Tell us what you've been brewing here! Please include as much detail as you'd like, you can consider including:
- Which beans, possibly with a link
- What were the tasting notes from the roaster?
- What did it taste like to you?
- What recipe and equipment did you use? How finicky was it?
- Would you recommend?
Or any other observations you have. Please let us know with as much detail and insight as you'd like to give. Posts that are just "I am brewing xyz" with no detail beyond that may be removed.
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This is an extremely clean natural, very refreshing. First time trying passenger. V60 switch df64v setting 45, 206•f water. I did not know there that was going to be from 2024 when I bought it though I guess I should have read the description more carefully.
Passenger is unique in that they freeze a lot of green coffee and then roast it at a later date. What matters is the roast date!
Well, the harvest season of Ethiopian and Kenyan coffee is between November and Feburary of the next year so the most recent we can drink as of now is from the 24-25 season. Looking from the product page I do think this is highly likely the most recent crop. I'm not 100% sure if they mark 24-25 season or only late 2024 as 2024 though. Also, as u/Treefingerzz said, Passenger free green coffee, and actually they offer coffee harvested in 2021 starting a couple of months back. I personally haven't tried it but should still be good if they stored it properly.
I have been really enjoying three very sweet washed coffees this week. While I can appreciate some modern processing techniques, in the end, I generally prefer washed coffees.
S&W El Socorro COE#3 Washed Gesha Guatemala I was having water issues half way through this one (never did figure out root cause, but it’s fine now) and at first got a very, very deep apple note. Specifically, it was sweet ripe yellow apples coupled with a light black tea note. After remaking a new batch of water, I got much more of the floral/citrus side of this coffee. The nose was full of bright pink florals and citrus. The front was floral citrus like bergamot while that apple note transition to something between yellow apple and pear with a very sweet finish. Jasmine was there when pushed and I did find this one was better when it was pushed just a bit, generally shining when it was half-cooled to room temp. I did run it as soup one time (baseline recipe) which was very, very nice but generally ran it as pour over. Overall this coffee was just really, really nice. It had layers of fruits/florals and plenty of complexity that kept every cup interesting. I’m a big fan of this one.
* Grind 4.7 on ZP6 * Temp 95C * Brewer V60 * Recipe standard 4 pour 15g/250g recipe 50/80/70/50 pushed a bit with 5-7ml/s flow rate —————————————————————————— S&W Arturo Arango El Paraiso washed Castillo Colombia I got a very traditional South American cup with tamarind, green grape, bakers chocolate, hazelnut, and mild spices. It’s not super sweet, but on the order of something like molasses like sweetness. In general cups were pretty easy to brew using my Big Switch 2 recipe. I tried out the ZP6 and the DF64. Both yielded good and pretty similar cups when pushed, with the ZP6 being the slight preference as that tamarind came out a little more on the juicy side. ZP6 was also good when backed off a bit which pulled that green grape note out front. Honestly, I like this kind of coffee purely because it is the washed version of a coffee that’s been made available as so many different iterations of coferment. I like these kinds of apples-apples comparisons as it gives you a better understanding of the impact of the processing vs the inherent aspects of the bean. Also, this was actually a nice break from some of the more fruit/floral-forward cups I’ve had lately. In some ways, it actually reminded me of a South American Tim Wendleboe coffee.
* Grind 4.9 on ZP6 * Temp 93C * Brewer V60 * Recipe standard 4 pour 15g/250g recipe 50/80/70/50 lighter pours in the ~5ml/s range
I’m only two cups in that El Socorro Gesha, so don’t feel like I have dialed it in yet, but so far I really agree with you that this coffees needs to half-cool to be appreciated. I’m finding it very flat when straight off brew, but it opens up to something far more expressive as it cools (more so that other coffees).
Great review and thanks for the helpful recipes! I have the El Socorro in my queue and will use your recipe as a starting point.
Enjoy it’s a really nice coffee!
Nice. I'm excited to try that Castillo Colombia. Currently have it rested at 2 weeks. May crack open in a few days.
Glad you could get your hands on that El Socorro Gesha. It sounds amazing.
