On Temple Dharma...

Increased dose from 18g in to 19g in (18g VST basket) and 38g out...32 sec (including 10 sec preinfusion), at 201F. Some of that spicy bite is back, along with layers of chocolate. Yes... I'm a happy camper! This is good coffee!!
Dick, Bob, John...thanks for your parameters on extraction.

I bumped the temp up to 203*F today for my Dharma shots. Same 18g dose/28g yield using an HQ14 basket. The higher temp mutes the chocolate some but also knocks back the strong citrus (rind) flavor that I'm not crazy about. All in all it's a nice shot with a much more pleasant fruit hit & a strong chocolate aftertaste.

About 8 weeks ago I was quite impressed with it, pulling very sweet chocolate ristretto shots (18 in, 28 out in, 21 pre-brew sec + 34 full brew sec). There was great body and tons of lip smacking coffee oils.

However about 3 weeks ago, i got it again and was rather disappointing. Notably lighter (took a finer grind setting). I was able to get the chocolate, but it was much more generic typical blend feel. Not as much sweetness and lost most of the great body that usually impressed me.

I normally don't order coffees to try dense I have my shop.... but after reading this thread I had to try the dharma blend from temple. It's almost exactly like our house espresso blend.

I absolutely loved it. My best shots were pulled on my 2 group commercial lever (dipper).

I pulled these shots 4-5 days post roast, I have to wait until Saturday to pull shots at 11 days post roast.
Group temp 199-200
17g in 18g VST
25 g out
12 second preinfusion
20 seconds from first drip

Bright cherry, milk chocolate, hint of lemon rind. Just like the description on their website.
I tried pulling to their recipe and using a dose that big the taste was just super muddled.

Thanks for the recommendation guys!!! I have a few shots left to pull on Saturday and will be sad when it's gone.

Ellejaycafe wrote:Bright cherry, milk chocolate, hint of lemon rind. Just like the description on their website.
I tried pulling to their recipe and using a dose that big the taste was just super muddled.

The description on the bag is chocolate covered cherries & caramel. I'm getting the bright cherry/citrus with light chocolate at a Scaced 203*F & enjoying those shots. Below that the fruit becomes citrus rind. The caramel is so far elusive.

Last time I got an actual chocolate covered cherry shot was the original Black Cat many years ago.

BobStern wrote:
I emailed Temple Coffee with my impression per the preceding sentence and asked if there was an intentional change in style. I learned their director of coffee and head roaster both left the company in the last two months. Their new head roaster said they did not intend to change Dharma's style, but that any change I perceived was because the current batch of Ethiopia Mulish is "phenomenal". Hmm.

I received an email from Temple the other day introducing their new head roaster and other staff. Could explain the differences some of us are perceiving.

After all this talk here, I ordered some Temple Dharma, and I'm on my third day with it. Roasted 6/26, started using it on the 29th.

I think it's *fantastic*. I'm getting pronounced dark chocolate, with caramel (easier to detect in milk), and the cherries are coming through better as it rests. The dark chocolate forms a nice base without being roasty or bitter at all. For straight espresso I usually prefer something lighter, but this is very nice. In a (iced) latte, this is one of the best I've ever had.

I'm pulling close to the roaster's recommendations - I'm at 201F, 21g in, 31.5g out, 34s. No PI, just going directly to 9 bar, first drops about 4-5s. I'm going to try a touch faster pour, see if the cherries come through a little more.

So good. Thanks for posting about this! I'm definitely going to try some other coffees from Temple.

Just ordered 5lbs of the DHARMA ESPRESSO BLEND.. excited to try this!!

Finished a bag of the Dharma yesterday - this is truly one of my favorite coffees ever, I've decided.

I settled in at 201F, 21.0g in, 33.5g out, in about 33s. Played with lower pressure pre-infusion, but I found it tended to somewhat mute the flavors; going straight to full pressure was best for me.

No need to wait either - I found it to be great at 3 days post-roast, and it seemed to peak around 5 days. But it was still great out to 14 days, which was a nice surprise.

It's fantastic in milk - but I enjoyed it thoroughly as espresso as well. Right after pouring, it has this great dark chocolate and cherry aroma that just makes me super happy.

gr2020 wrote:
I settled in at 201F, 21.0g in, 33.5g out, in about 33s. Played with lower pressure pre-infusion, but I found it tended to somewhat mute the flavors; going straight to full pressure was best for me.

No need to wait either - I found it to be great at 3 days post-roast, and it seemed to peak around 5 days. But it was still great out to 14 days, which was a nice surprise.

Evidently their new roaster is finally getting the roast dialed in. My 6/13 roast was still way to acidic/citrusy after 5 days rest. By day 8 it had settled down enough to freeze. A little time in the freezer has helped & I am enjoying it.