Some fun international coffee gifts this morning. First one is a natural processed Salvadoran Geisha from Viva Espresso my sister-in-law sent back with a family friend. I brewed it first using Tetsu's fast and fine grind method and got a really surprisingly soft nuanced cup. My second brew of it doing my more standard approach was sour, so that was an interesting discovery. This coffee was only $20 in El Salvador, a gift my wife bought me. I imagine a natural processed Geisha of this quality would sell for much more here in the states.




Second coffee was Royal Espresso blend from Kamakiri Coffee, who I think is still getting their roasts provided by Honey Coffee, who roasted for 2014 WBC Champ Hidenori Izaki. Still dialing this one in, it's a Japanese take on Italian roasting style for espresso. I've been bugging Doug Weber (of Weber Workshop, who's busy opening a second specialty cafe in Fukuoka) to sell me some for quite a while. He surprised me this week with sending me a bag of his Royal and Special blend.

SEY Ugo Begne Forest, Ethiopia. Tasting notes spot on, hit them on the first shot. Get this special coffee while you can.

Someone mentioned Cat and Cloud on this forum, I looked them up. Jared Truby and Chris Baca opened Cat & Cloud in 2016. There business plan is unique and certainly orientated to promote all sorts of understandings between customers, employees and the public. Lots of philosophical viewpoints, very interesting. I emailed and asked for suggestions and the strongly recommended "The Answer". The coffee is a blend of Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia coffees and consists of natural and washed processing. Flavors of Caramel, Berries, Chocolate. They posted their recipe of 19.2 grams in, 34 grams out, 28-30 seconds. I ended up with a temp of 202 degrees, 16 seconds of preinfusion from 0 to 3 bars over the time and pull time of 26 seconds at 8 bars.
Please note that my tasting was three days after roast, however the espresso was incredible and the stated flavors were easily tasted of the caramel, berries and chocolate. Very impressed with the coffee, great possibility that it will get better as it off gases. The great news is that this coffee bridges the taste profiles between my wife and myself. She likes the chocolate and I like the fruit, it is a great blend, plan on drinking it for a while.

MSS wrote:Someone mentioned Cat and Cloud on this forum, I looked them up.

It took me a few years to get out to their spot (even though it's only about 100 miles away and we're regularly in San Jose) but MAN... it did not disappoint.

The coffee was great (I did a shot of The Answer and a cortado and the wife had her usual honey latte made with The Answer) but the service from the baristas was top notch. They were BUSY (it was a Saturday mid-morning) but still took the time to chat about the coffee they had in store and even went in the back to find a bag of beans with the freshest roast (I had literally just bought a bag from Ritual two days before we decided to go to Santa Cruz). Quality folks and quality coffee (and big ups to Baca for being the main reason I got into home espresso-- his youtube videos were like gold when I started my espresso journey).

+1 for cat and cloud.

and yoshiod9 "Come On You Spurs!"

yoshiod9 wrote:It took me a few years to get out to their spot (even though it's only about 100 miles away and we're regularly in San Jose) but MAN... it did not disappoint.

The coffee was great (I did a shot of The Answer and a cortado and the wife had her usual honey latte made with The Answer) but the service from the baristas was top notch. They were BUSY (it was a Saturday mid-morning) but still took the time to chat about the coffee they had in store and even went in the back to find a bag of beans with the freshest roast (I had literally just bought a bag from Ritual two days before we decided to go to Santa Cruz). Quality folks and quality coffee (and big ups to Baca for being the main reason I got into home espresso-- his youtube videos were like gold when I started my espresso journey).

Totally agree with all the positives mentioned for Chris Baca. His videos are unique/refreshing as he gives HIS take on what he tries, what works for him, etc. He is the complete opposite of the tons of worthless videos on YT in which somebody is trying to claim there is a 'proper' way to achieve this/that and that garbage gets old. As the old sayings go, there's more than one way to skin a cat AND 'rules' are definitely meant to be broken. Never had Cat & Cloud coffee, but I imagine what they crank out is as good as anything could be.

We're about halfway through our first 5 lb bag of Paradise Nuevo espresso and truly loving it! It was easy to dial in from the Redbird I'd just finished - a good grind turns out to be very close for both (a tiny bit finer for Nuevo), and the brew parameters are also about the same (9 bar after 30 seconds of line PI, ~203F on Eric's thermometer, 20 gm into a "triple" basket, 30 out in 30 sec). It's much closer to old school than new wave, with big mouthfeel and a choconutty-caramel complex of tastes that's exactly what I want in my cup. It's definitely the most consistent espresso I've ever made. Shot after shot comes out identical in every way, as do milk drinks.

I ground some for drip so my wife could try it, and she's also ecstatic about it. So we're going to start a subscription for 5 lb a month when we get closer to the bottom of this batch. Of course, every time I do this, something goes wrong. The roaster is absorbed by a larger one, the price doubles, availability suffers, etc. It's hard to pour art with all my fingers crossed, but I'm learning!

I ordered a bag of Kickapoo Coffee La Pierda two weeks ago. Since I'm in-between espresso machines at the moment I've been doing Kalita wave pour overs, its been fantastic. Finishes really sweet, so good I ordered another bag and thankfully its still as good as the first. I'm using a monolith grinder medium coarse grind and 25g coffee to 375g water.

Adding to a previous post, tried Cat and Cloud's ETHIOPIA KERCHA NATURAL, just outstanding. I am pulling as espresso and also caps, it is delicious both ways. Their flavor profile is Blueberry, Chocolate Chips, Port Sweetness, I am getting these flavors. Of course my taste leans towards these flavor profiles. Very impressed with the two coffees I have tried from Cat and Cloud, getting ready to order again!!

danetrainer wrote:SEY Ugo Begne Forest, Ethiopia. Tasting notes spot on, hit them on the first shot. Get this special coffee while you can.
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What are your parameters? I just grabbed an Ethiopian from them that I think is the same as what you described.