Of course, Tom is right, because no one but SM's can know WHY they do or don't recommend a certain coffe for espresso. So, I started a thread on SM's forum site about there selections. Basically, it's a matter of their tasters choice.
http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/forum/ ... 430#p32430

I also submitted an email inquiry, and I received the following from SMs in response to that question about their lack of recommendation for use of the Aricha as espresso.

Thanks for the note. A lot of this is a matter of personal taste. The Ethiopia Dry Process Gr. 1 Yirga Cheffe Aricha is going to be very fruity so if you are okay with strong berry notes in an espresso I think you will like it. Otherwise you might stick with a dry processed coffee.

I'm not what that last sentence means, but I'm certainly ok with strong berry notes in my espresso.

Thanks Tom,
I did ask them and I got the same answer as SAB.
This has always been a question in my mind that I wanted to ask but was "afraid" to ask - what criteria do you use to determine if a coffee is a candidate for espresso or not besides the cupper's palette. Are there some objective criteria that determines whether a coffee is suitable for espresso?
I hope I am not opening up a can of worms here.

I've been purchasing coffee from SM's for about 12 years. Back then, Thompson Owens seemed to prefer roasts on the lighter side, and except in a few instances, not into 2nd crack.
Perhaps in the case of the Aricha, he feels so strongly about it's properties as a drip, manual style, vac...whatever coffee, that an espresso extraction would send the flavors over the top?

On another note, I think I may have read somewhere that the Aricha was basically an Idido Misty Valley by another name.
Seems odd, as my previous IMV was a more strawberry-centric (to me) coffee, with "other" berry notes.
I'm not exactly sure if the regions match either. The IMV was perhaps the best prepped Ethiopian I ever roasted, especially the one from 3 years ago.

I went back even further than that with SM and I only buy my coffee from them now. I still remember I was able to purchase green beans from Intelligentsia.
I have brought my roasted beans to Tom (Owens) for critique and I think at that time he is still in the 2nd wave category. I remember attending a cupping event for SM customers and he was unbelievable. The aromas and flavor he can get out of the coffees were amazing (at least for me).
I just want to make sure everybody understands that I am not criticizing SM for labeling Aricha not suitable for espresso but trying to understand the "why". SM sometimes do make mistakes in their postings but that is very rare IMO.

I just brewed this up and I'm quite convinced, I could make this for someone blindfolded and convince them that it's not coffee but some weird, interesting warm berry juice....thing. It's insane. There's more hyper intense blackberry juice, and a melange of other dark berry juice than anything I've ever experienced before by a massive margin, so much so that it's off-putting and almost a distraction. It doesn't even taste like a naturally occurring product.

Unfortunately, the intense sweetness is crushed under a lot of ferment note. If this hyper berry thing is your bag, you're going to love it, it might be the most interesting coffee in a long while, but if ferment bothers you as much as it does me, it's going to be too jarring. This might be a coffee that really needs more than 6-8 days of rest to improve, we'll see. It's only been about 2-3. Sometimes fruit flavors can separate and ferment can fade, but the jury will have to wait on that.

I just got a couple pounds to try out. Have not had time to roast it. I tend to roast natural processed dense beans with a higher charge temp and longer drying phase to ease the heat into the bean then kick the spurs to it and run it fast into first crack then a slow incline to city+/full city to give the sugars time to caramelize and the Maillard reaction work its magic.

TomC wrote:...I could make this for someone blindfolded and convince them that it's not coffee but some weird, interesting warm berry juice....thing... It doesn't even taste like a naturally occurring product.

I just brewed my first cup of my first roast. It's Fruit Loops in a cup, right down to the ferment giving it that unnatural corn syrupy sweetness. If I were that blindfolded person, I would probably have guessed that it was the milk left after a bowl of sugar cereal but for the little hint of brightness that still comes through.

Profile was 5.5 - 4 - 1.5. I went a touch deeper than Tom, a full 1:30 past the beginning of first crack but there were still a few pops in the cooling bin. I'd call it City+ and I think the extra bit of heat in the development probably mellowed the sweet a bit, but also mellowed the ferment, which is what I was hoping. There's still enough sweet left to cause insulin shock and no hint of roast yet.

The cup is empty now and I still taste the sweet. Crazy sweet! Distracting sweet?

I'm in for 10 lbs of this stuff and now see it may be so pungently ferment sweet it can't be fully tamed in the roast. (It hasn't arrived yet.) Do any of you have blending suggestions? Or, how do you have brew suggestions to help tame it? I'm looking forward to Tom's cupping further post roast.

One idea is cold brew it for frozen yoghurt shakes!

cimarronEric wrote:
The cup is empty now and I still taste the sweet. Crazy sweet! Distracting sweet?

Yeah, I doubt I over caramelized much of the sugars. Mine was like sipping from a warmed jar of berry pancake syrup. But ughhh... that ferment note. I hope it's mellowed, I half expect to have. I haven't assessed it since the very first attempt, but I'm about to shortly.

drgary wrote: One idea is cold brew it for frozen yoghurt shakes!

I wouldn't be surprised at all if something like this worked quite well. Some kind of hybrid beverage with fruit, ice and a highly concentrated version of this. Might be delicious if the ferment can be tamed.

My experience with ferment is that if it's there, it's not going to hide well. Sorta like the elephant hiding behind the window curtains. A slightly dragged out finish and extra resting time is about the only thing that helps settle it down a bit. Anything else will risk flattening the roast flavor wise. Maybe roasted with more development and pull some shots into a glass with some dark chocolate syrup would make for some intense "chocolate covered berry" latte's.