I received an email from La Marzocco Home that the September shipment should arrive in about two weeks. They are featuring Sweetheart Blend and Big Truck Blend, both from Olympia Coffee Roasting Company. Here's what they say about Sweetheart Blend:

Kirinyaga Reserve is a blend of coffees from outstanding lots from the following factories: Tegu, Kagumoini, Kuguyu, Kamwangi, and Gaturiri. All of these amazing coffees are grown in the Kirinyaga District on the slopes of Mt Kenya. The Reserve is a collection of SL 28 and SL 34 coffee varietals from small holder farmers. These are some the best Kenyan coffees, period, and we have brought them together as part of our Sweetheart Espresso Program. Expect to experience one of the most dynamic espressos out there.

Sounds good!

Rocky

I'm looking forward to returning to that LM cafe for a few hours later this week. I am glad to hear they are featuring Big Truck and will no doubt enjoy comparing that to Sweetheart at the cafe.

[EDIT: call it an inadvertent thread bump. I won't get to enjoy an oldie but a goodie; instead I'll be sipping a Supreme selection, as I learned when I turned to the internet to check on the cafe: "Supreme has introduced a Limited Blend for the last two weeks of their residence. With notes of orange, black currant and cacao, it is made to be brewed as espresso and we recommend trying it as a pure shot or in an elegant cappuccino."]

The two bags of coffee arrived. I will be trying them in the next few days.

Rocky

Got my two bags. Roast date Sept 13. Looking forward to giving these a try after they rest. I'm really fond of Kenyan coffee and really looking forward to trying that.

In the mean time, finishing a bag of Barefoot Roasters Kochere Gedeo Espresso from Ethiopia. It's quite yummy!

Gave the Sweetheart blend a try this morning. Pulled beautifully. I think maybe it needs more time to rest though. Believe it or not I could taste no discernible sweetness. It was pretty balanced, but I was definitely expecting some sweetness. Made my wife a capp that she seemed to enjoy. I'll probably switch to a different coffee for a few days and then check back in. Going to freeze Big Truck.

Got into the Big Truck today.

First - if anyone doubts that coffee beans need to rest after roasting, this months bags would prove they do. The roast date was Sept 13, they arrived in the mail on Friday the 15th. The bags were completely mushed down with little airspace from shipping. I set them aside and checked today and both the Big Truck and Sweetheart were puffed up like air pillows. Amazing outgassing.

I decided to sample the Big Truck, as it is described as a fully developed roast, versus the Sweetheart. Also, the Big Truck bag had puffed out a good bit more than the Sweetheart and I figured it was further along in outgassing and resting.

Starting with the recommended parameters of 1:2, 18g in 32 out, 25-30 seconds and 200f - my first shot was slow, ran about 40 seconds and a tad over-extracted. I dialed in the grinder a little coarser and nailed the second pull at 33g out in 30s. (Love the Monolith grinder - it makes short work of dial in)

I think it needs a couple of more days of rest, but it is pulling very well. It is a tad bright at the moment, but additional rest time will cure that.

Opinions Big Truck:

This is about as dark of a roast as I typically go for. It is well developed, but retains some good fruit acidity and no smokey notes. Some people like peeted whiskey - and some don't. I'm in the latter group, I don't care for smokey notes in coffee either and there none here.

The body is dense and thick, big chocolatey notes up front with a nice dark berry flavor profile to follow it. Aromas also center around the dark berry profile. As noted, first tastes are a bit bright due to the short rest. There's some good sweetness hiding in there that I expect will be more apparent after a few more days of outgassing. It is quite good now as a shot if you don't mind it being a bit bright. In a cappuccino, it's quite good with prominent fruit notes and any brightness is well subdued in milk.

All in all, I'd call it a winner so far, and looking forward to it peaking in a day or two.

Big Truck

The body is dense and thick, big chocolatey notes up front with a nice dark berry flavor profile to follow it.

Agree. Drank it all up and now moving on to Sweetheart.

Gave the Sweetheart a try this morning. Pulled beautifully. I think maybe it needs more time to rest though. Believe it or not I could taste no discernible sweetness. It was pretty balanced

Agree. I just had my first pulls today.

I have to say, maybe I do not have a very discerning palate. I like what I like, and there are many excellent coffees. I do not think I can taste as much detail and differences as described by many. Bottom line is Olympia's coffee offerings this month are very good and I think most people would really enjoy them. Thanks LM and Olympia.

Sweetheart:

Bag was super puffy with outgassing today, so I figured it might be ready to sample.

First pull - dialed grinder slightly finer than the Big Truck to my usual first pull setting on the Monolith. Amazingly, this was pretty darn close to the timing needed for the recommended dose and beverage weight.

17.2g in
42.9 g beverage
2.5:1 brew ratio(!)
33s total pull time
198f, 9bar, 17g strada basket.

I think it needs another day or two of rest. Still a touch bright I think.

This was pretty amazing though, how much you can pull out of a dose of these beans. Even at this brew ratio and fairly long pull, it delivered a shot with a lot of density and flavor. The sort of density one would expect in a well extracted ristretto. Long lingering finish too. I look forward to seeing how this turns out with more rest. As it is now, as a shot citrusy, dark chocolate, hints of toast. In milk the brightness is tamed and gives way to a nice vibrancy, good fruit and dark chocolate.

The Big Truck continues to mellow and is increasingly sweet. I would expect the Sweetheart to do the same.

Update 9/22: brightness is giving way bit by bit. Tightened up the grind a bit and upped the brew temp slightly. Figure another day or two.

The Sweetheart has gotten sweet!

It's still a bit finicky, minor changes in brew temp, grind, pull time and shot size make a big difference. I pulled 17g dose with 43g beverage at 202f this morning in 37s. Was a slight bit over extracted, but the sour notes were gone giving way to lots of berry fruit flavors and caramel sweetness. Amazing how much shot you can pull from a small dose of this.

It was still outgassing a good bit, even though I had the bag open yesterday. It puffed up noticeably over night.

I absolutely LOVE both of these coffees!!! I might even say that Sweetheart is hands down the best espresso I've had all year. I just pulled a shot this morning that was incredible.

great job to the la marzocco team!