Out of curiosity, were your coffees roasted on September 6th as well?

I've played with both and currently drinking the Ethiopian SOE. It requires a fairly coarse grind to reach the brew ratio and timing as suggested. I've experimented a bit and found that it works pretty well at 200F, 18g in, 40-42g of beverage in 25-30 seconds of flow time (Acaia Lunar) and 35 seconds of pump time. The coffee has some good characteristics, but didn't totally wow me. It is enjoyable, but seems to have a bit more roast than I think would bring out its best. It is best as a straight shot in my opinion. Flavors linger, light to medium body, no astringency and minimal acid bite with a good blend of fruitiness. It seems like it wants to have that nice blueberry flavor that so many Ethiopian beans have, but it eludes somehow. Slight over-extraction brings out only mild bitterness. Could be a little sweeter overall.

Also have tried the Minor Monuments blend. I'm learning that when a roaster says something along the lines of, "our go-to espresso in milk" they're telling you, "it is roasty, for starbucks customers." Which may, or may not be your thing. This one is not overly roasted, but more than I care for. Pulling it short seems to bring out a bit more character. But it is best muddled in milk drinks, as intended.

Jared wrote:Out of curiosity, were your coffees roasted on September 6th as well?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were. I've pulled a few shots with the Koba SOE this morning around 197*F and kept them on the faster side, 3s preinfusion, 25s full pressure (8 bar), and they were about the best I've pulled with it so far, but again not much of a wow factor or discernable origin notes.

And yes on the phish!

Nice! I just went to Dick's and I'm hitting Hampton and Vegas this fall. I post in the Phantasy Tour coffee threads some as well.

The SOE seems to be getting better with age. More recent shots haven't been as bitter, but still not getting may sweet notes. The one good thing is that it isn't super acidic like some SOEs can be. I think I have one more shot's worth of the Ethiopian, I'll try your parameters and see how it is.

I have been on their Friends and Family subscription and I regret to add that I also have not had a good experience so far.

When they said they had recreated what their favorite roasters such as 49th and Heart were producing, I was quite excited.

I found their Alexander Toledo Colombia to be an outright defective roast. They said it was supposed to be a light roast but it was more like a Starbucks light, but worse than that was the flavors of rubber and smoke. Not good at all. I barely touched this bag.

Their second roast they sold as a darker roasted Mexican. This was actually really good for a med-dark roast, but I just don't prefer darker roasts. I was hoping for 49th/Heartesque coffees.

The third roasts with two washed Ethiopians was also bleh. Like someone else mentioned, good notes, but overall very underwhelming. Sort of a light-med roast and no acidity to speak of. Roasted too dark for me but I had some friends try it that liked it. Some fruit notes on the nose but very subtle overall on the mouth.

I had very high hopes but sadly I will not buy their coffees after this subscription ends.

I should add that I visited their GANDB bar in LA on a trip and was actually really impressed with their SO Ethiopian. This was only a few months before this subscription started so not sure where the big disconnect in all of this is taking place.

Been working with the blend these past few days. Really had to tighten up the grind. Not bad for a med-dark blend, but doesn't really stand out from other espresso blends I've had. Overall disappointed with this month's coffees

I finally took the Ethiopian out of the freezer. It was frozen 7 days post roast. I had to coursen the grind a bit compared to the GH Colombian I've been drinking. Using a 15g basket dosed at 15g I pulled ~33g out in 34s, much longer than the 28s they recommend. Surprisingly there was not bitterness and a lot of sweetness. Guessing I would have thought it was a natural coffee. I was definitely getting blueberryish notes and a pretty mild acidity. Still, something seemed a bit laking in the taste.

soadasopa wrote:I have been on their Friends and Family subscription and I regret to add that I also have not had a good experience so far.

When they said they had recreated what their favorite roasters such as 49th and Heart were producing, I was quite excited.

I found their Alexander Toledo Colombia to be an outright defective roast. They said it was supposed to be a light roast but it was more like a Starbucks light, but worse than that was the flavors of rubber and smoke. Not good at all. I barely touched this bag.

Their second roast they sold as a darker roasted Mexican. This was actually really good for a med-dark roast, but I just don't prefer darker roasts. I was hoping for 49th/Heartesque coffees.

The third roasts with two washed Ethiopians was also bleh. Like someone else mentioned, good notes, but overall very underwhelming. Sort of a light-med roast and no acidity to speak of. Roasted too dark for me but I had some friends try it that liked it. Some fruit notes on the nose but very subtle overall on the mouth.

I had very high hopes but sadly I will not buy their coffees after this subscription ends.

I should add that I visited their GANDB bar in LA on a trip and was actually really impressed with their SO Ethiopian. This was only a few months before this subscription started so not sure where the big disconnect in all of this is taking place.

I wanted to come amend this. I felt I had been critical without being completely fair.

I find that many third wave roasters' coffees need several weeks to come in to themselves and so I'll often drink coffees up to 6-8 weeks post roast. I revisited the Colombian (which is now around 6 weeks post roast) and found it much improved. There is still a slight rubber/smoke note while brewing but it is disappeared in the cup.

They describe this roast this way: "With a bit of development in the roaster, some really interested maple syrup characteristics come through in the body."

I would agree. There is a sweet maple-y flavor to this coffee and although I would have preferred more of the acidic and raw sweetness of this coffee, I can appreciate what I think they were striving for here.

The Ethiopian coffees have also really started to come into themselves. The Daniel Mijane has a crowd pleasing sweet chocolate and fruit bassline and the Yabitu Koba has a really wonderful tangerine sweetness and acidity. I really like the Yabitu Koba.

This week they sent a Kenyan coffee and it smells wonderful. They said they roasted it like the Mexican from their second week release, and like the Mexican, has already developed some very slight oils in less than a week off the roast. It's a fairly developed roast. I had a cup this morning and it was pleasant but I believe in 2-3 weeks it will be much better. Unlike the Mexican, however, the development leads to more fruit than chocolate and so the roast is less apparent.

Interesting to hear opinions on these roasts. It seems that their consulting with Rao pushed them in a more developed, solubility-oriented, omni-roast direction.

Played more with Minor Monuments. It seems to have a very fine line between under-extracted, just-right and over-extracted. Careful dosing and pulling the shot to weight with the Acaia Lunar scale really helps to get it in the zone. In the end, I found it pretty drinkable. All gone now. Drinking Ritual Sweet Tooth from Kenya until the next shipment.