Hello:

As I typically roast my own Malabar Gold I am only now just starting to dabble into the artisan roasted espresso blends that are out there. I must say ... so far I have really enjoyed the journey. One of my favorites has to be Red Bird. Man that is some beautiful stuff. I will be ordering some "Epic Espresso" soon as I heard this is good too.

Typically I enjoy a light to medium roast profile with medium acidity like you find in Malabar Gold. I like a heavy thick mouth feel with lots of sweet notes of chocolate, fruit and spice. I like a stick to your ribs type of espresso that has lots of crema!

Living in Ontario it's difficult to get fresh coffee shipped in a timely and affordable manner from the U.S. where many of the fine quality roasters seem to be. If I do order from the U.S roasters will usually ship using the U.S. Postal service which can take 1 to 2 weeks. If I do ship with UPS it is way way too expensive.
With that in mind, I'm wondering if the HB members would be so kind as to suggest 3 of your TOP "Canadian" Espresso blends I can order.

By the way.... My new GS3 will be shipping to me on Monday so let the good times roll!

Thank you,

Rob

I haven't tried a zillion but find I prefer the "traditional" espresso blends. Currently drinking 49th parallel "Old School Espresso", also like JJ Bean "Eastside".

Cheers Ben

Thanks man. Where is J.J located?

49th is definitely 1st when it comes to what I prefer. I have a pound of old school now and I'm loving it. I also really like the complexity of Epic. They're just doing things just right for me right now. Social is a top roaster and they're great. I like they're stuff but I mostly get drip roasted coffees from them. Having said that, the espresso roasts I've gotten and tried were great. Their holiday blend was very nice.

Did you find the Epic to be acidic? That's what I read.

Rob

It is acidic, but it's not TOO acidic. If you get what I mean. You can get such a nice balance that it's one of few espresso blends I would say has great structure. This really nice acidic backbone with a lot of sweetness. Epic has been very tasty lately. The Old School blend is something I've been really wanting to try lately because it harkens back to the old days of chocolate bombs without the smoke and earth like these northern Italian style blends. Turns out they did it just right and it's a really nice ristretto!

JJ Bean are in Vancouver - http://www.jjbeancoffee.com/

Cheers Ben

Thanks so much guys. I'm going to try J.J and 49th. I can't wait until my GS3 gets here. I also just got a Robur last month so I'm really excited to try these blends.

Thanks again,

Rob

Social People's Daily http://www.socialcoffee.com/products/pe ... y-espresso

Besides the ones already mentioned, St-henri here in Mtl, is top notch http://www.sainthenri.ca/. Their holy cow is one of the sweetest espressos i have ever had. I liked pilot (formerly Te Aro) as well http://www.pilotcoffeeroasters.com/