Thank you Ryan.

I received my bag of Saka Gran Bar today in perfect shape. I put a few weighed out aliquots into the deep freezer and reserved some for the next week or so. I will try it tomorrow,

If I am reading the bag correctly, the roast date is March 21

One thing that struck me was how dark this coffee is roasted with pronounced oil on the beans. It is significantly darker than my Cartapani Cinquestelle that I enjoyed this morning. That has no oil showing. With an open mind, I will explore straight shots and our flat white's.

My Saka has now been transferred to ball jars and in a deep freeze state. I kept some smaller jars local to my machine to dial them in. As with any fresh roast, closing in a ball jar builds pressure overnight. And I am happy to report my Saka built up some nice pressure in the past day.

Compared to some Cartapani Cinquestelle that I pickup up on Amazon, yes these are darker and oily. But the rancid oil smell does not exist with my Saka. And Saka Gran bar and Select crema is hugely thick! Not so with Cartapani Cinquestelle. I couldn't tell if the bag says 3/21 or 4/21. But regardless, the roast is acting like a 4/21 roast would.

As for flavors, my first pull of 18gm Gran Bar , 36gm out was a bit over extracted. Huge crema, hugely bold lasting flavors. While no burnt flavors came through, sweetness was lacking. But this morning pull with 15gm, 30gm out was very good. Super long lasting bold flavor, with some nice sweetness. I likely need to tweak it a tiny bit more, but it is good after two pulls!

Revived my two bags today, exciting times!

Do you guys suggest freezing unopened bags to preserve freshness, or only freeze after opening?

I open my bags, pout into glass mason jars, vacuum seal, then freeze. Been doing that for a decade or so with good results.

If you aren't going to vacuum seal, I would freeze the unopened bag if you won't get to it the next couple weeks.

I got my coffee today:top selection, gran bar, and classic bar. I will open and try in am, freeze majority. Thank you Ryan.

cskorton wrote:Revived my two bags today, exciting times!

Do you guys suggest freezing unopened bags to preserve freshness, or only freeze after opening?

I freeze my bags that I do not intend to use and unfreeze each kg bag as I pick. For experimentation purposes I kept one bag of Gran Bar unfrozen from my November order and am currently going through it now. I did not notice a change honestly compared to the frozen bag. I go through enough coffee that I do not freeze any of the coffee from the bag I opened up and store it in a sealed bag.

vze26m98 wrote:DHL is really on a tear from Italy these days. Ordered from Vicenza on a Sunday, got it that Tuesday. Ordered from Firenze on Friday, got it that Monday. From what I can tell things leave the country from Milan, so proximity adds celerity. Enjoy the coffee!

What beans are you ordering from those places?

IamOiman wrote:I freeze my bags that I do not intend to use and unfreeze each kg bag as I pick. For experimentation purposes I kept one bag of Gran Bar unfrozen from my November order and am currently going through it now. I did not notice a change honestly compared to the frozen bag. I go through enough coffee that I do not freeze any of the coffee from the bag I opened up and store it in a sealed bag.

That's interesting. I just received my Top Selection Gran Bar and Gran Bar and look forward to trying the latter tomorrow as a single shot for the flavor difference and to see how the robusta affects me. In the past robusta quickly got me jittery. If it feels like too much I can blend the two. Thank you, Ryan.

BTW my roast dates were as follows:
Gran Bar Top Selection, 1/3/21
Gran Bar (20% robusta), 2/4/21

drH wrote:What beans are you ordering from those places?

Meinl and Corsini

The coffee from Ryan was at a facility 30 minutes from my house and the ding dongs at USPS took it to another state for no apparent reason. USPS is not on its A-game these days.