Here is my review of #2:

INTRODUCTION Please check back later for the reveal

OVERALL TASTE Lightly roasted coffees usually have floral and fruit flavors, and sometimes light toned astringent or bitter flavors like the lemon zest or the bitterness of cherry or tomato peel. Smokey and spicy flavors, on the other hand, develop as the roast gets darker. However, there are some coffees, most notably those of Antigua in Guatemala, where spice and smoke like flavors are part of the origin taste. This coffee is one of these, with a fresh tobacco flavor coupled with a non-specific acidity. If tobacco plants had fruit, it would taste like this. The coffee was poorly balanced, lacking sweetness, in the first few days after the roast. After about four days, the sweetness improved and the taste of the brewed cup and the shots became much more pleasing. At its best, there was a dessert wine like, dried fruit sweetness.

DIALING IN Start with a fine grind, low dose, very cool, fast flow and low brew ratios to minimize the bitterness and maximize the acidity and sweetness. As the coffee ages, go coarser and higher dosed, keeping the temperature low, but raising the brew ratio a bit.

(Added retroactively, August 3, 2014) The Bay Area has much softer water, at 25ppm TDS, then most areas in the US including my Chicago (150ppm TDS). Water this soft is slightly biased towards underextraction and favoring the acidic flavors. This bled is a lot easier to handle with water in this range, and can be done with finer grinds and hotter brew temperatures. Contrariwise, if a blend has been developed for pulling on 200F LMs with Strada or VST baskets in SF, you should be grinding coarser, using a triple, pulling cooler almost everywhere else in the world.

WHO SHOULD BUY Anyone who likes odd and complex bitters. Have a yen for Campari, Fernet Branca Jaegermeiser and your Grandma's root liquors? This is your blend. If you're in the mood for a fruit bomb, stay away.

Favorite Espresso Blends #2. I'll reveal the roaster once we get the last review or two posted.

Espresso: Initial dial-in with suggested parameters reveals low acid, nicely developed caramels and a nice balance of sweet-salty but more savory-umami at first, but sweetens as it starts to cool. There is a clear filbert nut note, it remains mild and delicate. The main thing going for this blend is a wonderful play of salty vs sweet. Dutched cocoa is one dimensional until it cools a bit and opens up and gathers strength. No significant fruit to speak of, but when I played around with the flow parameters without changing anything else, the blend really opened up. The main focus on dialing in this espresso is to keep your temps low, lest you be hit by astringency. This coffee excels at lower temps and a slightly coarser grind/faster flow for a shorter shot extraction time to emphasize the sweetness. This seems to swing the balance from savory to a better sweet/salty harmony. This espresso works wonderfully in milk, cutting thru the milk with exactly what I want in a cappuccino: clean, sweet nutty (almost hazelnut) chocolate, and milk. It's not heavy handed on the dry distillates end which is pleasant. Usual espresso blends that lack bright acidity do so by roasting so dark that any delicate trace of origin is gone and you're left with astringent dry distillates and nothing but roast. This blend stands out as a clean, subtle roast of delicate coffees that lets their inherent nature shine thru. Fans of low acid, clean espresso that isn't on the dark side of roast will enjoy this blend.

Using the same dose,grind etc, yet allowing the pre-infusion pump to really hit the puck hard, with unrestricted flow after disengaging the pump brought out very marked (surprising) improvements. The astringency went away, the coffee began to shine with a pleasing balance of salty-sweet dance between the caramels and the subtle milk chocolate notes. These flavors lingered much longer on the palate that revealed graham cracker and walnuts in the finish along with sweet mild cocoa.

The low acidity presents a challenge; nail the lower temp and flow and you've got an otherwise good shot, even without the bolster of acidity. I keep going back to the salty/sweet balance because I feel that is what makes the blend unique and helps it shine. I do like that it has no tongue searing lemon juice, and it makes a bang on delicious cappuccino which is how I'd recommend serving it. This is a blend for folks seeking balanced, low acid espresso that doesn't get mucked up in roasty defects. Folks seeking bright acidity or heavy fruit in their espresso might find it less interesting.

Cupping notes for #2:

Low acidity and slight roast flavor. Sweet. Predominately savory flavor of beef, stewed tomatoes, and a little green pepper in the finish.

