Favorite Espresso Blends 2012 - Page 4

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mariobarba
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#31: Post by mariobarba »

HB wrote:Since you know the blend well, would you elaborate?
I guess for me, I never really got the tar flavours Jim mentioned or the citrus pith mentioned by more than one reviewer. I never found the crema to be more abundant than most coffees I've made at home and it pours very much like an arabica blend (I find robusta blends look "gloppy" when coming off the spouts of my portafilter). I also thought the blend benefitted from higher doses (18-19g) as lower doses left the flavours somewhat muted. I also seem to remember a faint acidity/sourness with this coffee. I usually considered this blend to be a juste milieu between the Italian blends I get at the local bars and the third wave stuff I order online or get from local 3rd wave shops.


Then again, I usually order two different espresso blends from Social to benefit from the free shipping, one is always People's Daily and the other something new. I may have my experiences mixed up as I am only going to start keeping detailed notes about each coffee I try as of this moment :idea: .
I guess I'll have to order some more to be sure. :D

Dogshot
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#32: Post by Dogshot »

I buy a lot of my coffee from Social. While I enjoy People's Daily on my PV Export, on my Elektra Semi I prefer the Farmers' Collective Organic.

I absolutely agree with the grapefruit pith flavour, although I find that it disappears after the coffee has aged 6-8 days.

As far as Mario's comments go, I drink Peoples' Daily as a ristretto in the 80%-85% range when it is young, and as it sits around I take it to 70%, and then finish in the 55%-60% range. So maybe Mario, you are drinking your bag before it has a chance to reach to kind of drinking territory that the reviewers were at.

For all these brew ratios, I use an 18gm dose in a VST basket. I'm not crazy about this blend at the 14gm-15gm dose level.

Jim's tarry comment is an inescapable taste at the end of the shot when brewed on the Semi. To me it tastes more like tannin than tar. I don't recall noticing it so much on the Export. It is what keeps me from loving this blend, although I don't find the tar as offensive as the alcohol overtones that come from some dry-processed Brazils.

The farmers' Collective Organic, on the other hand, reminds me very much of what Hairbender was like about a year-and-a-half ago (without the jasmine). That Hairbender was a beautiful coffee blend, and so is the Farmers' Collective.

Mark
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RapidCoffee
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#33: Post by RapidCoffee »

Coffee is an agricultural product, and is guaranteed to change over time. Beans age, blend composition changes, there are roast variations... For whatever reasons, there are differences between HB#2 and the People's Daily that I received two months ago. The February batch is distinctly fruitier (and IMHO more interesting). This is still apparent after two months in the chest freezer.
John

d2addict
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#34: Post by d2addict »

Regarding taste profile, I don't agree (based on my experience) that Social Coffee People's Daily espresso can be classified as a traditional Italian espresso blend although it's not as wild and complex (in taste profile and texture) as some 3rd wave blends like Belle espresso or Novo.
Also I haven't experienced any citrus or grapefruit like notes with this blend.

FrankZ
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#35: Post by FrankZ »

One thing that may help a lot of readers would be a comparison to another similar coffee the tester has tried, or perhaps listing their typical favorites. This way, folks with similar tastes can get additional benefit from all the effort that goes into tasting.

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HB (original poster)
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#36: Post by HB (original poster) »

Scout's Honor by Handsome Coffee Roasters

UPDATED 05/19/2012: Revealed Favorite Espresso Blend #3 identity:
Handsome Coffee Roasters wrote:Origins: Los Naranjos, Colombia; Abakundakawa, Rwanda
Varietal: Caturra, Bourbon
We Taste: Red Berries, Stone Fruit, Juicy Body
Dan Kehn

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another_jim
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#37: Post by another_jim »

HB 2012 BLIND ESPRESSO #3

INTRODUCTION: The third wave has developed its own standard style of espresso blend, which I'll call "W3OJ" or "third wave orange juice." A W3OJ blend will mostly consist of a washed Central and a washed or pulp natural Brazil; it will taste somewhere between orange juice, orange candy and marmalade. It is roasted light enough for the splits to still be light. It is made from high grade coffees, and will brew into a snappy-sweet cup with no perceptible taints. As an espresso shot, it will require skill and good gear to tame the acidity. Intelligentsia's Black Cat and Ritual's Sweet Tooth are the standout examples of this style. The question with this mystery blend three is if a good thing can be taken too far. Read this review to find out if you're the right home barista to answer this question.

OVERALL TASTE: When I brewed the blend I got orange juice, candied orange peel, lots of brown sugar sweetness, and a large dollop of baked pear. Made as espresso, I could get the first three, but had a hard time getting anything more than a faint echo of the baked pear. The coffee has medium heavy body. Aside from espresso, it brews extremely well, makes a decent Americano, but doesn't do very well as a cappa.

