about the taste of the coffee, but I feel it qualifies the coffee and myself for ability to pull a decent shot, and you sick people love to look at this stuff :lol:


Conclusion
This blend was easy to work with. Out of about 20 shots, only a couple were sink shots (and that's including dial-in shots). The sink shots were produced at low brew ratios and low temperatures. This made for bitter citrus rind shots. The best shots are found in the 80-90% range. Tighter than that, shots start to get "salty." Overall, I thought this to be a relatively simple flavor profile with not a whole lot of nuance. The finish was almost always fleeting which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you like a nice clean finish. The only milk drinks I tried were macchiatos which were quite tasty and easy to drink. This is definitely a coffee I would choose for pleasing a variety of people and also as an every-day drinker. It is a no fuss, simple and sweet cup. I just want to finish by restating that this coffee is delicious and a pleasure to work with and drink, but it is no super complex single origin zinger.