Yeah this is prob the second best coffee I’ve had from S&W. My favorite was an Ethiopia I think from Gesha Village a while back…maybe like 2023. I think I still have a dose of that one in the freezer.
How did you remake the water the second time? I've been having issue with beans that are supposed to be floral but I taste none and I wonder if it's because of my very soft water
I went back to my old recipe of 3:1 distilled to filtered Chicago tap and the cup was night and day. I remixed a TWW/3 with RO and I was back to normal.
Sorry did you mean the TWW/3 with RO fixed the issue and helped floral/citrus pop more? I’m on city water and it’s insanely high in TDS so I normally just use bottled water (23 TDS). I got an RO system on the way so I’m trying to figure out a better water recipe
I ran both the RO and the distilled after dumping the initial batch made with distilled. I think there was something wrong with the initial batch, not necessarily that distilled/RO was night and day.
Costa Rica - Isidro Oviedo - Black Honey SL28
Roaster: Stereoscope
Brewer: V60
Water: TWW @ 205°F
Grind: 0.9.8 on K-Ultra
Recipe: 33.3g coffee / 500g water
0:00 - 100g water
0:45 - 200g water
1:30 - 300g water
2:15 - 400g water
3:00 - 500g water
TBT - 3:30
I’m aligned with the roaster’s notes (blood orange, blackberry, & green tea) with additional notes of strawberry & kiwi.
Ethiopia - Gori Gesha Forest - Natural Gesha
Roaster: Stereoscope
Brewer: V60
Water: TWW @ 205°F
Grind: 0.9.8 on K-Ultra
Recipe: 33.3g coffee / 500g water
0:00 - 100g water
0:45 - 200g water
1:30 - 300g water
2:15 - 400g water
3:00 - 500g water
TBT - 3:35
I’m aligned with the roaster’s notes (strawberry, rhubarb, & fruit punch) with an additional note of rose.
I love the specificity of your write ups - really nicely done. Question - do you still have water left above the bed when you charge another 100g of water or has the last 100g already filtered through?
Thank you! The water drains through before I start my next pour.
https://ceto.coffee/products/mystery-coffee-league
Brewed with deep 27 and pietro, very fine grind, double bloom up to 1 minute and then 30g pulses (12g to 200g), taste's very nice, alot of flavor, very clean.
With V60 also went very fine, double bloom, then 2 spiral pours in the center, had more intensity of flavor then on the deep, but when i cut out the double bloom it was more light bodied.
Would definitely recommend.
Nice. Would you say the tasting notes are pretty accurate? I have this resting right now. My first try of something from India.
Yeah, i got dandelion flower and red apple on deep 27, with the v60 i got some of the strawberry as well, but not in a sugary sweet type of way
I should also mention that I brewed it 6 days before the recommended brewing date.
I'm currently trying out a subscription to Prodigal Coffee and my first batch reached three weeks rest so I cracked them open this week.
Naranjo Dulce Natural Yellow Bourbon (Loja, Ecuador)
The roaster lists tasting notes of Cherry, Pineapple, and Apple Compote. These are phenomenal beans. I'm usually not a big natural fan, but there are clean and delicious.
To my shock, I managed to get a strong apple sauce note on the first brew. The second brew felt more like apple cider over apple sauce which was fun. I seemingly botched the third brew as I didn't get any notes, just a generic coffee taste.
Unrelated to the taste, but these are dense beans. They are noticeably harder to grind than most other beans which is interesting.
Buenos Aires Washed Caturra (Tolima, Colombia)
The roaster list notes of Pomegranate, Orange, and Floral. I'm really enjoying these but so far my cups from these haven't been as good as the other bag.
My first cup was like candied oranges, specifically the peel; it was citrus-y with nice mix of sweet and bitter. The second cup was the generic coffee taste but I think that was a water issue over a skill issue like with the third cup of the other bean. I forgot to grab a gallon of water to make brew water so I had to brew with bottled water.
Overall, I'm thoroughly satisfied with both beans and excited to continue brewing them and seeing them develop.
