drgary wrote:Mr. Espresso in Oakland, California has a tasty Neapolitan blend that includes 10-15% high quality robusta. They have a wonderful facility where they have roasters that are two stories high and are fired by oak.

https://mrespresso.com/

Speaking of Mr. Espresso, they'll be opening their first-ever cafe in Oakland this May. I posted an article about it in the Cafes forum. It'll be interesting to taste how they think their blends should be brewed.

They've had brick and mortar cafes open in San Francisco for years, called Coffee Bar. I posted that info in the other thread too.

Yep, I've never been to any of them, unfortunately, and may not ever, uncertain as it is I'll set foot in the city again.

I used to visit one of the Coffee Bar cafes some years back, shortly after I first had some tasty Mr. Espresso coffee in a favorite breakfast place. For a while I was regularly buying coffee beans there. But they didn't sell Mr. Espresso coffee, per se. They told me it was coffee roasted by Mr. Espresso but it was a different line of coffees than the ones branded as Mr. Espresso. I always kind of wondered why they did that. Perhaps their primary focus was wholesale to cafes and restaurants, like where I first tasted their coffee?

It wasn't until some years later that I saw actual Mr. Espresso bags for sale in a retail location. Those beans were much darker and I was disappointed with the coffee I made. I think I threw most of the beans out. I bought a second bag another time and had the same experience. I was never sure if I bought old beans or if they simply demanded a different brewing approach. I've been meaning to order some direct and try them out again.

I've often asked roasters to recommend something for my tastes. Mr. Espresso has a variety of roast levels and some medium blends containing robusta.