jpender wrote:or 17 millislugs

or a blink and it's gone or not the sharing grams or a scintilla.

Actually, I generally think of bag size in terms of shots, or given a consistent consumption rate, days. The 250g/8.8oz bag is, for me lately, a 5 day bag. It's probably the most common size that I buy locally. And when I get larger bags I break them into 250g portions (or the English equivalent), optionally vac seal, and freeze. So when I open something new it's what I'll be drinking for about 5 days.

I really enjoyed so far all the saka variations. Maybe the classic is my least favorite and I have the crema waiting to be opened. Gran bar and top selections were tasty. Dialing down to 185 doesn't seem to impact negatively on the flavor but I also haven't done side by side mainly because I do milk and only sometimes straight. I don't like acidic/sour/fruity and this seems to be a more rounded shot. The longer these are the more bitter it brings out so I tried to counter with temp. As someone said since I do milk I'd like a little more ratio. I have some dragon fly waiting as well so looking forward to that as well as the crema.

I'm on day 3 of the Gran. Started out with temp. at 197°, decent one dimensional bitter chocolate I"m getting. Tried upping the temp. to 198° yesterday & way too bitter, so today bumped it down to 196°. Maybe I'm pulling the shots too long at 28-30 seconds. Seems I have to add more milk than normal or it is too bitter yet. Since I only drink cappuccinos, the flavor is got to punch through the milk. I hate wimpy flavorless cappuccinos. I'm not sure I would buy this again because maybe I'm the odd duck out here, but it's decent--but so many others I like better out there. I guess I do like a little bit more notes going on. Will never like overly acidic coffee, but do enjoy some fruit. I'm glad to have tried it though. Don't know that I like being the odd duck out, but story of my life I guess. lol

I would keep the temp at 197 or 198 and pull a much shorter, ristretto shot, 1:1

Agree on shorter ratio, though I'm at more like 1.5. I'm pulling mine at 192f. I've lowered the temp some over time at the suggestion of some of the other posters and have preferred it.

Hi,

Recently received 250 mg bags of Gran Bar and Top Selection, as larger bags were already sold out. I'm assuming they are from the same recent batch. I have tried both, these are not new to me. My first bag a year ago was amazing hazelnut and chocolate. This batch has the same thick crema, but when opening the bag of Gran Bar there was the smell of rubber, not what I remembered. I waited a few more days and now the smell is less strong. With the batch I got over a year ago, I was dosing my usual 20g and aiming for a 1:1 shot at around 201 F. After tasting bitterness with that formula and noticing recent trends of brewing parameters listed here, I decided to change to an 18g basket and lower the temp to 196. This resulted in a less thick, blander taste devoid of any sweetness. I decided to try and grind a bit finer with this lower dose (18 g) and up the temperature to see if I could get an acceptable shot timing with the finer grinding and this worked both to tame the robusta and to give a more chocolatey, sweet, thick taste.

Having said,this, I'm wondering if the last couple of batches (last year I bought about 6 kg after having bought and loved a couple of kilos from Ryan) have been roasted to a slightly lighter level? My guess is that darker roasting mitigates the rubber taste of the robusta, caramelizing it more, and that could be contributing to the more off-putting taste of the latest batch? Anyway, with the last parameters I used, it's good, but not the great hazelnut and chocolate notes I originally got. The Top Selection is smoother tasting, but due to lack of robusta also misses the nuttiness which got me hooked on Saka originally. Does anyone else feel the same way? I know that bean selection changes constantly based on supply, and that's true of any coffee. I'm not complaining, and I'm so happy we now have a state-side source.

How many days post -roast was it?

Matt @ Cantina posted that with the latest batch "it looks like everything was roasted on 6/21". So that would put it at about three weeks post roast right now.

That said, coffee can vary in both the greens and the roast. Others noted a while back that the Top Selection was roasted darker than previous batches. Cantina asked Saka to roast a bit lighter. Around that time I got some of the Positano that was noticeably lighter than the sample of it that I'd previously tried. So I wondered, did Saka lighten up more than just the Top Selection? Or is there just some variability in their roasts?

It sure happens with other roasters. I ordered a dark roast that I really liked rom a respected roaster only to receive a bag that was medium in roast and quite different in character. I wondered: Did they roast it lighter or put their house blend in the bag by accident?

I ordered Classic Bar from the most recent roasting because the Gran Bar was already sold out and I am not very impressed. The coffee is 60% arabica beans and 40% robusta and the taste is really rubbery. I did a 1:1 ration and lower temperatures but the rubbery taste lingers and is very unpleasant. I have it frozen in my fridge and wondering what to do with it, as it was a 2lb bag...Maybe I can sneak it in my hubby's pour over with his usual bean and he won't notice.