Velton's Bonsai Blend. My personal favorite

Unfortunately Olympia Adisu Kidane and Slate Adisu Kidane are still unavailable and I have to skip them.

The selection for the month of July is....

Chert wrote:I suggest similar to Hoologram, you find a local Stumptown account, try Hairbender there and bring a bag home.

It has changed some over the years and generated its share of polemics, but I think it is a very good espresso blend, that would be described as 'third wave'.

I am looking forward to trying it. I'll probably open the bag on Saturday.

I have almost finished my bag of Hair Bender.
I have to be honest, I understand this blend may change from time to time but I don't know if I will order it again in the future. Not a bad coffee but I thinks that as an espresso it is sort of flat and contrary to the description on the package it does not shine for complexity.
However, I have to admit it, it is one of the best coffees to be used with milk that I have tried so far. Saying that it is excellent would be an understatement. It has performed extremely well in my daily cappuccino and even with my signature latteccino XL that I make with an overdose of milk.
I actually may order it from time to time just for that.

I suppose Stumptown mostly uses it with milk drinks too. At least the Latteccino satisfied so my suggestion was not a complete loss.

I wonder if someone associated with Stumptown has a list of all the flavor notes they have put on the labels and bags over the years.

Thanks for sharing; I enjoy the thread.

Chert wrote: ...
Thanks for sharing

Thank you for suggesting it! Even if I could not give it full marks I have enjoyed it. Probably I would have liked it more, as straight espresso, if I had tried it before trying the other brands. And again, for milk this one is the top so far.

August:

emradguy wrote:Nossa Familia Full Cycle

This seems to be a very interesting blend. I have been playing with it and it seems that at low extraction ratios, 1:1 to 1:1.5, chocolate is more predominant. Increasing the ratio brings a strong (pea)nut flavor out. At 1:2.5-1:3 it's just roasted peanuts.
I actually like it , so far .

Yes. The nuttiness of late has trended strongly towards peanut. When I first started drinking it, perhaps 5 years ago, it was more walnut in character. To be honest, I liked that more, but the change in flavor profile has not been enough to pull it from my regulars rotation. My last two batches of beans have been "Balanced" from Kuma Coffee. You might want to check it out too.

Peanut is considered a defect in taste and it's coming from the quackers (yellow beans that are unrosted). This is more dominantly in naturals.

I find DP Brazil can tend to still have a peanut taste even if properly roasted as well.

Denis wrote:Peanut is considered a defect in taste and it's coming from the quackers (yellow beans that are unrosted). This is more dominantly in naturals.

That is not exactly correct. Yes, an unpleasant peanut character can be due to flaws, such as quakers, but a pleasant nonastringent peanut character is not the same thing.

I do not extract quakers. I pull them from my bean batches as I break down the big bags into mason jars. Then, as I weigh out each dose, I re-inspect to catch any I may have missed.