Peppersass wrote:
Assuming both coffees would be light roasted, I let them rest 8 days (until yesterday) before opening the bags. After resting, I took out about four shots each, then vacuum sealed and froze the rest. I tried one straight shot of each at the most common grind setting for the medium-light coffees I typically drink. Usually, I gradually lower the pressure after it peak to flatten the flow rate. The result is usually a shot in the 40-50 second range, which works well for lighter roasts. I can do long, slow pre-infusion, but rarely use it these days except for extremely light roasts.

The Alonso Gallego Natural was roasted much lighter than I expected, so it ran way too fast. As expected, the shot was under-extracted, but I could taste the berries (also could smell them in the bag.) Being quite a bit darker, which I didn't expect,The Natural pulled pretty well, though a little faster than I like. The shot was pretty-well balanced and had sweetness, but probably need to grind a tad finer to eliminate some sourness. The berries were there, though much less so than the Alonso Gallego, and the chocolate tones were there as well.

Would you be willing to post photos of the beans? I got the sense from previous posts that b&w roast on the darker side towards medium. But your saying they roast light. I'm a bit confused now, but am intrigued by your tasting notes!

It depends on what your used to. They are not roasting light compared to what I normally have. Definitely more medium side but not oily. I prefer light roasted SO for pour-overs. From all that I've had from B&W I would say they are NOT light roasted but well developed.

I emailed about the discount code but not the Apple Pay problem.

I've been brewing The Original, Classic, and Natural over the last week and a half-ish. Have been really enjoying the natural and original as both espresso and in caps. Going to try pulling with 16g doses instead of 18g with longer ratios that I've seen posted above. Seems very intriguing to do longer pull but with a smaller dose.

Took a bit of fiddling to get the tastes I wanted but I landed on these so far:

The Natural:
11.2 on my HG-1
18g in with 34g out ~29-34s
My L-R is set to 2.7bar pre-infusion (am not sure yet what temp is corelates to yet. I've only owned the L-R for about 1.5 months now)
Notes: dark chocolate and sweet nuts come out a lot in this. Very good as espresso and super rich as a cap.

The Classic:
11 on my HG-1
18g in with 32g out in ~35s
2.7 bar pre-infusion pressure still
Notes: touch of acidity still at the initial bite but melts into chocolate and sweet molasses. Could probably pull this with a touch higher temps to take the edge off the initial acidity. Have to open up my L-R to get to the pre-infusion controller which effects brew temp which I haven't gotten around to yet.

The Original:
11 on my HG-1
18g in with 35g out in ~32 seconds
2.7 bar pre-infusion pressure
Notes: Initial bit of of lemon candy which turns into chocolate and finishes off with a lingering feel of honey sweetness. This one is one of my favorites right now. Might play around with some other parameters here too since I feel that I can bring out more sweetness and dial back the citris.

RyanP wrote: Would you be willing to post photos of the beans? I got the sense from previous posts that b&w roast on the darker side towards medium. But your saying they roast light. I'm a bit confused now, but am intrigued by your tasting notes!

Of course appearance isn't everything, but the pic posted of 'The Natural' is far from impressive to me. Granted natural processed coffees can have a bit of a rough texture, but even my worst home roast batch looks better than that.

andino wrote:I've been brewing The Original, Classic, and Natural over the last week and a half-ish. Have been really enjoying the natural and original as both espresso and in caps. Going to try pulling with 16g doses instead of 18g with longer ratios that I've seen posted above. Seems very intriguing to do longer pull but with a smaller dose.

Took a bit of fiddling to get the tastes I wanted but I landed on these so far:


The Classic:
11 on my HG-1
18g in with 32g out in ~35s
2.7 bar pre-infusion pressure still
Notes: touch of acidity still at the initial bite but melts into chocolate and sweet molasses. Could probably pull this with a touch higher temps to take the edge off the initial acidity. Have to open up my L-R to get to the pre-infusion controller which effects brew temp which I haven't gotten around to yet.

Exactly my description as well. The molasses especially! You can smell it in the grind.

3cordcreations wrote:Has anyone emailed them to let them know your issues or ideas? It doesn't really help to voice it here if they don't know about it, just saying.

I gave them a heads up on the apple pay issue. They offered to reimburse my shipping charges if i had checked out using that method

3cordcreations wrote:I bought the El Eden Java and normally really enjoy this type of coffee but so far my wife and I agree that it hasn't tasted great. I don't know if it's because the roast is a little more developed than we normally buy, but I'm not getting the tasting notes at all that they mention. From those notes you would expect of sweet, fruity taste. I am using a 16:1 ratio and trying 200 degrees with med fine grind. Also, this seems to drain fast and not hold the water like most v60 brews I do. I may go another click finer on my c40 nitro hand grinder and maybe a 15.5:1 ratio.
I sent an email asking about brewing temp suggestion but haven't heard back.

I got the Java as well and found that the coffee really only opened up after 20 days. That was extremely unexpected, and unfortunately I was at the end of my bag, but the last couple days I had with the coffee was some of the best I've ever had. Opening the bag, it changed to smelling like a bag of dried fruits.
I brewed with a V60, 1:16.67 ratio at 208F, ground with a C40 grinder med fine (21 clicks)

I ordered 3 bags from B&W last week: Daya Bensa, Gesha Village Natural, and a Jimma that is no longer on their website.

All 3 bags are really solid coffees. They're light without being underdeveloped, which is where I tend to prefer my coffees.

Give them a shot if you haven't made a purchase yet.

Nick

Most high altitude roasters wait 10-14 days before pulling shots. I'm in CO and was very unimpressed with B&W until yesterday, which was coincidentally day 14.

Original seems to get lost in milk but I do taste flavors they mention. See that as a great straight shot.

Classic all of a sudden started showing its muscle with milk and is quite good. Very happy with it now.

I do feel the roast level is lighter than they specify i.e. Orginal is a darker light roast and Classic is a light medium roast (similar to Dragonfly Crema Dolce).