Any recommendations for someone who loves his AM Redbird as cappuccino? want to brach out a bit but have always come back to RB
Of course the price would be hard to beat so lets say Redbird 5lb bag price with free shipping with 30% range...

I switched from Redbird to Northbound American Beauty last year for my morning cappuccinos and haven't looked back. RB started tasting more "burnt" / over-roasted to me. Pretty much the same prices perhaps $5 per 5-pound bag more expensive.

Chromatic Opus, about the best darker roast around period imo, they have it so dialed in and 0 burnt notes as others can attest to that I've recommended it to. I'm super picky with anything darker than medium and that offerings is awesome. I just had some Atomic coffee including their Intensi which is darker and it was pretty good, but Opus is king, amazing straight or drinks.

I haven't had Redbird in years, I just remember orders tasting more burnt even though wasn't really that dark and some other stuff was missing fruit notes. Like their Arricha and Hembela used to be strawberry bombs and than last couple bags of each tasted like mehh stale coffee. Haven't ordered since. Pry 4 years or so? I almost did recently just to see but didn't.

Try PT Coffee's Flying Monkey blend. Consistently sweet and comfortable.

There are a few good roasters out there...but I gave up on Redbird when Jeff sold it. Most of the beans are plainly over-roasted and char/ash is the predominant flavor.

Having said that, if you use a much lower brew water temp you can cull out decent flavors from Redbird beans.

Give George Howell's Alchemy a try. And, I've been a huge fan of almost all the offerings from Northbound for many years. Last years Coffee Lover (2021) was one of the best roasts/blends I've had from anyone. They sent me a bag of "Santa's Helper" a couple weeks ago and it has me wishing they put it on their regular offering list!

What about the Saka Caffè blends that many people have raved about?
There is now a U.S. retailer offering their coffees.

cmin wrote:Chromatic Opus, about the best darker roast around period imo, they have it so dialed in and 0 burnt notes as others can attest to that I've recommended it to. I'm super picky with anything darker than medium and that offerings is awesome.

I tried Opus last year and absolutely loved it. It's a dark roast but not uber-dark. However, I'm not a milk drinker and I've never tried Redbird.

More recently I ordered another round of Opus and I swear they accidentally sent me one of their medium roast espresso blends by accident. It's not as dark and it doesn't taste the same, at least not what I remember. Is it possible they put the wrong beans in my bag? Or maybe their roasting has a little more variability? It's not bad coffee but it left me feeling disappointed. I'll have to try again.

jpender wrote:What about the Saka Caffè blends that many people have raved about?
There is now a U.S. retailer offering their coffees.




I tried Opus last year and absolutely loved it. It's a dark roast but not uber-dark. However, I'm not a milk drinker and I've never tried Redbird.

More recently I ordered another round of Opus and I swear they accidentally sent me one of their medium roast espresso blends by accident. It's not as dark and it doesn't taste the same, at least not what I remember. Is it possible they put the wrong beans in my bag? Or maybe their roasting has a little more variability? It's not bad coffee but it left me feeling disappointed. I'll have to try again.

I think I may of been the one that told you about Opus. I posted about it and had a couple messages and PMs from others lol. Haven't had in about 3 months but it was definitely spot on as always then. I'm actually having a complete brainfart what I'm using right now, I always freeze in batches, think I'm using one of the med (can't remember name) from Atomic. Funny though b/c even friends that don't like dark roast and don't really make espresso, still loved Opus, now I can't recall if I've done V60 or whatever with it.

I was tempted to try Redbird again, not even for Redbird but their other stuff but man, last like 5 years or so I had so many off or mehh bags. I remember their Aricha and Hambela offerings being delicious and fruit bombs, one was literally strawberry, not just berry note, but a strawberry wallop. Was so good straight up, milk drinks, or even pour over. And then Everytime after I ordered meh, mehh, followed by more mehhh. No clue what happened.

There was another roaster that used to be active on here, Bodka. Wonder what happened. Looks like their still in biz. Totally forgot about them and than saw their name in a large list I bookmark of companies over years offering 5lb bags

thanks everyone. George Howell, Northbound , Saka all seem like good ones to try

A roaster from your state and also located in Minnesota may have something to your liking, perhaps Paradise' Espresso Neuvo. Have you had any coffee from Paradise?

yep i like them.