Unorthodox Roasters ‘Ultimate Stoater’ - will be the last of my ‘special’ beans for a while, whilst I practice on lesser beans and upgrade to a better machine.
Whilst the previous bag of ‘Pure Magic’ never really delivered for me (my machine/skills, not the bean, I’m sure), and I just about managed something ‘acceptable’ on the last day, these beans are a completely different animal !
My first encounter with ‘Peaberry’ and they’re tiny little things. Of course, I didn’t think to research them, so tried the same grind as the ‘Pure Magic’ and the machine completely choked on the first attempt. Second grind going 3 micro-notches coarser on the Vario+ (as I still can’t judge) gave me another choke, but managed 21g in 1 minute - TIL that the bambino on manual will still auto-stop after a minute 😆 - and tasted potent. Not good or bad, just ridiculously intense (as expected).
Third grind (another 5 micro-notches coarser) and I got 29g in 29s (always 16g in)… and it tastes not too shabby. I stopped for today, as I don’t drink too much caffeine (I wish I could), so tomorrow will try one micro-notch coarser and aiming for 32g in 30s (this is timed to include a 7s pre - no idea on pressure, obvs). My palette is still growing, but I think I could extract a little less - will see.
Flavour wise, it states Banans, Honey and Golden Raisin. My wife commented she could smell/taste the banana (she’s not a coffee drinker at all) and I could certainly ‘sense’ banana mashed with raisin. I’m still working on Honey, but considering earlier discussions, this is the first time I could ‘sense’ some sweetness. Only a hint, but my brain is keen to explore that and increase it.
Overall, even though only one reasonable shot so far, much happier with these beans that the last few bags I’ve been trying (again, more a reflection of me than the roaster). I can imagine that they could be amazing with an experienced barista on a good machine.