Recipe
I used the same recipe for both although I'm considering modifying grind size for the Colombian. Happy to take suggestions for that one as well
16 g : 256-260 g with a grind of 7.6 on K-Ultra @ 97°C
Pour 45-50 g for bloom
At 0:45, Pour to 150 g. Up to ~80 g in a circular pattern close-ish to the brew with the rest to 150 in a center pour from higher up
At 1:30, Pour the remainder of the water to ~256 g doing one circle around the brewer then a center pour from the same height as the other pour
Roseline Coffee - Talea de Castro / Oaxaca, Mexico - Marsellesa, Sarchimor, Typica (Washed / Extended Fermentation)
Roaster's notes: Maraschino Cherry, Orange Blossom, Banana Bread
About a week off roast. Nice and pleasant. Sweet. Cherry and orange blossom upfront. Cleaner than expected. I feel this may benefit from some time or a coarser grind or both but we'll see. Edit: Upping to 90 clicks, 1:18 ratio and 4x50ml pours made it more lively! This is now my preferred recipe for this coffee :)
More body. More orange. Subtle banana note reveals itself. Banana takes a step forward as it cools. Some slight chocolate? The speficic banana bread note was there in the last couple of sips and lingers a little. Out of the two methods/recipes so far this is definitely the preferred cup.
Whole Foods Market - Ethiopia - WP Decaf / Washed
Roaster's notes: Cocoa Powder, Dried Berries, Raw Honey
I was down to my last cup of my current decaf and my new bag was still in transit, so I decided to pick this up while shopping. Seems to be on the darker side of medium as there are some small oil spots on a couple of beans. Dry and brew aroma was all cocoa. The cup was cocoa plus roastiness. Disappointed but I kinda expected it. A coarser grind may help but I decided to try the ORB first...
Money. Creamy. Cocoa, blackberry, vanilla, and a subtle honey finish. ORB saves the day.
Quick note here: all decaf looks dark even if it is roasted to the same kind of temperature as a non-decaf light roast, so the color doesn't really tell you anything.
Right, WFM's site and packaging specify a "medium" roast so the oil spots lead me to believe they were on the darker side, should that not be the takeaway? The EA decafs I've come across all had a shine and the only guess to roast level is the amount of input I give while hand grinding.
Though it varies from roaster to roaster, I'd take the "medium" and the description as more meaningful than the color of the beans as they all look shiny/oily even if roasted light.
That hasn't been my experience with water processed decafs even with more widely available brands such as Intelligentsia. Their House blend decaf and Black Cat decaf were free from oils.
Ah okay yes my comments were specific to EA as those are the only ones we ever buy. I find the water processed ones to taste kind of like nothing or earth with a lot less acidity and sweetness than the EA ones.
Interesting! I often see a similar sentiment echoed throughout this sub and wonder if I'm just odd for preferring water processed lol I find EA decafs have some type of artificial component to them that reminds me of brown or coconut sugar.
Yep a lot of EA decafs have a slightly weird umami kind of flavor, and the lack of caffeine makes them taste sweeter than caffeinated coffee which can come across as some type of artificial sugar. How much the umami and artificial sweet flavors show up depend on the specific coffee of course.
On the basis of cupping 12 of the Decaf Project coffees (over 3 roasters), I think the Swiss Water Process keeps more of the original flavors but adds a drying note that is hard (but not impossible) to mitigate with careful grinding and brewing. EA adds this fruitiness and sweetness that isn’t in the caffeinated version, so has its own merits…
Has anyone tried Vibrants - light roast holiday blend? Have tried one pour and 121 methods but am finding a very harsh tasting note. Has been rested for a month.
Hi there! Sorry to hear you're having trouble with this coffee. What grinder, what brew temperature, and what's your water like?
This blend is a natural and a honey processed coffee, so, while not fully what I'd call a "heavily" processed coffee needing very little rest, resting it a month isn't going to be doing it any favors. I'll be honest, I have not tasted this coffee at a month post-roast, generally with something like this I'd start drinking it after about a week and it would likely improve for a few days (maybe a week, max) and then the decline begins.