And now as espresso... Brew parameters recommended by roaster:

• 18.5g dose
  first drops at 7 seconds
  25 second full extraction for a ristretto
  around 24g liquid.
  PID set to 197.5°F

Brewed or as espresso, it's consistent. Brewed as French press, this coffee was savory with flavors of beef, green pepper, and ripe stewed tomatoes. Brewed as espresso, the same flavors predominated but intensified. Those who enjoy simple, low-acidity espresso will appreciate this coffee. My guess is that the coffee was designed to be served straight up or as a small-volume milk drink. The savory and distinct sweetness translated into an interesting, delicate "caramel and sea salt" cappuccino.
The above video was just a quick test showing how the scale/timing works; don't take it too seriously.

Our second coffee reviewed this years Favorite Espresso Blend 2014 is Linea Caffe's Espresso Blend. Andrew Barnett is a seasoned veteran in the coffee community on the west coast, with many years of roasting and blend development under his belt. Together with Ant Walach his roaster, they offer us interesting coffees from very high quality focused farms, often from Brazil where Andrew has worked tirelessly for more than a decade to source and craft great coffee.

Commonly, this blend is crafted of only the cleanest, sweetest pulp natural Brazilian coffee, along with a small component of washed Ethiopian coffee. A big thank you to Andrew and Ant and the rest of the team at Linea Caffe for their help putting on this review.

Thanks Tom for arranging the second review and thanks to Linea Caffe for the evaluation coffee!

UPDATED 08/04/2014:

Revealed Favorite Espresso Blend #3 identity:

Verve Streetlevel Espresso

Verve Coffee Roasting wrote:An alluring and vibrant meyer lemon sweetness washes over the palate from the start, as notes of butterscotch and almond keep the cup weighted. A fudge-like body remains as the finish of amaretto lingers.

Preparation Recommendations: Streetlevel Espresso works perfectly as your everyday espresso or as a brewed coffee. This version we have been liking pulled fast and medium in output. IN: 19.7g // OUT: 29-30.5g // @23-24s

FEB#3 is a medium roast espresso blend for chocolate lovers. I received my sample (in a plain unmarked brown paper bag) the day before departure for a week in San Francisco*. So... into the freezer it went. I defrosted it two nights before testing. Caveat: a slight baking soda sharpness on the tongue suggests that it might benefit from more rest.


I brewed this coffee at temperatures ranging from 88C to 94C, extraction times from 25-30 seconds, and brew ratios from 50-100%. The roast is easy to dial in for espresso (my standard 15g dose - equivalent to 18g in a 58mm basket - worked well).

Ristretto pour.

Taste is dominated by a dark chocolate taste profile across the board. Lower brew temperatures bring out a pleasant citrus/tamarind fruitiness, and higher brew temperatures favor bittersweet chocolate. I preferred it brewed at higher temperatures (92-93C) and higher brew ratios, with a small amount of sugar (and/or milk) to balance the bitterness. Milk brings out both chocolate and caramel flavors, especially in the aftertaste. There are hints of almond/hazelnut liquor aromatics but no strong nuttiness.


Who should order this roast:
Chocoholics fer sure! The lack of finickiness (is that a word?) makes this a good blend for beginners.

* A week in SF, overlapping CoffeeCon no less, and no good coffee. How is that possible?!?

Here's our third espresso blend reviewed this year. Again, they were unknown to everyone (including myself, since this particular roaster offers several espresso blends).

I find this blend very approachable and finely balanced 3rd wave espresso that graciously lacks the typical sour acidity commonly found in other poorer efforts from less skilled roasters. I find this blend to excel as a straight espresso and that's how I'd recommend it and it's the main way I'll chose to drink it. Making cappuccinos from it tends to leave a papery-flat note that I find common in nearly all 3rd wave cappuccino. Since it seems complete and wonderfully balanced and crafted the way it is straight, I see no reason to bury it in milk. But that's a subjective call.

The dry fragrance is deep, rich buttery caramels balanced by a mildly savory backbone. My favorite shots have been higher dosed, faster than typical flows (faster shots), relatively hot (no PID on a Strega lever, but the trailing temp decrease really hones bright coffees IMO). When the coffee is dialed in, it delivers a balance unlike most any other espresso blend I've had. It exhibits a harmony of smooth, well integrated sweet lemon(not sour or sharp at all) acidity that lofts the flavor profile overall and makes the shots interesting. I'm still blind to what this coffee is, since the roaster I contacted has several options to choose from, so in a way, it's still a blind assessment. My palate tells me that this coffee is central heavy with either all washed and/or no African components.

