Good coffees I've had recently

#1: Post by HB » November 21st, 2005, 7:58 pm

In the last two weeks I've been drinking:

Black Cat by Intelligentsia - one of the official test coffees. Bold, heavy, palate coating. Good straight up and excels in big milk.
Kid O's Organic by Intelligentsia - brighter, more fruity. Best straight up or as a machiatto.
Toscano by Counter Culture Coffee - one of the official test coffees. Huge chocolates. Best straight up or as a machiatto. Sweet caramel in milk.
Aficionado (remix) by Counter Culture Coffee - a much improved remix debuting soon. Reminds me of red wine.
Ambrosia and Daterra Estate Reserve by Caffe Fresco - two blends sharing deep ruby-red crema, but similarity ends there.
Kontra by Kontra Coffee (Denmark) - a thoughtful gift from Teme (thanks again!)

#2: Post by **malachi** » November 21st, 2005, 8:10 pm

Olympia Roasting Peru Pinachi SOS - Sugar bomb. Malt, chocolate, a little fruit and tons of brown sugar and molasses.
Hines Espresso - Sweet and balanced fruit bomb. Medium bodied, caramel finish with tons of dried berry up front.
Caffe Fresco Daterra Reserve - Rich and buttery. A big and rounded coffee with a nice balance of chocolate and fruit.
Stumptown Ethiopia Sidamo SOS - Strawberry lambic. Thick and coating with milk chocolate and malt and dried berries and strawberry quik.
Artigiano Espresso - Milk champion. One of the best espressos for milk drinks I've had in a long time. Tons of chocolate and some bright fruit to balance.
Stumptown Hairbender - Fruit and spice and caramel. Tons of fruit riding a foundation of caramel and tropical spice with bits of chocolate to anchor it all.

#3: Post by **IronBarista** » November 25th, 2005, 4:42 am

malachi wrote:Strawberry lambic. Thick and coating....

Strawberry Lambic is quite tart. See here. I do enjoy it though.

November 25th, 2005, 3:32 pm

Especially strawberry lambic. Lambics are so acidically sour from the fermentaition of the wild yeast that few brewers will add a fruit that's also acidic such as strawberries. Most stick to more traditional fruits such as cherries, raspberries, peaches or no fruit at all. Hanssens is right up there alongside Cantillon as my favorite brewers of lambics, though; particularly their Oude Kriek.

Back to the thread topic: Perhaps Chris, with much of his valuable time spent taking measurements, was just being efficient by coining a new term for "Thick and Rich".....Thich. I'm all for efficiency.

That Stumptown Ethiopia Sidamo SOS is one I'll have to try, but do I set my brewing temp. to 199.5 or 199.7?

#5: Post by **Teme** » December 19th, 2005, 6:39 pm

My palate and especially my vocabulary is probably not sufficiently developed to describe these accurately but the few freshly roasted blends I have had the opportunity to enjoy recently include:

Risteriet Uno - My usual fave, works well for my tastes both straight up as well as with milk drinks, good body. Caramels. Sweet.
Risteriet Guld - A new "gold" blend from my usual roaster, Daterra Reserva base and a nice, smooth taste with a hint of (blue?)berry.
Risteriet Due Doppio - 20% robusta and I definitely did not like this straight up - too much bite for me but worked well with my lattes.
Kontra Espresso - Nice chocolates, good body. Another one of my favourites
Kontra Caffe Latte - I'm not big on blends with robusta but the best lattes I've had from this coffee.
Monmouth Espresso - Nice chocolates and decend body from a London (UK) roaster.
Perle Noire Espresso - This is from a small roaster in Brussels, Belgium. Well, this is a pretty dark roast that I found somewhat strong on "earthly" tones - grass or moss or something of the kind came to mind. Not sure I liked it much.

Br,
Teme

#6: Post by **malachi** » December 19th, 2005, 7:01 pm

NewEnglandCliff wrote:Especially strawberry lambic. Lambics are so acidically sour from the fermentaition of the wild yeast that few brewers will add a fruit that's also acidic such as strawberries. Most stick to more traditional fruits such as cherries, raspberries, peaches or no fruit at all. Hanssens is right up there alongside Cantillon as my favorite brewers of lambics, though; particularly their Oude Kriek.

Have you had the Drie Fountainen lambics?
Incredible!!!

#7: Post by **another_jim** » December 19th, 2005, 8:20 pm

My house blend, "espresso retro," still under construction. Currently 50% Harar roasted FC+ with a lot of heat, and 20% Australian Mountaintop, 20% Aged Sumatra, and 10% Rwanda Karaba premixed, roasted FC- with moderate heat. I'm looking for chocolate, tawny port and dark fruit with a crisp candied orange peel finish. This is quite close. The "retro" name is because I want it to remind one of a post-dinner demi-tasse, and because it turns out that there's absolutely nothing bleeding edge about the blend -- works best with a regular 2 ounce shot at 198F.

#8: Post by **Abe Carmeli** » December 19th, 2005, 9:47 pm

another_jim wrote:My house blend, "espresso retro," still under construction. Currently 50% Harar roasted FC+ with a lot of heat, and 20% Australian Mountaintop, 20% Aged Sumatra, and 10% Rwanda Karaba premixed.

Jim,

So the Harrar is the base? Is that the Coffee Wholesales Harar? And why did you shun the Americans there? I'm deeply offended.

#9: Post by **barry** » December 19th, 2005, 10:37 pm

hmmm...

i think i brewed myself a cup or two of something yesterday.
and something the day before. i was going to brew something today, but just never got around to it.
i'll likely brew something tomorrow, i think, if it happens to happen.

what day is it?
what time is it?
can i stop roasting now?

--barry "xmastime"

December 19th, 2005, 10:57 pm

I have been playing with a Harar, Yemen, and Brazil blend (30, 20 and 50% respectively) chocolate covered blueberries...