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2M views 8K replies 897 participants last post by  juangsofi 
#1 ·
Lovely bright sunny day up here in the North-East, and I'm starting off with an espresso from Hasbean's 2010 Premium Blend.

I roasted these on Thursday, going a little bit darker than I normally would, and it seems to have suited the blend well. A subtle sweetness to the aftertaste.

What's everyone else drinking?
 
#3 ·
Today's coffee in no particular order will be:

Origin - Nicaraguan Finca Los Altos

Extract Coffee Roasters Bristol - Guatemalan Feceocagua

Dormans Coffee (Kenya) - WBC Blend and single origin components

Londinium Espresso - ? a surprise is on its way

Plus there will be some HasBean as well

Andrew (agduncan) is joining me for an afternoon playing with Espresso extractions on Gaggia Classics and the mypressi TWIST

Should be fun
:)
 
#6 ·
1. MacBeans Espresso Gold - a blend of red and yellow from Daterra in Brazil. (This is pretty much my 'house espresso.') Makes a sweet and mild-tasting shot, lends itself very well to a lovely syrupy ristretto, and is easy to work with.

2. James' Bold Red Espresso - blend details on the linked page. Has a more distinctive and earthy character than the above shot, somewhat less to my taste, but probably punches through milk a bit better. (I drink espresso but my wife likes an occasional latte, and this is what I'm using for those right now. Had a straight shot of it this morning myself, just for variety.)

3. In my wife's presspot: Arla Foods Blend 446 Beans. Mystery beans given out by Cravendale's parent company at the SCAE event. Perfectly nice, whatever they are (a dark roast of some description), so we're using them until she gets tired of them or they go off or they're gone.
 
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#7 ·
Well, Nicola & I went to London yesterday. Had a tour of the the ICR lab's in SOuth Kensington. Unfortunatly we had to be there for 8am so that meant leaving Devon at 4AM........Went on the eye later and had a general wander around london. As the in-laws were there we couldn't do the coffee tour.

So in answer to the posed question:

Lots of Red-Bull

A truly god Awful drip from Eat. in windsor

More red-bull

Sad really, Back home at 9PM -

Loverly cup of tea!

Lee
 
#8 ·
Sorry about your dismal coffee in Windsor. I wish I knew where to send you for a good one.

Besides the obligatory usual suspects we have a recently-opened Esquires Coffee, but I haven't yet been.
 
#9 ·
Garraways Nicaraguan beans for me and the whole family who decended on the house for lattes and biccies this morning. Father in law quite taken with the Silvia and he went throught he whole process with me, when I had the plasticky Gaggia baby he never bothered, so there is something in the allure of steel and steam wands, Hmmmm wonder what he would have thought of an Izzo, Giotto or similar, maybe when I retire perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Don
 
#10 ·
I have just started a bag of Starbucks House Blend. I don't think I have got the grind just right yet, but fairly close.

DonRJ - It's always nice when somebody else takes an interest. My family have only seen picture of my new machine, and they look at Mrs Banish straightaway for comment - it does dominate the kitchen a bit
;)
 
#11 ·
My espresso - James' Bold Red

My wife's latte - James' Bold Red & Cravendale

My wife's presspot - MacBeans Ecuador Podocarpus

That just about finishes up the Bold Red. Tomorrow a Guatemalan SO.
 
#13 ·
espresso: James' Finca las Nubes, a single-origin from Guatemala.

It is chocolately and sweet and tasty, things I generally love, but has (for my personal tastes) a rather thin mouthfeel which, for me, detracts a little too much from the honestly pretty delicious flavour. I usually avoid single origin espresso as I nearly always find some kind of balance issue that is not to my liking, and whilst this one is so very very promising, unhappily it did not prove an exception to that rule.

Not sure what will be next. I am reluctant to order anything new since it will arrive with only a week to go before we leave on holiday for a couple of weeks. Perhaps it is time for me to break down and give some SandyBeans a try.
;)


In my glass at lunchtime: a very nice Primitivo from the Italian food festival that showed up in Windsor today. Expect no further posts from me today, at least not coherent ones.
:cool:
 
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#14 ·
espresso: 2:1 blend of yesterday's Finca las Nubes and some leftover MacBeans Espresso Gold. Not awesome, but good enough to hold me a few days.

ibrik: Mambocino Ottoman Turkish and vanilla sugar. No link to Mambocino because today Google's reporting their site appears compromised with malware installers.
 
#16 ·
In my cup (so far) today;

Tegu AA - brewed as a woodneck @ Penny University

followed by a siphon of Yirgacheffe.

Tegu AA

A singing fruitbowl.

Jasmine, red apple, cherry and something I cannot put my finger on - but oh so tasty

Yirgacheffe

Blueberries with a hint of chocolate

More coffee to come this afternoon, with another etraction method under review
 
#19 ·
So many choices!

Could anybody recommend a fantastic bean for Latte made on a Silvia? I'm new to all this and want to experiment with some coffee you don't just get of the shelf in the supermarket.

Only thing is i don't have a grinder yet... used all my money on the Silvia.

Any interesting blends would be great!

Many thanks

xx
 
#21 ·
Cuba Serrano Superior came to my regular roaster (MacBeans) shortly after I read vintagecigarman's post, so I added a bag of that to my order. Had it as espresso this morning and used it in the presspot for my wife.

As brewed coffee it's extremely nice. As espresso I still have some tweaking to do before I settle on an opinion (also it's very gassy at this point, having been roasted only yesterday).
 
#22 ·
da Matteo Chelba (pulped natural Yirgacheffe) in Aeropress. Very full bodied, fruity and really sweet.

Does anyone else experience Aeropress as giving much more sweetness than French Press or Eva Solo? It's been a while since I used the Aeropress and was pleasantly startled at the dramatically increased clarity and almost mindblowing sweetness that came through. Perhaps a quality of the coffee or my brewing technique of course...

Or could it be that the increased number of fines in the French press coffee not only changes the mouthfeel but adds a 'dryness' that counters sweetness?

Jon (who is missing having colleagues at work with whom to discuss such nerdy things!)
 
#25 ·
espresso: MacBeans Cuba Serrano Superior, dialed to a really tight ristretto. Delightful. Just deep richness. Does not have my customary chocolatey thing going on, but that is perfectly all right. It's delicious.
 
#26 ·
Glad to hear that someone else likes the Serrano! One of my absolute all-time favourites. It's quite forgiving in a home roast, and has helped me refine my roasting technique with very little wastage, as everything that I've roasted from start of first crack to 10 seconds into second has been totally drinkable.
 
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