cafeIKE wrote:1° is likely too small a change. Try 197° or 195°.

How accurate is the measured pour temperature on a 'Liz relative to meter indication?

Roaster recommendations or shop class machine settings seldom translate to small home units...

When dialing an unfamiliar coffee, 2°F steps work and when close ±≈0.5°

As originally stated, Courthouse is an antidote to too light lunacy roasts. If someone recommends an Agtron 95 roast, I'm likely going to give it a miss

I put the temp. to 197°........oh my goodness, so good. The bittersweet/syrupy more pronounced with no cherry at 200°, but at 197°--a whole new experience. Not acidic, but I get more of the fruit note mixed with the chocolate & syrupy all rolled together. It was delicious. Too bad I finished. If I was thinking, I should have played around with the temp from the get-go, lowering it.

chanty 77 wrote:I have one more day before I finish the bag of Courthouse. The 250ml (8.8oz) lasted me 7 days. I got the baker's chocolate, syrupy--but really didn't detect the cherry. It (to me) was more single-faceted (again, that's my tastebuds). That's not a bad thing either. It was a little darker than I'm used to, but again not a bad thing. I've been at 17g, 28-30 seconds out, 200°. Tomorrow, the last day of it, I may actually put it down to 199° to see if I detect the cherry note.
At this point, I'm not sure if I will order again--as 8.8 oz. is not very much, and not loving it enough to order the larger size. Down the road, I may try it again.

I'd actually recommend a shorter time for the same amount in the cup. It tends to get a little salty and less fruity when the shot takes more than ~26 seconds. It's a very well developed roast so it's quite soluble and I find that a slightly coarser grind can help develop the fruity side. You might get more of an amaretto note if not cherry liqueur.

chanty 77 wrote:I put the temp. to 197°........oh my goodness, so good. The bittersweet/syrupy more pronounced with no cherry at 200°, but at 197°--a whole new experience. Not acidic, but I get more of the fruit note mixed with the chocolate & syrupy all rolled together. It was delicious. Too bad I finished. If I was thinking, I should have played around with the temp from the get-go, lowering it.

This is great to hear. Lower temp would have a similar effect, for not over-extracting, as coarser grind(ish). I'm glad you found a way to enjoy it. You'll have to order more

Milligan wrote:A small bag should be to my house on Monday to try. I've been looking for a nice crowd pleaser espresso for my house. Like a numbskull, I always end up ordering light, weird coffees because I like to try funky stuff and my wife and family ask why I don't just have a "normal" espresso. Looking forward to trying it.

Here's hoping it clears the crowd pleasing bar. Cheers!

cimarronEric wrote:This is great to hear. Lower temp would have a similar effect, for not over-extracting, as coarser grind(ish). I'm glad you found a way to enjoy it. You'll have to order more

Like I said, I wish I would have used my noggin earlier instead of on the last two doubles of the bag. Maybe cuz it still was pretty decent, but more one dimensional at the 200° tasting pretty much just the bittersweet chocolate. I have come to appreciate a little bit of fruit in most of the blends I use. I will never care for overly bright roasts. I just like more dimension in my drinks. I only drink cappuccinos, but not as much milk in them as a lot of people have. I am just trying freezing beans. Haven't taken the 12 oz. of a blend out of the freezer yet. I basically tried this because so many companies offer free shipping with three 12oz. bags (minimum). By the time I get to the third bag, I can tell something is happening--not so much by flavor, but need to make it either finer and/or much more grams.
I wish that your company would offer 12 oz. bags instead of the 8.8oz. bags. I'm not one for buying 2 lb. as I enjoy trying various blends. Twelve ounces would certainly be worth the extra amount charged for 3.2 ounces more.

you can up your espresso a notch by splitting bags in 125g lots and freezing in Mason or other small jars. IMO, for most espresso I drink, two days is undetectable, three to four is just and five plus most certainly is. Sometimes I don't freeze the coffee for a more than a week after I receive, usually for a darker roast that needs more rest.

chanty 77 wrote: I wish that your company would offer 12 oz. bags instead of the 8.8oz. bags. I'm not one for buying 2 lb. as I enjoy trying various blends. Twelve ounces would certainly be worth the extra amount charged for 3.2 ounces more.

I hear and understand your perspective.

I'm a gram weenie. We do everything in coffee in grams so I use grams for my system. 1/4 kilo bags keep it affordable to try or switch between coffees.

There is no panacea for pleasing on bag size, unfortunately.

I really appreciate you for trying (and liking ) Courthouse Blend and sharing your findings. Hopefully you'll get some more in the future, despite the bag size being less than optimal for you.

Personally I much prefer 250g bag sizes over 340g or even 300g. At 3-5 shots a day I find this prevents me from experiencing that 2-3 day window where the decline from day 1 is very notable and keeps something new always coming up on the horizon. If I really get into something I just order two bags and open them one after another. I almost never end up doing this as it's nice to change styles at least once a week.

12oz. typically only lasts me 8-9 days. so even if I order three different styles/blends/roasts at the same time, honestly I don't notice any problem in decline. Where I start to notice is the 3rd bag, and that really isn't in flavor--but having to have a tighter grind and/or noticeable more grams.

!! F R E E Z E !!

Little to NO degradation over months
No dose or grinder adjustments. Just shot after shot consistently delicious espresso.

Frozen Coffee Storage Calculator