Reunion Island subscription reviews/tips/notes - Page 2

#11: Post by **mfogliet** » March 19th, 2017, 8:27 pm

Bob_McBob wrote:Are they putting roast dates on all their coffee now?

The four bags I have received so far with this subscription have had roast dates. Last year I gave up on RI but recently my local trusted cafe began serving up the small lot offerings. That and the black Friday deal was stellar.

Last week I received my new Londinium-R and March's Rwanda is the first lighter roast I have tried. Although there is still a lot to learn to master this machine today I made an enjoyable double: 15g in / 26g out / 15s PI @3 bar and 30s extraction. I drank it as a long black. Taste was a balance of floral and seedy blackberry with unidentified stonefruit. The seediness was bitterness but still enjoyable. Next time I will try for less extraction and report back.

#12: Post by **redbone** » March 23rd, 2017, 1:46 pm

baldheadracing wrote:Firefly decaf 2lb bag: no date, no sticker
Bullet Espresso: "Best Used By: 2017 Oct 24 PQO 1021"

From the subscription:
Dec: Costa Rica Small lot: "Roasted on Nov 29 2016"
Jan: Guat: "Best Used By: 2018 Jan 02 PQ0 1222"
(Feb's bag - Burundi - I gave away)
Mar: Rwanda: "R/O 070317 PR0 0306"

... so there's still a bit of uncertainty.

A few notes:
- they put in a little "extra" with the subscription sometimes, which is nice. This month was Sencha tea. Other months have been some very nice chocolate, a sample of their holiday blend ...
- not sure why, but in a couple bags there was a couple grams of what looked like very coarse-ground coffee bits.
- so far, the one-bag-a-month one-year subscription is shaping up to be a good deal at the sale price ($150CAD => $12.50/bag including shipping).

What are your thoughts on the Guatemala Finca La Soledad ?

With regards to roast dates R.I. did chime in a while back addressing the concern
Quality budget coffee options in Canada?
Quality budget coffee options in Canada?

Any roaster willing to chime in here and address an issue is a good thing in my books.

March 23rd, 2017, 10:20 pm

redbone wrote:What are your thoughts on the Guatemala Finca La Soledad ?

How to minimize woody notes? (when brewing/pulling) Note that my comments were relative to the particular roast that I received, and my - and only my - perception thereof; thus, a roast that you get today may well be different, for the reasons given in the thread.

One of the features of the Reunion Island subscription is that one gets the opportunity to purchase additional bags of the coffee of the month at a very significant discount. If I had needed more coffee, then there have been months where I definitely would have taken advantage of the discount, and months where I wouldn't have. The advantage of a subscription is that there have been/will be a wide variety of coffees; while all of them are not going to be to my personal taste, I appreciate the opportunity a subscription offers to try new experiences.

redbone wrote:With regards to roast dates R.I. did chime in a while back addressing the concern
Quality budget coffee options in Canada?
Quality budget coffee options in Canada?

Any roaster willing to chime in here and address an issue is a good thing in my books.

Those responses were posted in 2011. Of course, many things can happen in five/six years and policies/practices evolve; I merely posted what is and was on the bags that I have received.

#14: Post by **redbone** » March 23rd, 2017, 10:43 pm

Ya, sorry second question re roast date was not addressed to you.
I should have seperated the two.

The Guatemala coffee review question was.

March 25th, 2017, 7:13 pm

Getting back to this month's Rwanda, I am finding Pilot's V60 method works beautifully. Note that you might have to grind a bit coarser than normal - with my usual starting grind setting on the Vario/steel for the Pilot method, I got a couple 22.8% extractions. That is a little high for my grinder, so I picked up a bit of astringincy on the aftertaste.

#16: Post by **Zambonin** » March 26th, 2017, 6:36 pm

baldheadracing wrote: (Feb's bag - Burundi - I gave away)

This has been my favourite bag so far.

My bag was lost while in transit to me so R.I. sent me an extra bag. I ended up freezing some and have been enjoying it all of March.

Is anyone going to pre-order the Columbia Gesha?

#17: Post by **redbone** » March 28th, 2017, 3:11 pm

F.Y.I. with regards to R.I. roast date on 2lb bags.

Disregard the first and last 2 digit sets.

April 6th, 2017, 12:32 pm

April's coffee is Columbia Las Margaritas Red Honey from Reunion's "small lot" series.
- red bourbon;
- 1510-1700 masl, Cauca valley;
- honey process (pulped natural, more or less)
- my bag was roasted April 3.
Las Margaritas is one of the Granja La Esperanza farms; well-known for interesting micro-lots using various varietals and processing methods.

I'll get into this bag Easter weekend; I hope to read other's experiences first!

ETA: This is the same farm that produced the Royal Coffee Crown Jewel yellow bourbon that some H-B'ers are currently roasting: Las Margaritas Yellow Bourbon / Roast / Discuss / Enjoy

#19: Post by **mfogliet** » April 8th, 2017, 7:33 pm

April's coffee is Columbia Las Margaritas Red Honey from Reunion's "small lot" series.

This bag has fantastic aroma of strawberry.

I'm enjoying the first drink made for myself; a long black 19g in to 37g out poured over 150 ml of water. The pull was faster than I was targeting (7s PI + 37s extraction) but the taste is almost prefect with plenty of sticky sweetness and just enough tart acidity to balance and make it interesting.

#20: Post by **mfogliet** » April 9th, 2017, 8:08 am

baldheadracing wrote:Getting back to this month's Rwanda, I am finding Pilot's V60 method works beautifully. Note that you might have to grind a bit coarser than normal - with my usual starting grind setting on the Vario/steel for the Pilot method, I got a couple 22.8% extractions. That is a little high for my grinder, so I picked up a bit of astringincy on the aftertaste.

Thanks for adding this Pilot video link. I had not stumbled across their brewing guide videos on my own. There was just enough of the Rwanda sitting in the freezer and it made the best V60 I have ever had at home. The grind I used was drip (same as Technivorn).