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Due to obvious package marking and a misunderstanding, this is an unblinded evaluation. While I've heard of the roaster, George Howell, this is my first evaluation of any of his offers. The suggested brew temperature was a blazing 204°F. A lot hotter than my usual 202ish, but why not? The recommended brew ratio was a true double (18 grams in, 36 grams out).



A few days post roast, the first espresso was a panoply of orange flavors: Blood orange, mandarin orange, candied orange. I ran out of orange-themed descriptors and moved onto sweet fruit with a gentle lemongrass finish. Those who are looking for chocolate and nut blends: Run, and run fast! But if you're intrigued by a sweet fruity coffee blend without pucker and an ultra clean finish, you'll love this one.

As the days rolled on, the subsequent espressos were milder versions of the first one. Blood orange transitioned to a delicate lemon cookie; later, I was reminded of thin shortcake biscuits. Attempting to regain the punch of the first day's shots, I increased preinfusion time to a whopping 20 seconds; it's manual trick on the La Marzocco Strada depicted in the video below:



To some degree, this restored a greater level of sweetness, but the intriguing fruit flavors were still subdued. Pulling as a ristretto was not a good idea; the acidity spiked without offsetting sweetness.

Rounding out the exploration, I tried a teenie bit of sugar. That's not recommended, as it rendered its acidity null with no compensation in fruitiness. Stirring does even out the layered flavor profile, if the sharper finish in the last sip offends. I didn't try it as a cappuccino, but I imagine it would be overwhelmed by anything but modest volumes of milk. As the last of the sample made its way through the grinder, the espressos were more delicate and tea-like. This coffee was a wonderful change of pace and I highly recommend it to those who favor straight espresso.

With some packaging assistance I was able to go into this review completely blind. I received the coffee on March 31 and did the bulk of my review from April 2nd through April 5th.

Initial Impressions
The first few shots I pulled were very floral
Strong aroma, intense - sweet flavors
Aroma: floral, like lavender or potpourri. Some shots even had a fruity pebbles-like aroma to them.
Flavors: plum and lavender. Very sweet, slight "grape jolly rancher" finish.
Very light on body

Overview
Generally positive: I'm not a big fan of overly floral coffees, much of my dial-in efforts went to pulling the flavor profile as much in the "fruit" direction as possible. That said, I know a quality coffee when I taste it. Even though floral coffees are not my favorite, this coffee really plays to its strengths. Those who really enjoy floral coffees (or people who really like lavender) will probably find this to be one of their favorites.

I preferred brewing it hotter -> less intense floral flavors, this also brought the plum flavor from somewhat tangy to more of a sweet plum.

Dose and brew ratio really didn't seem to make much of a difference to the taste: the lavender - plum sweetness theme was prevalent throughout. This is not a coffee that most would pull as a ristretto, but if you keep the temp hot and the flow slow you can pull it off and still arrive at a balanced shot. The higher dosed ristretto helped with the body; although the intensity was borderline aggressive, and palate fatigue set it quickly. I went back to lower dosed shots to mellow it out a bit.

A High-Grown, Washed Ethiopian from a Legendary Roaster

This is a premium coffee roasted by George Howell, the pre-eminent pioneer of specialty coffee. It's an Ethiopian Reko, from the Kochere region, grown at high altitude.

His rendition creates a very balanced espresso when pulled at moderate heat and as a normale. It integrates sweet and fruity and sour flavors, has a rich, slightly sticky mouthfeel and an almond bitter finish. I prefer pulling it on a pump machine rather than my usual preference for levers, because it seems to improve with a short pre-infusion and fast pressure ramp up compared to the longer pre-infusion required with my lever machines.

I found this coffee challenging because it doesn't do as well with the extreme flavor separation created with my Conti Prestina, a spring lever that combines a declining pressure profile and a large intra-shot temperature decline. Another challenging aspect is the coffee's sensitivity to temperature, doing best at 199°F and being more sour below and above that temperature. This coffee does well as a straight espresso. I don't recommend it for milk drinks, because its flavors reside mostly in the mid-range, where they are masked by milk.

I began my review blind. Although it was shipped in a labeled bag and outside packaging, my wife transferred the beans for me. After trying the initial pourover I guessed the origin and processing method, and I even guessed the roaster from comments Tom had made before the distribution. Its East Coast shipment origin was revealed by its early arrivals to reviewers there and delays farther west. My wife had to stifle her laughter when I told her my guess!

