• Beans

  • What’s in your cup this morning ?

MWJB Foundry, Kenya, Karimikui AA washed SL14 SL28 - A solid Kenyan, a bit like a trip down memory lane with its dark fruit/berry notes (bag says dark cherry, I can see that, maybe blackcurrant too?) a hint of sweet lemon. Nice intensity. Average subjective liking score 7.5/9.0 and my preferred coffee over the last couple of months.

Follow up brew, a tad finer than 12% 400Kruve, with 13.8g, using a regular kettle and the OXO pour over water tank with Kalita 185 brewer & 155 paper. Bloom 30g for 60s, slowly rotating the OXO tank, then at 1:00 add the remaining water (215g, plus 10g that gets ‘lost’ in the kettle), again slowly rotate the water tank during the brew to ensure even coverage.

Slightly less body, a shade more tart acidity, but overall no better, nor worse, than the previous brew.

    4 days later

    Idido Yirgacheffe, roasted to 16% WL, which is darker than I would normally go, but came out surprisingly good. Retained the boozy flavor, but with less of the fruit and more of the chocolate. Pulled only one day after roasting, so it spritzed a bit. Was a bit slow getting to the camera, which resulted in some of the crema dissipating. Still, a wonderfully tasty shot.

    Falcon Micro sent me 5KG of this and the KII AA greens, even though I only ordered 1KG of each. A year’s supply to get through, and certain plenty to play with for development profiling.

    8 days later

    Really been impressed with these guys

    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

    Crank house La Chumeca 777

    6 days later

    Arboretum from Darkwoods.

    19g in, 38g out. I remember back in the day one can tell an espresso is good when the spoon can stay afloat on top of the crema.

      • MMWJB

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      • Post #1340

      A bit dark for me, not ‘bad’ per se, representative of notes but just a bit too dark to shake the edge of ‘burnt toast scrapings’, 7/9.

      Bear in mind this coffee is half the price of the coffees I normally buy from Dark Woods.

          MWJB - What I tend to find with Darkwoods is that their scale of Light -> Dark (1 -> 5) is not really indicative of the actual roast colour judging by the coffee I have ordered from them. - This particular one (I didn’t order) is 2 out of 5 in their scale.

              • MMWJB

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              • Post #1342

              MediumRoastSteam I bought it predominantly on the notes, rather than the roast scale - I have enjoyed coffees they rate as ‘2’ before.

              Roast level scales are a bit of rabbit hole, generally.

                • LMSC

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                • Post #1343

                MediumRoastSteam I decided not to order Darkwoods Costa Rican. Instead, I have some from Taith and a bag from Skylark in the post.

                • MWJB replied to this.

                    • MMWJB

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                    • Post #1344

                    LMSC What did you go for with Taith? I have a bag of the Colombia, washed, Cata Pacamara on order.

                      • LMSC

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                      • Post #1345
                      • Edited

                      @MWJB

                      • Lot 20 Lazy Process : Classic Kenyan
                      • Winton Benitez Castillo Washed Thermal Shock
                      • Mio Flemia Gesha
                      • Alex Bermudez Washed Thermal Shock
                      • Mio Fruboli Natural

                      All of them except Winton Benitez are 125g. I had yours in the bag and dropped it for another time. 😊

                      Wasn’t keen on ordering coffee costing £27-£30 per 250 bag.

                      Thx

                      MediumRoastSteam Not in my cup just yet… But I ordered this one with the Boxing Day Discount from DarkArts: https://www.darkartscoffee.co.uk/products/the-earth-men-colombia - I’m really looking forward to it!

                      Well.. that was a disappointment and a half. Soooo annoyed. Given the tasting notes I’d expect a much lighter roast (jasmine, strawberry milkshake, banana, maple syrup), but I was quite surprised to find it’s a lot darker than anticipated, darker than “Arboretum” from Darkwoods and on part with Crow Tree, also from Darkwoods - one of their darker roasts. In any case, colour doesn’t represent much. If there are any of those notes… they have been roasted away. 😔

                          • LMSC

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                          • Post #1347

                          MediumRoastSteam A lack of roast information and/or two-lines descriptions like Vibrant, bright,… amongst many roasters aren’t helpful. Like BBE dated coffee, it is a lottery which I am not a fan of when we spend the north of £40-£50 a KG, let alone £70-£100.

                          I hope you got away with 250g bag. But, ….! 😳🤔

                              LMSC I hope you got away with 250g bag. But, ….! 😳🤔

                                3 months later

                                Colombia - Edinson Argote - Double fermented, thermal shock, washed Orange Bourbon

                                Fika Coffee Roasters (maybe my favorite at the moment)

                                Brewed on V60 using Cafec T-90 filters. Ground on setting 4 on ZP6 (fairly coarse). Water temp 91C. 15g coffee. 250g water

                                30 sec bloom - 50g

                                Pour up to 100g at 30 sec and small swirl

                                Pour up to 150g at 1:00 and small swirl

                                Pour up to 200g at 1:30 min and small swirl

                                Pour up to 250g at 2:00 min and small swirl

                                Brew time total - 2:50

                                Soft peach-like flavour with a hint of a processing/boozy note. Will try through the Bianca with Niche Zero for higher body and see what we get.