MSS wrote:I really like the Malabar Gold, great as an espresso and milk drinks, however the caffeine will set me on fire, I find that if I drink one Malabar drink; I am done for the day. Of course I do get a lot of work done......

Mark, if you've had Lionshare -- which doesn't lack for its ability to caffeinate the imbiber -- how would you compare the two on that score? As well as flavor profile, etc.? Thanks!

Have had the Lionshare. It has been a month or two since last drinking. I did not get the caffeine buzz that I experienced from the Malabar Gold (and who knows, might have been more sensitive to the caffeine at that particular time). This is from memory, the flavor profiles were somewhat similar, thick, creamy, and chocolaty. Both were good as stand alone espressos and both were really great with milk. Can I tell you which one had better taste: I am afraid that my memory is not that good. Would I order and drink more, yes I would drink both again. I still have some of the Malabar, however when I pull it again, I am going to be conservative in the amount that I consume.

Mark

I bought 6 pounds of the unroasted Josuma Malabar Gold recently (home roaster) and I have been enjoying it once I got the roast dialed in. I roast it to the end of first crack and stop the roast right before second crack and then rest it for 3-4 days as suggested. It tastes very similar to the Espresso Vivace Dolce blend IMO which was my blend of choice for a long time for milk based drinks (cappuccinos in my case.) The Dolce just ends up being pricey for home roasted espresso blends so I started looking for something less expensive. I only ever tried Redbird (the blend that comes in the red bag) once and didn't think it stood up well to milk.

BTW, I believe Tom at Sweet Maria's said that not all robusta is created equal. People tend to assume it's all cheap swill from Vietnam but I suspect that a good quality robusta in an espresso blend can work just fine.

Dr Joseph John is a legendary figure in coffee. His all Indian blend, Malabar Gold was THE go to espresso back in the 90's and early 2000's, along with Black Cat from Intelly.
He uses on the very best varietals, and is an expert roaster. There is no coffee with more body, nor a better price point to boot. It has only very light "sniffs" of acidity...this is a nut-sweet, Caramel-y comfort food blend, in the grand tradition. Definitely First wave! Due to how much coffee he works with and sells, you can be sure every shipment will be consistent.
I was fortunate to be able to hang with he and his son (who handles the business end) at several SCA shows. He is as nice as they come.

I'm a big fan of Josuma Malabar Gold. It's delicious, consistent, freezes well, ships day of roast. My single bag of RedBird was good, no specific problems, but no (for me) wow factor that had me reordering, or looking forward to it specifically each day. Josuma's Malabar Gold hits all the check boxes for me.

I believe that they list some of their commercial clients on their site, and it might be possible to order one pound from one of those re-sellers (under their own respective branding). There would definitely be a difference in the time-since-roast using that approach, so what you get might not be as fresh.

I prep and seal single doses in advance, and the Malabar Gold does seem to have a wider useful age-range than others -- or maybe the robusta crema camouflages some of the changes. Either way, it works for me. I order five one-pound bags at a time, freeze four, etc. I also time things now so that I am never without a bag, either.

And so begins a new adventure...

damn, i need to get some for testing

Not sure if already mentioned in this thread, but WLL sells 1 lb bags of Malobar Gold. Might be the ticket for someone wanting to try it out. They get the greens from Josuma, and roast it per Josuma's specifications (supposedly anyway).

https://www.wholelattelove.com/whole-la ... d-espresso

" Either way, it works for me. I order five one-pound bags at a time, freeze four, etc. I also time things now so that I am never without a bag, either." I forgot about order by Friday and ran out once. BUMMER.

I forgot about order by Friday and ran out once. BUMMER.
Ordered another 5lb bag of Gold yesterday. "YUMMY"

Balthazar_B wrote:Mark, if you've had Lionshare -- which doesn't lack for its ability to caffeinate the imbiber -- how would you compare the two on that score? As well as flavor profile, etc.? Thanks!

Having tried both, I would say Lionshare gets the nod purely on taste. Its a little more complex with some richness that the Malabar lacks. I only make milk drinks and both work great for that application. Factoring in price into the equation the Malabar wins.