• Beans

  • What’s in your cup this morning ?

LMSC You won’t call it as a dark roast, would you ? Thx

I would call that medium dark…it’s about as dark as I like to go, normally I’m in the medium or medium light camps. as my personal preference and that of my roast sharers.

That roast was nowhere near 2nd crack and I would guess it’s about 30-50 seconds after first…not roasted too fast because I can’t see any oil and no charred chaff lines, indicating the burners going off before 1st crack and the roast allowed to coast into it. My guess for what it’s worth…anyway, they did a good job.

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      8 days later

      Crown and canvas - first light
      Brazilian and colombian blend.
      Bag states dark chocolate, hazelnut and red berry and I have to say it delivers!

      Espresso 16g in 32g out: really rich dark chocolate and hazelnut (think greene and blacks) and a gentle acidity to finish. Lovely mouthfeel and long lasting.

      As a flat white everything’s sweetened up and it really pushes the hazelnut flavour. Delicious. Off to make another 😉

        Baldrick
        Hadn’t heard of Crown and Canvas before. Having looked at their website and following your positive recommendation I think I will be giving them a try.

            Origin Colombia

            Estate Café Granja La Esperanza

            Farm Potosi

            Varietal San Juan

            Process Natural

            Altitude 1,800-2,000 masl

            Harvest January - April

            I got it from my local shop. It’s got a really nice sultana smooth taste. Currently brewing it in a Aeropress 1:15 and diluting up to around a 320g cup. Really enjoying it at cooler temps.

            Crankhouse, Cordillera de Fuego, anaerobic natural Caturra & Catuai - Initially hesitant & bracing myself due to the pungent, farmyard aroma off the beans, but absolutely delivers in every aspect on the flavour in cup. Complex, good perception of sweetness. Delicious! Like a coffee equivalent to mulled wine.

            I’m not  big fan of naturals, nor Cost a Ricans generally, but I love this.

            13.6g ground at 32 on Wilfa flat, V60 02 with can strainer, 40g every 40s (each pour taking about 13s), 1st 2 pours direct on to the coffee bed, last 3 via can strainer. Dry bed 3:15 for this brew.

            Mikari AA (Washed) (Kenya) from Coffee by the Casuals - two ways.

            Moka Pot - really rich, lots of peach. Very smooth. Pre-boiled water and AP filter, but no ‘bloom’.

            CCD - 18g + 300g - 32 on Niche. Still steeping, but based on brews this week, flavour is more balanced, not as in your face (as expected) - not much pineapple, but more acitidty alongside the peach.

            Crown and Canvas - Brazil - Fazenda Pantano
            On the bag: caramel, orange, praline, milk chocolate.

            Another delicious coffee from these guys!
            Espresso: the orange really shines through then makes way to the chocolate/caramel. Praline is on the aftertaste - on the breath? If that makes sense to anyone except me!

            Flat white: this pushes the praline/chocolate to the front and the orange to the back. Really nice but I’m enjoying it too much as an espresso to have many more of them with milk, lovely though it is.

            Kelvinside coffee - Guatemalan
            This one was one of two bags my partner gifted me for Christmas.
            I’ve had a lot of problems getting a decent shot out of them, which is a shame because when I have I’ve been rewarded with really gorgeous caramel and mint!
            Adding milk makes for a nice, if unremarkable flat white. One to be revisited me thinks - anyone else tried them?

              Baldrick I have had Guatemalans (not from that roaster) and they can be difficult to get a good extraction from….worth it when you do though.

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                  DavecUK good to know. They took a very fine grind. Had a few beautiful shots out of them and then wandered all over the place - same grind i could get to my 2:1 yield in 10 seconds, load up again and completely choked the machine.
                  Very likely my prep but I’ve been doing reasonably well up until this point.

                    I have had similar issues with some Guatemalan beans in the past- thought it was purely my ineptitude but am feeling reassured by yours and Dave’s observations.

                    I opened a bag of Monsooned Malabar from Atkinsons of Lancaster that has a roast date of 8/12 this morning. The beans look dark and oily, they stuck to my fingers as I handed them onto the scales for my 18g Aeropress morning fix. The bloom was the biggest I’ve ever seen and had to wait for a few moments before continuing the pour. The aroma came across very strong, burnt rubber and tar, but not in an unpleasant way (does that even make sense?). My immediate reaction was that I wasn’t going to like it. The first few sips of the hot black liquid didn’t allay my fears, but as the cup cooled I began to experience a thick liquid velvet that covers the inside of the mouth, the burnt rubber began to give way to dark treacle and aged leather.

                    Just pulled an espresso on the Europiccola; dark, rich, spicy, leather, treacle and a sort of pleasant mustiness and bitter dark chocolate. Not saying this is going to be a firm favourite, but I prefer this to the Christmas Blend I’ve just finished. Seems to me that MM is almost made for Christmas with it’s rich, dark, mysterious flavous and feel!

                    10 days later

                    Crankhouse, Sebastian Ramirez, Finca el Placer, carbonic maceration natural Gesha, Colombia: Top notch, full of flavour, syrupy tropical berry/fruit, with almost a Smarties like note, hints of passion fruit in the finish. Clean. I maybe ground a tad fine, but still totally delicious. Definitely not one of those ‘wet air with a hint of ####…’ Geshas.

                    13.8g ground at 2 turns on a Feldgrind (will be going slightly coarser), Kalita 185, Buono kettle, bloom 20g/30s, then 50g every 30s via the Tricolate dispersion screen. This brew had a dry bed at 2:38.

                      DavecUK

                      You’re always welcome, hope you’re feeling better soon!

                        Not another Guatemalan….. 🙄
                        Coffee mongers, finca Bremen, Guatemala
                        Nectarine, dark choc, hazelnut.
                        Now technically I didn’t pick this one - I went to the roaster and told him what I didn’t want (another fruit bomb) and for him to pick 2 bags of what he’d been enjoying.
                        This is the first.
                        Have to say I’m really enjoying it. Just nicely balanced shot of espresso. The roast seems far more consistent than the last bag (from a different roaster) and was half the price!
                        Lovely acidity at the start, dark chocolate brings just the right amount of bitter and a long lingering hazelnut finish. Lovely mouthfeel without being too cloying.
                        I’d better line up another to make sure it wasn’t a fluke 😉

                          Baldrick From the picture, looks like a well-roasted medium to me.

                          What’s the other bag, which he picked for you ? Thx