This kind of blew me away. My husband is not a coffee/espresso drinker. Here & there I will make him a cappuccino (my only drink). I opened my bag of Verve Sermon today & dialed it in fairly fast. I actually could taste the blueberry with chocolate. I'm not crazy about fruit--but certain fruit I love, just not citrusy. I had my husband take a sip & asked him what he tasted. He said, "Blueberry". I was like, "You read the bag!!!!!" He said, "No, I didn't...I do taste blueberry." That wowed me. The End.

Fresh coffee is not to be underestimated, especially when looking for fleeting flavors. A Verve (or other roaster that provides "free" shipping) subscription of small bags might benefit you over 2# bags.

dparrish wrote:Espresso Vivace's Vita
Olympia Coffee's Big Truck or Sweetheart

Those are my current faves and I drink mostly cappuccinos and lattes.

Is the Sweetheart blend a medium roast? Any oil on their beans? Most of the medium I have tried are not oily (which I avoid), thanks.

I'm going to plug Black and White's Jorge Esteve (Chiapas) here again. It's a really sweet and fruit forward (not citrus/sour) natural.

Beans not oily? Also, easy to dial in?

Dpablo wrote:I'm going to plug Black and White's Jorge Esteve (Chiapas) here again. It's a really sweet and fruit forward (not citrus/sour) natural.

Might give this a try, do you recommend another coffee for straight espresso from them? I want to order two bags for the free shipping.

Thanks!

Ken

I've tried a number of different parameters and thought they all brought something nice and different. Very forgiving and certainly no where near oily.

Ken5 wrote:Might give this a try, do you recommend another coffee for straight espresso from them? I want to order two bags for the free shipping.

Thanks!

Ken

I would ordinarily recommend the Natural blend, but it also includes the Jorge Esteve. That said, any of their blends should do- I like the Future for pour over/bright-ish espresso, and for straight espresso, the Original is great.

Dpablo wrote:I'm going to plug Black and White's Jorge Esteve (Chiapas) here again. It's a really sweet and fruit forward (not citrus/sour) natural.

I checked their site, is it under "Natural" coffees & the one that says 'chocolate, berries, balanced'? It also says Medium-dark. My concern is that many times a bean that is past medium (do they call it Full City???) or Medium-Dark can be very roasty tasting/bitter. Is that the case of the Natural. They have a whole list of Medium blends. Have you tried any of the others? Thanks.

This roast would probably qualify as "medium-light" for most other roasteries. There's absolutely no surface oil. I've had plenty of their offerings, though they were all seasonal and unavailable today. To call them competent roasters would be a dramatic understatement. Give them a try.