On the palate there's wonderfully balanced buttery caramels that linger. This too contributes to a finely balanced lingering finish and wonderful mouthfeel. Earlier shots with slower flow gave very subtle notes of pine needles and a herbaceous almost lavender rosemary note. But when pulled this way, the balance was off and the cup could stray towards astringent. Dosed higher without tightening the grind brought out pure mouth-coating velvet that left the herby notes behind and just left me with balanced, sweet, lingering "rich coffee" notes. Sometimes you don't need to gild the lily on flavor descriptors and that's fine as long as there's harmony in the cup, which this one has in spades. Predominant flavors were buttery sweet caramels, lots of dark cocoa, clean flavors with bright, sweet citrus acidity.

This would be a stellar option for folks seeking 3rd wave done exceptionally well. It's an espresso that I'd sit and enjoy several of in a session, which I don't commonly do.

Keep your dose high relative to your grind and get the shot a bit faster than you'd otherwise expect and you'll have this easy to dial in espresso nailed.

This coffee arrived in a non descriptive box in a brown unmarked bag with the exception of a big #2 written on it. Upon opening the bag I was greeted with a nice aroma. Bit if nut, lightly sweet with hints of fruit/berries. It is a lighter roast with no oils showing on the surface. The splits in the bean are a nice pale yellow so I am guessing this has some washed coffee in it.

I found the coffee to work over a range of temperatures making it easy to dial in. I was pulling acceptable shots on the second or third pull. The flavors held for several days so it is a relatively stable coffee that ages well. You can expect to get several days of good use from this coffee. In the cup I was getting bakers chocolate, light citrus and a pleasant sugar cane sweetness. There was a light acidity in the cup helping to balance the dark chocolate/bakers chocolate notes. The cup was not overly bitter although there was a slight bitter tinge in the back of the palate.

I ended up with a slightly warmer extraction at 201F using a 18 gram dose pulled in 25-26 seconds for 1.75 ounces (by volume, forgot to weight the shot). My machine is a plumbed in rotary which comes to pressure in just over one second so if you are using a vibe pump E61 you could expect a slightly longer extraction. If I had to give this coffee a label it would be a northern Italian roast with a light citrus twist. Lowering the temperature flattened out the cup and raising the temperature brought out more of the bakers chocolate bitter but I would say you could run this coffee from 200-202F depending on the nuance you wanted.

In a traditional cappuccino the citrus faded away and the chocolate came forward. As the cup cooled I picked up more nut in the cup and the chocolate became even stronger giving me a hazelnut hot coco.

This was an over all pleasing coffee able to tolerate a wide range of extraction parameters making it ideal for a wide range of machines.

INTRODUCTION To be filled in after reveal.

OVERALL TASTE This is a Bay Area blend, where the water is substantially softer than in my home Chicago (25ppm versus 150ppm TDS). Softer water underextracts and favors acidity when compared to harder water in identical conditions. In both waters, this coffee has a combination of acidity and astringency that adds up to a very nice juicy, mouthwatering texture. The brews and shots with hard water tended towards the more spicy end of the bitter spectrum, whereas in softer water, it tended towards the more herbal and fruit peel end. The acidity has grape and apricot flavors.

The brews are somewhat bland, like soft drinks; whereas the shots bring out the more interesting flavors, like basil, tobacco, along with a much more complex and riper fruit. These subtler flavors get lost in milk, so this one strikes me as an espresso only blend.

DIALING IN Like the previous Bay Area Blend, this one is easier to dial in using soft water, where fine to medium grinds and hotter shot temperatures work fine. For hard water uses, start with a coarse grind, high doses and cooler temperatures. The overall taste profile is very classic, very balanced central American, and the fun is in the nuances. I found that ristretto pulls brought these out more clearly.

WHO SHOULD BUY People who like very symmetrical and balanced espresso, and are not looking to use it for larger milk drinks. People using soft water will find this a very manageable blend; hard water users should be ready to use higher doses and cooler temperatures, and an overall more finicky dialing in experience.

This espresso is a very mild, sweet chocolatey blend that ages well. A few days post-roast, it's dry cocoa, light caramel, and a clean slightly citrus "snap". The texture is creamy smooth. The finish is sweet tobacco. It excels as a classic cappuccino, bringing back memories of Ovaltine chocolate and again the mild tobacco finish.