All that said, my first instinct is just grind coarser as both of the components are pretty soluble coffees and they don't need a huge amount of extraction to taste fruity and sweet. The natural Colombia component in particular starts getting a little funky if extraction is pushed too high.
Tried the Cream Donut (gag gift from my EAF Secret Santa) um... that was a little unsettling. Too bad it wasn't a sour craft beer.
My Holiday Blend was finally rested and I got to test it - woooooow that is a whole lot of barrel! I knew I could smell that in the greens, but wasn't sure if it would translate through the roast and into the cup. This will likely fare better when doctored up for holiday breakfasts/brunches.
I've been drinking Mejorado profile development roast every day for several weeks - I'm digging this batch on low TDS water to amp up the juiciness. I want to do one more profiling experiment before making a decision and launching this one.
aaaaaand my Laos Catigua is finally rested and so nice - I am stoked to launch this one soon! Great acidity, remarkably clean and well structured, nice light spice notes in the finish. A little canary melon and yellow plum. I think people are really gonna dig it!
Hi all, drinking an Ugandan natural from Podda and Wren. Tasting notes are Cinnamon, Mango, Blood Orange. There is a warm spice, with a totally juiciness to it. Sometimes tropical, sometimes forest fruity. I’ve just got a Hario Mugen so have been using a bloom and single pour method (technically two pours). 1:16.67 (15/250); Ode Gen 2 grind setting 6; 93°C water; Cafec T-90. Not finicky at all, nailed it with my first brew, and have brewed using same method 6 times, all with the same result. Beautiful to drink and look at lol. Deffo recommend.
Link: https://www.podda-wren.co.uk/products/uganda-ibanda
My first review here: I've been going a little off piste, and when I mentioned this a couple of weeks back some people said I should post my experience.
I have been trying my first ever Liberica, from The Annamites, a Vietnamese-owned roaster specialising in coffees from their own country, including this liberica and several single origin robustas. It's been an interesting experience.
Jackfruit, floral, honey. I can certainly go with the floral
The pourover I had at the roaster was very light, almost tea-like in mouth feel, with a strong cherry/floral note that reminded me of some speyside malts. Preparing myself at home using the same standard recipe I use for arabica got a little more body and sweetness, although still much lighter than normal, and still with the floral note. Pleasant, but very unlike and with nowhere near the fullness or complexity of a good arabica.
Same as I use for basically everything. 20/300. Grind at about 3.2 on a K Ultra. V60, 60g bloom for about a minute, 140, 100.
Definitely worth experiencing. Very different from arabica, and I doubt if many people would find it as satisfying long term. But by way of direct comparison I also currently have bag of Mexican arabica on the go from a roaster I haven't tried before, and now won't be trying again. So, liberica: nowhere near a good arabica, but much more interesting than a mediocre one.
NoFi Basha Bekele - Bombe 74158 Natural
The wonderful San Antonio pourover focused shop NoFi has started roasting, so I ordered this one along with their cascara. They note white peach, bosc pear, and persimmon.
I just gave this one a shot at 3 weeks off roast. I brewed using a 1:17 ratio in my Origami with Cafe Abaca filters at 90°C. Bloom and two pours.
I actually got more tropical fruits out of this one. It's really juicy, although I got a bit of astringency, which was definitely me not the roast. It will be fun to dial this one in and follow NoFi as their roasting adventures continue.
Brandywine Ethiopia Ardi Natural
Roaster notes strawberry, melon, and apricot. This is another juicy Ethiopian, with a really sweet finish.
S&W DR Congo Kivu Hutwe Honey
Fun to come back to a new bag of this one after a year or so. Roaster notes raisin, peach, figs, and spice bread.
I waited the requisite 5 weeks rest, ground finer, used hotter water, and pushed it hard. This is such a unique coffee, with dried fruit out front and tons of clove in the finish. It's snowing right now, and this is the perfect vibe for the moment.
East Alstead Cafeologia Nelson Jimenez
Roaster notes of milk chocolate, nougat, and star fruit. The only washed coffee of the week. I get the tartness of the star fruit, and chocolate for days. Another nice winter sipper.