Home-Barista.com

Initial instructions for this review were that it would not be blind, so I opened the packaging and read the letter from the roaster that included his preferred brew parameters of 18 gm dose, yielding 50 - 60 ml in a 25 second extraction with water hitting the coffee between 201 and 204°F. 50 ml of this coffee weighs about 36 gm. I adjusted these parameters to the pre-infusion and flow rate that works with my Conti Prestina vintage commercial lever. The Prestina lever starts at about 8 bars pressure and declines from there, showing the shot at the end. My Prestina is modified by adding PID (proportional, integral, derivative) computer temperature control. I've offset the PID readout by 52°F to display a shot temperature that matches the flavor profile of brewed coffees, so my shot temperature is approximate. For this coffee boiler temperature offset to brew was always showing at 201 - 202°F. However my commercial lever has declining temperature throughout the shot. The combination of temperature and pressure decline yields excellent flavor definition and avoids overextraction and overheating. As a shot brewer results with this machine are very consistent, especially since I don't pull shots in rapid succession. My grinder is a Fiorenzato Doge Conico with 68 mm conical burrs.

My favorite shots were 18 gm in, 35 gm out, using a 30 sec preinfusion, followed by a shot after releasing the lever of 33 - 35 seconds. Peak flavor was between five and seven days post-roast with the sweetness just starting to fade on the eighth day. At these brew parameters shots were very smooth and balanced with rich crema, tasting like dark chocolate, sweet raspberry in the mid-range, baker's chocolate, cocoa and mild bitter almond in the finish. The sensation of drinking this coffee was like coating your mouth with rich hot chocolate. At day 9, I needed to updose to maintain the same flow rate, and the sweet almond taste was more prominent.

This is a very fine version of a traditional Italian roast, where it is fully developed in a way that I like a lot. The shots I pulled showed none of the harshness of darker roasts done with less finesse. The roaster's recommended coffee to milk ratio is a standard cappuccino of 150 - 160 ml. The coffee flavor shows well at that 3:1 ratio, emphasizing dark chocolate.

I did not vary temperature much but did experiment with more updosed shots and longer pulls. Updosing disrupted the fine balance and smoothness exhibited at my preferred brew ratio and brought forward the bittersweet chocolate. Updosing could help emphasize flavor in larger milk drinks, however. A tighter grind for a longer lever pull yielded a shot that was extremely smooth, but where flavor notes weren't as clearly defined.

I prefer this coffee as espresso rather than brewed, because espresso emphasizes the balance and finesse of the flavor notes accompanied by the smooth and rich mouthfeel. My impression of the brewed cup at the fifth day post-roast was a clean, sweet cup in the middle range with a musty, earthy taste with some bitterness at upper end. There was a hint of very mild acidity, and when slurping the brewed coffee for cupping there's a vanilla note too. Aftertaste was dominantly earthy with almond bitter at back of the mouth and sweet in the middle. To be fair, the coffee hadn't peaked at this point, and I did like the brewed version. My brewing gear consisted of a Bonavita PID kettle set to 204°F, a Clever Coffee Dripper for immersion brewing, and a Bunn grinder equipped with Ditting burrs.

This coffee was shipped directly from the roaster, so I employed an accomplice to transfer the labeled coffee bags to an anonymous container. Tom had mentioned it was a dark(er?) roasted coffee. While it did have a slight roasted scent, there was no ashiness. I don't regularly drink dark-roasted coffee, but I enjoy an occasional one--if it's done well.

As a straight espresso, the flavors of black walnuts, tobacco, and chocolate predominate, especially as it cools. Although billed as dark roasted, it has only mild lingering roast notes. The finish is clean; unlike some darker roasted coffees, it leaves no ashy aftertaste. I've long suspected this is why most Americans drown espresso in milk. This espresso has a pleasant roasted edge; moreso than Counter Culture's Forty-Six that I wrote up in the Olympia Cremina review.

The chocolates improve as it ages. I enjoy it as a straight espresso. It works well as a cappuccino too, where the milk's sweetness rounds off the already nicely balanced coffee. It's surprising that an espresso works so well both au naturel and with milk; usually roasters lean one way or another. This roaster expertly threaded the needle, capturing the essence of Pacific Northwest cafe espresso blends. I was very much reminded of my review of Caffe d'Arte.

The pours were ridiculously easy to nail. If you need a starting point, I recommend 202°F and normale brew ratio.

I happen to be on call when this coffee arrived. The long days had prevented me from spending any time on Home-Barista so when the box arrived I eagerly opened the box, read all about the coffee etc... so this was not a blind tasting for me.

I have to comment on the packaging. This is easily one of the nicest packaging I have seen in a long time. The bag was elegant, well designed and loaded with informative but not over the top information. If what was in the bag was anything like the packaging it should be good.

My coffee was roasted on 6-29 and arrived on the 2nd. The blend went into the grinder the next morning.
The coffee itself is roasted just a little darker than I normally roast but far from being a dark roast. It was a nice even full city to full city + roast. The dry aroma was pleasing but somewhat non-descript coffee aroma with some background sweetness. Ground the nose opens up with a nice toasty aroma with caramel and light fruit sweetness.

This is labeled as an espresso coffee. My first cup happen to be a siphon pot. As a brewed cup it was somewhat bland. Not offensive in any way but it did not make me sit up and take note of the experience. It was nice mellow and balanced cup with no one flavor profile jumping out at me. Little roast, little sweetness, little nut, little chocolate but uneventful. In my experience, coffees that are balanced but uneventful in a brewed cup often make good espresso. The flavors are intensified in the extraction. Likewise many coffees that are outstanding in the brewed cup do not make good espresso as the flavors are amplified and overpowering. I had high hopes for the espresso.

The next few days I managed to burn through the entire first pound, yup, it was good. My grinder is a Cimbali MAX which uses the DRM style hybrid burr set and the espresso machine, an Elektra A3 which I have been using for the past 10 years. The roaster recommends a temperature slightly on the high side of the extraction space, 201-204F, 18 gram dose with a slightly abbreviated shot at 25 seconds for 50-60 ml in volume. I found those parameters to be about spot on. I used a LM HQ triple basket dosed to 18-19 grams. My machine needs headspace so that is a 'normal' dose for this basket on my machine. I preferred a temperature on the lower side of the recommendation, 201-202F. Above the bitters started to become more pronounced in the cup along with more roast note and less origin note. I run a 7 second preinfusion at 3 bar then 8.7 bar for the remainder of the shot. I was running 27 second extractions including the pre infusion.

As a straight espresso the cup was thick, creamy, baker's chocolate with a little caramel, black walnut and a little tobacco (in a good way) note. I enjoy a good cigar and this reminded me of nibbling on high cacao dark chocolate while enjoying a good earthy, nutty cigar. I was getting a touch of berry in the background as well. Pulled more ristretto the body and buttery mouthfeel increased substantially along with the dark chocolate intensity. I was also getting more berry note but at the expense of the sweetness skewing the blend toward the bitter side. Pulled lungo the coffee washed out and some unpleasant distillate came out.

I thought this blend really shines in small milk drinks. A traditional cappuccino or macchiato with just a touch of sugar in the milk. The chocolates and caramels really boomed balancing out the slightly bitter black walnut. As the cup cools the nut fades along with the slight bitter and the chocolate and caramel/turbinado sugar note steps up. Almost to a molasses or sorghum sweetness. A very nice easy drinking cup that is sure to agree with those that do not like the high acidity and citrus blends being offered in many shops these day.