SHOT PULLING GUIDE: The key with this blend is taming the acidity, balancing it with sweetenss and roast flavors. My best advIce is that you should pull this along a diagonal line in the extraction space, going from low dose/fine grind and low temperature to high dose/coarse grind with high temperatures. The low temperature shot balances the acidity with sweetness, the high temperature shot pairs it with astringent orange peel flavors. I liked them all equally well, but felt I never unlocked the blend's full potential I tasted when I brewed it. In particular, I got only slight echoes of the baked pear, but never in the same tasty form it appears in the brewed coffee.

WHO SHOULD BUY IT: This is coffee for acid hounds with good gear (Mitch are you listening?). Even for them, it will be a bit of an espresso school exam getting a superb shot. However, its a fairly safe bet if you also drink brewed coffee, since it works very well in that role.
Jim Schulman

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cannonfodder
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#38: Post by cannonfodder »

Mystery blend #3

This was a challenging and interesting coffee to work with. This is far from a novice coffee, it takes some substantial work to tame and the tolerances are very tight. This is a high acidity coffee so if you do not like acidity, you wont like this. At the same time, if you are new to coffee and find yourself wondering what acidity is, then get some and pull a few shots. You will instantly know the 'acidity' sensation.

I found this coffee provided a wide range of flavors and sensations across multiple preparation methods and parameters. Cool temperatures gave you high acidity, tart espresso. I liken it to an orange sweet tart while eating an orange Skittles candy at the same time. A sweet, orange peel and marmalade espresso with copious amounts of tart acidity. At higher temperatures (201°F-202°F) and higher volume pulls, the acidity tames down and the orange mellows out providing a smoother drink.

I happen to be playing with a MyPressi TWIST right now and decided to pull some shots from it using a Lido hand mill. Now the MyPressi produces an espresso more in line with a lever machine with a lower pressure and declining pressure profile. It actually reminds me of the shots I get form an Elektra Microcasa a Leva with the lighter body and more defined flavors. I found this coffee to work quite well out of the MyPressi and would expect it to behave the same from a lever machine. In fact, I think this coffee would work very well out of a lever machine. They tend to run hot and this is a hot tolerant coffee. The lower pressure and declining pressure profile produced a nice balanced cup with medium/medium-high acidity but a mellower candied orange with subtle spice and fruit notes in the background. If you happen to have a machine that is pressure profiling capable, try a 17.5 gram dose, a 3-4 second pressure ramp up to around 7 bars with a declining pressure over the next 22 seconds ending at around 5 bar for 2 ounces extracted (25/26ish seconds total brew time). The espresso is lighter in body and mouth feel but it brings out the sweet orange and fruit and spice flavors that I get in a brew pot.

I found the coffee to be quite nice as a vacuum and press pot with a kinder, gentler flavor. As an espresso it has a range of flavors depending on how you pull your shot but found my preferred shots to be 202°F with a 17.5 gram dose and 1.75-2 ounces pulled over a shorter 25 second time frame. In milk, it gets lost, but I did have an interesting cappa that I produced from a hot ristretto shot that was nearly undrinkable by itself. However, as a general guide, I would say avoid milk drinks or even coffee with sugar or cream added; keep it black. There is plenty of sweetness in the cup and the heavy body/flavor of milk overpowered what made the coffee enjoyable. I dont know that I would make this a steady diet coffee, but it was a nice break and provided an entertaining challenge.
Dave Stephens

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shadowfax
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#39: Post by shadowfax »

HB Mystery Blend #3

The latest mystery blend provided us with a pretty dramatic change of gears-in a nutshell, turning the acidity dial up to 11. Upon opening my unmarked bag, I was greeted with a nice-looking medium roast whose aroma had notes of green apple skin/kiwi, cherry, and buttery cake icing. The latter bit, the buttery cake icing smell, set me off on my guess for this coffee-Intelligentsia. Most of the coffees I get from them bear this signature aroma to one extent or another. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite right, but its provenance is not far off. I'll leave the actual reveal to Dan.

This was a challenging coffee to work with. The acidity, as I said, is off the charts. There's little you can do about this except coax enough sweetness out of it to balance it out. Trying to tame the brightness with heat will get you a muted, characterless shot. It also has a strong tendency to show a quickly accelerating flow late in the shot (which doesn't help the shot taste) that is troublesome to tame without a declining pressure profile.

However, once you get this coffee balanced out, it is tremendously satisfying. The best shots are like sticky blood orange-cherry syrup; this effect is especially exaggerated if you let a portion of your shot cool till it is lukewarm and sip it then. Other reviewers mentioned getting pear out of this coffee; I never could as espresso, but the dry aroma of the coffee certainly has pear/apple skin notes to it.

