jffhn wrote:But while I understand that 'Experimental' does not mean of questionable quality, it would be nice if the price were reduced or free shipping offered.

Considering that Heather won last year's USBC with such an "experimental" blend, I don't think she needs to offer financial incentives to garner interest. That said, a small discount for HB members would certainly be appreciated (hint, hint).

It came in a plain black bag hand marked D/O/0 5/S - C, with the slash marks showing alternative readings (there's a reason for using old fashioned words, redundancy). The roast date was 4/14, but it smelled none the worse for wear. If you ordered this, and your bag's arcane markings are different from mine, the taste may be different too. I dosed at 16 grams, rather than my usual 14, since this is closer to what it would taste like using standard Barista competition technique and gear.

This blend starts out with sparkling with apricot and plum. Sparkling mouth feel in regular coffee is rare, and usually a sign of extraordinarily high acidity; in espresso it's unheard of, for the same reason. But in this case, the acidity was either mild or compensated by sweetness. The sparkling gave way to a buttery caramel and dark chocolate finish. The aftertaste was mostly from the fruit, and very refreshing.

The good shots I made ran around 4.5 to 5.5 on taste (roughly 90 - 95 points); however, competition scores are usually lower due to the difficulties and delays of serving 4 drinks at once. My mouth feel scores would be higher than usual too, because of the sparkle; but I'm not sure how other judges would react. I like this blend more than what I remember of Klatch's last year's USBC and WBC blends.