sometimes people send me coffee
One of the neat fringe benefits of working in coffee is that I often get to sample coffees from far away colleagues. I’ve been remiss in giving shout outs to many of them in recent weeks/months. Two recent standouts…
Tony Dreyfuss of Chicago’s Metropolis Coffee sent us a care package with some of their deservedly famous Redline espresso and a really amazing, juicy, and oddly named “Schweik’s Ottoman Adventure” blend that we spent a lot of time trying to deconstruct. To my friends and relatives in Chicago, I advise making a pilgrimage to see these guys.
Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffe can do no wrong in my book. A recent Fedex box from him brought a special reserve of his espresso and some of that Cup of Excellence Nicaraguan that Fortune Elkins has been raving about. Kyle and I blew through Andrew’s espresso, failing to dial in a perfect extraction but being blown away nonetheless by the gooey mouthfeel and depth of the blend. In retrospect, we ought to have dialed in the grinder with something else beforehand but we were fiending to try this stuff. The Nicaraguan appeared in all our staff cuppings and had many admirers.
I’ll be missing the Roaster’s Guild retreat this year again, which is unfortunate, but hope to make up for it by dropping in on some fellow roasters in upcoming travels.
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August 11th, 2005 at 10:36 am
I just went through a LB. of Andrew Barnett’s Northern too(last week). I had the same experience, never quite got it perfect. I’m Running a Synesso as well, tried a few different temps. It was interesting though…..
August 11th, 2005 at 1:44 pm
i do pretty well with andrew’s espressi on the mazzer mini, at about 6 notches to the left of the arrow mark. from my triple basket on the silvia, this results in “pure crema” that doesn’t settle into coffee for a good 8 seconds or even more.
i don’t know how it works in the world of your big machines. . .i just adore this coffee! and andrew too!
August 14th, 2005 at 7:07 am
would you care to taste my prototype espresso blend?
August 14th, 2005 at 10:03 am
I’ll taste anything you send me! Its good to give me a heads up so the package doesn’t get lost in the chaos of our backroom.
August 17th, 2005 at 8:48 pm
Ditto on trying to get the espresso blend to pour well - I was very fortunate to also get a shipment of Andrew’s excellent coffees - six different samples, two bags of each, last Friday. We tasted and cupped this past weekend.
The Nic CoE is simply amazing.
I could not dial in the Ecco Reserve espresso blend at all… and I don’t think it’s Andrew’s coffee - it’s my lack of skill, it’s gotta be.
My fave was the Presidents Award CoE, by far.