My favorite shots of this coffee were in the 18-19g range, pulled to a 25-28g beverage weight (60-75% brew ratio) in 28-32 seconds (on the long side for me) and a surprising 203°F. I liked the tighter shots the best due to their sticky, juicy texture and sweet citrus acidity. I found the espresso oddly finicky about pressure profiles. It seems to work best and most consistently with a low-pressure infusion, a quick ramp to ~8-8.5bars, and then a slow decline in pressure back from there to keep the flow tight. Straying from this profile for me consistently yielded inferior shots. With a fast flow, you start to get pithy bitterness and unpleasant astringence. So, you want to avoid a too-smooth pressure ramp (this will exacerbate the accelerating flow) and holding it at a high pressure. I would guess if you have a machine with a traditional setup you may be best off dialing your pressure down fairly low with this coffee. If you get the temperature too low, you'll get a face-puckering grapefruit bomb.

This coffee is a little one-dimensional as espresso (citrus, citrus, citrus); it's also a pretty bracing sensory experience even at its best. It's not a daily drinker by any means, even if you are an acidity-hound like me. That said, it's an enjoyable experience that's perfect for anyone looking to get a crash course on pulling high-acid espresso. I'd highly recommend this coffee to anyone with an adventurous coffee palate, and in particular people with lever machines and other 'pressure profiling' espresso setups. By the same token, this is not a good choice for people looking for chocolate and caramel coffees, and may be real challenge with 'beginner' equipment.
Nicholas Lundgaard

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Sherman
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#40: Post by Sherman »

HB Mystery Blend #3
Original Roast date: 05/06/2012

Initial Preferences
Temperature: High
Dose: 19g
Output: 25g
Ratio: 75%
Time: 25s

The mystery blends are provided with no roast or shot parameters, so we're flying blind. By appearance, this blend is roasted a little lighter, straddling somewhere between City and Full City. There's outward expansion and golden splits but little visible evidence of oil or other possible indicators of a darker roast.

I started with a fine grind, 15.5g medium temperature shot to test the waters. What greeted me was a slap in the face; a fast-running grapefruit shot that ravaged my tastebuds. Clearly there was work to be done - this sourpuss needed to be tamed. Step 1, turn up the heat. Step 2, slow down the flow. Shortening my flush to 3s helped, but updosing to 17g didn't. Still, the sourness was starting to dissipate*. 17.5, 18, and 18.5g all passed in a blur. Finally, a 19g dose, nearly bursting at the seams, opened up the clouds and let sunshine through. A plate of sliced Asian pear with a San Pellegrino Limonata chaser descended from the heavens, and all was right in the world, if only for a short period of time.

Exploration
After a short refractory period, the grinder was put to work. Back down to 15.5g, super-tight grind and short flush, the grapefruit returned with a vengeance. There was little joy in the land of low doses, and any attempt at outrunning the sourpuss at this dose with a longer shot was mercilessly extinguished.

There was little left to discover. The sourpuss hid behind every corner, waiting for me to stumble over a temperature that was just too low, a dose that was just too light. To my surprise, the usual accompaniment of bitter pith was nowhere to be found. The sourpuss was working solo. It seems that there's one note to be played, and you'd better nail the hell out of it.

In milk the Asian pear was elbowed out by a ripe melon note. There were hints of promise in big drink land; I sacrificed 10oz. for a Starbucks-ian latte and found it quite pleasant. Ripe muskmelon and tangerine played across the cup, prancing about in a sun-filled meadow.

Leverage
The Cremina fired up and it was time to go. There had to be some difference, right? After all, this is lever vs. HX, manual pressureflow profiling at it's best... right?

Right. (It's the end of the world as we know it...)

I stuffed the basket until it resembled Takeru Kobayashi after visiting Nathan's and pegged the temperature strip by running water through the grouphead for 3 seconds. Getting the first few drops to flow was as difficult as any other shot that I've tried, but as soon as the flow coalesced into a cone (about 5 seconds in), the amount of force applied to the lever was dialled w-a-a-a-y back, just enough to maintain the merest stream.

Total shot time, 40 seconds - including 10 seconds' preinfusion. The reward for these efforts? A demitasse of lemon curd, silky and just-this-side-of-sour.

Temperature: Impossibly high
Preinfusion: 10s
Dose: 19g
Output: 31.7g
Ratio: 61%
Time: 40s

And in this corner...
There's no clear winner here, but there is one clear path; stuff the basket and fire up the boiler, because this blend likes it hot and tight.

Conclusions
The recurring theme in my notes is of persistent sourness. That's an unfortunate descriptor but consistent enough to make me wary. Meandering shot parameters are mercilessly punished, and the path to enlightenment is narrow indeed. Despite these issues, the reward is truly in your favor when you nail it. Lemonhead lovers will be mildly disappointed, if only for the minor lack of sweetness. To compensate for the sweet, pull a big latte. This blend is the masochist acid hound's delight. I enjoyed the exercise and review, but won't be ordering it regularly.

*This blend was especially thought provoking as it had me considering the positive and negative aspects of "sour". To me, the preference for sour is acquired, much as the preference for bitter. Balance is the key; bitter or sour must be balanced by sweet. In this case, the iron fist of sourness is wrapped in a hot velvet glove. It softens the punch just enough to make it likeable.
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