Kevin over at Bluebeard has hit on a really great espresso blend. If you haven’t had a macchiato at Bluebeard Coffee Roasters lately, you’re in for a treat.
I am roasting his Narrows blend at home for espresso, and it has everything I’m looking for: great mouthfeel, nice chocolate undertones, perfect acidity, and high notes that tell me there’s some fruity ethiopian in the blend. Congrats, Kevin, this is a really great blend. I’ll be back for more!
I bought a pound of Kenya beans from Sweet Maria’s and have been savoring it. It has been so interesting to contrast the Indonesian coffees with beans from other origins. This is very tasty – it doesn’t have the fruity wild unexpected excitement of the Ethiopian beans I’ve been enjoying. The Kenyan really wants to be drip, I think – it’s got a rich base, 
reminiscent of chocolate and perhaps caramel. I’m having a chemex cup right now. My daughter was going to harass me as i was making it, “coffee??!” and I said yeah, you want some?”, and of course, the answer was “sure.”
What’s really interesting is having it as espresso. I think the cup I made at lunch time today might take the prize for the most unusual 4-shot latte I’ve ever put together. I finished it and wanted more. First of all, I roasted about 70/30 Kenya with Sumatra last night. It’s a medium roast (not to 2nd crack). The first pull was a very short, dense almost salty ristretto (oops, over-dosed, oh well, it’s going in there). The second was a nearly perfect 2oz /25 second pull. Steamed milk, to finish, and the flavor was legit.
I’m telling you, if you like coffee at all, you should be roasting your own. You’re really missing out by letting others cook your beans and then warehouse them for weeks before it’s used. Just get a hot air popcorn popper at goodwill for 5 bucks and try it this Saturday. Order some beans on Sweet Marias.
I
fixed my espresso machine yesterday, and it’s good to get some espresso! Come on over, I’m roasting Sumatra SO for espresso, just into 2nd crack, as well as an espresso blend I got from Bluebeard Roasters. I’ll pull you a shot or two.
The thermal fuse in my Gaggia Classic went out on Saturday, so I’ve been making a lot of
Aeropress. Yesterday, Kathy and I went for espresso at bluebeard, and I couldn’t help myself, I also got a pour-over of Ethiopian. So very good.
And today, my package arrived from Sweet Marias with a pound of Kenyan and a 6-cup Chemex. What a treat. Of course, I made a pot of Ethiopian right away, and I can tell I’m going to be drinking a lot more pour-over. It is so very good. And less expensive. The pot I made took a 1/4 cup of coffee. That’s about one shot of espresso, more or less, but I can make coffee for 3 people with it.
I also roasted the Kenyan but I’ll let it rest overnight. I can’t wait to try it though, it’s very exotic looking. I didn’t roast it past full city, but the beans are very dark. I wonder what they would look like after 2nd crack??
I’m reeeeeeally enjoying the distinctive flavor of Ethiopian coffee. Here are some observations if you’re a home roaster.If you’re not, you need to be.
Sweet Maria’s recommends removing the quakers, as little unripe demons of astringent nastiness. They are called quakers presumably because they stand out in a crowd like a sore thumb. They are very blonde little dudes amidst the darker beans. When you look at ‘em you want to say, “what’s wrong with you, little guy, why won’t you roast?” The reason, as I understand it, is they were not ripe enough when picked.
I have been taking them out, and the coffee is great. On Sunday I had a cup of pour-over Ethiopian Harrar, and I asked the roaster what he does. He says, nope, leave them in there, because they give the the Ethiopian part of its wild sweetness. I’m not naming the roaster, because I respectfully
Roasted Beans from the Aleta Wondo vliiage. I did not roast these, this image is from the internet. Note the quaker prominently positioned on top. Making me second-guess my resolve to cull them. This happens to be the very origin of the beans I'm roasting, so I was excited to find this image - this is exactly what mine look like, too.
disagree with him. I purposefully added several quakers into the grinder as a test, and found that SM is right, the cup had a very slight parsimony dryness in the flavor; if the roaster I spoke to were correct, I think the thing i would have noticed, even if I am mistaken about exactly what it was I tasted (because I do not have a very sophisticated palette) I say, the thing I think I would notice would be an improved sweetness, be it ever-so-slight. But that was definitely not the case. So that’s that, for me.
The second observation is, if you roast into second crack with Ethiopian, you’re killing some of its sweetness. Time to call CPS – coffee protective services – because you’re abusing it. You may think you like it dark and smoky, but if you’re roasting some fine Ethiopian, you owe it to yourself and your family consumers, if any, to do a medium roast – don’t go to second crack. The flavors are marvelous. The harrar I had on Sunday was distinctly roasty flavored. But the Ethiopian that I’m roasting is short of second crack, and it is definitely sweet and wild and mmm good. The roast flavor is not what you notice. Having said that, I really enjoyed the harrar, but I can’t help wonder what it would have been like.
The final observation in this note: the longer it rests, the better it gets (to a point). First day, ho hum, 2nd day better, and today, it is marvelous. Let’s see, today I have had “several” aeropress cups and a couple of espressos, and it is BAM, spot on after 72 hours. I used to rather poo-poo the notion that I had to wait; with dark-roasted espresso beans, that’s about right, it’s good to go. But when there are hidden flavor treasures like you’ll find in Ethiopian beans, best to let it develop.
Go right now to sweet marias or your favorite supplier and get yourself some Ethiopian beans (and you’d better treat them right).