I tried dialing in the coffee to the roaster's parameters of 204°F with 18 gm in and 40 gm out and got more sourness and off tastes than I liked. I had trouble balancing its sour acidity with sweetness, and although there were hints of florals at times, these were never prominent. I soon concluded that this was too harsh as a ristretto and moved to a faster flow rate and a normale brew ratio. Then I looked at other reviewers' notes to see if I could do better. John's review notes helped me drop the temperature to 199°F so I could appreciate the coffee more. After all, readers want to know how it tastes at its best.

This is not my favorite roasting style for a high-grown, washed Ethiopian. I prefer less development so I can taste more floral notes. My attempts at pulling this coffee showcased toasty flavors in the place of florals. On the other hand, this roast profile can be easier to tolerate as a daily driver for those who prefer "coffee that tastes like coffee" (a well-known descriptor by Jim Schulman). My preference for that style leans toward Guatemalans that emphasize chocolate and nutty flavors with some spice and florals at the high end.

The initial shipment was sufficiently slow that I didn't try this coffee in its earliest days. A second shipment was sent thanks to Tom's diligent support of the distro. I tried that sample at Day 4 and only started the first bag at Day 7. Here are some detailed flavor and technical notes to fill out my summary above.

I don't have complete information about the Olympia Maximatic shots but can provide this much. My best shot was 13.3 gm in and about 35 gm out, pulled at medium temperature, and with a steady narrow stream rather than drips. Keep in mind that the Maximatic has a 49mm group compared to the normal commercial standard of 58mm. The Maximatic is a "dragon" heat exchanger (HX), which means it starts hot and you cool it with a flush. I did a three second cooling flush before locking in and pulling the shot. As noted earlier, this shot was a balance of sour and fruity, smooth and rich, with a slight almond aftertaste. I didn't pick up many distinctive flavors with this shot but was impressed by its balance and mouthfeel.

The best shot on my Conti lever was five days post roast: 17.5 gm in, 50 gm out, 15 sec preinfusion, 199°F and a 50 second pull. This was smooth, sophisticated, and fruity. It had a woody aftertaste I didn't like but at this temperature the sourness and fruitiness where balanced. When pulled hotter and more sour, the sweetness had a pungency and tasted like oranges.

At Day 4 post roast, second shipment, I could discern more flavors, but the shot was more intense than I like. It was 17 gm in, 41 gm out, 45 sec preinfusion, 56 sec pull, 199°F. A moderate lemon-orange acidity structures this cup. There's a strong sweet orange aftertaste as it rolls over the tongue, with an upward curve into boysenberry sweetness. There's a moderately bitter note like dark pizza crust with a hint of almond. As the cup cools, sweetness and sour are more balanced, with a ripe persimmon flavor (without puckering), and a hint of rum. The aftertaste starts to resolve into a light rum and then something between toast and apricot, as noted on the bag. The longer aftertaste as one's mouth waters from the acidity reveals a flush of sweet nectar. A couple of minutes later, the aftertaste is like yeasty, dark pizza crust. As it approaches room temperature I can understand why the roaster included dates and apricots in the flavor description, but this is only when it's quite cool. At this brew ratio, the mouthfeel is rich, smooth and almost sticky. It comes close to salty but isn't quite there. Is this a favorite coffee? No, I've got a chocolate sweet tooth, but I appreciate its subtle and integrated flavor notes and recommend it for that reason.

Here are my initial, blind pourover notes to give you some additional sense of the flavor profile. Day 7 post roast, first shipment: When ground, the coffee's acidity is apparent in its aroma. The beans are mostly uniform in size with one bean still in parchment. I also noticed one that was a shell and had slight scorching, but these were the exception. I started with a pourover brew using a Driver metal filter at 204°F. This is a medium roast, well developed, with moderately strong acidity. It has prominent nutty flavor, good raspberry sweetness. There's also a note like baked bread and a gentle almond-like bitterness in the finish. As it cools there's a prominent note of yeasty bread. Unlike many coffees I've tried, it does not have a tobacco-like aftertaste but resolves with a gentle bitterness like dark toast. It's earthy and balanced with medium body. Further cooling reveals a moderate woody note and more sweetness emerges. As it cools toward room temperature, the acidity becomes more prominent and a powerfully sweet nectar appears under the tongue. The sweetness is reminiscent of what you would find in a high quality late harvest Reisling. At room temperature the background flavor resolves to walnuts and dark pizza crust with late harvest sweetness.