I’ve brewed this coffee about five times now and here are a few things I’ve noticed. Using water right off boil seems to give me a cup that’s more acidic, and I’ve preferred it at 200 +/- 2 F, pouring 16:1 and 17:1 ratios using a slow pour and not letting the water level get much higher than the top of the bed. Using Third Wave water right now so at the top of the hardness scale. Grind size is 8M (1M) for 20g but that’s dose dependent. I tried an 8A and it wasn’t quite as good, but feels like I could go for a half notch at around F.
I got my shipment today and tried it out with your recipe above (similar anyway, 30g dose, 97c, 16:1). I thought the same thing. My previous bag was a light roast yirgacheffe from my local shop, the “coffee” taste is very similar but with a strong grain flavor instead of the more fruity yirgacheffe.
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I ordered that Pink Bourbon from B&W and was so excited to try it that I didn’t rest it more than a couple days.
First brewing is a bit disappointing and I’m wondering if maybe they screwed something up with cross contamination or whatever. It tastes very similar to that cinnamon process LM and I tried a while back. It has cinnamon scent and flavor just not quite as strong as the actual cinnamon process bag.
That does not sound right at all. Their description of it is extremely similar to how I’d describe a different pink bourbon from another roaster, and cinnamon would not be within a thousand miles of that description. Not in the dry grinds aroma nor in the flavor or brewed aroma. Maybe contact them?
B&W was all hits when I first started ordering there several years ago, but I’ve noticed lately that it’s more hit and miss, so not sure if I can keep recommending it. Dunno that it should currently be rated much above the gold standard value options (Happy Mug, S&W Craft Roasters) outside of having a big rotation of coffees.
I’ve been waiting to report this because I wanted to make sure everything checked out, but after some trying, I was finally able to acquire brand new, genuine DEMON FANGS (鬼牙) from Japan.
They fit perfectly and took all of five minutes to swap out. As you can see, they look pretty different. Old ones are cast and rough, but the replacements seem to have some kind of textured coating baked onto the cutting surface and are even rougher? I dunno if this is right, or if they’re just regular cast burrs that are dark and machined to a polished finished on the bottom and side surfaces.
This project was a gamble because there’s basically no information on this stuff in English. I could not find anyone who had managed to order these, let alone drop them into the 120V version that’s two or three decades old. So I couldn’t guarantee they would fit but was pretty confident based on my research.
The early returns look promising. Main problem was amount of mud in my cone due to fines from dull original burrs. I’ve only poured one cup so far but there was no mud at all that I could see. The particles on top of the bed looked like perfect little spheres, whereas before it would always look like a smooth layer of chocolate sauce covering the top.
I’ll reserve judgment on cup quality because sample is too small and I also assume some seasoning needs to happen, but I think there’s a chance this turns out to be dollar-for-dollar unbeatable at drip and coarser. There are certainly drawbacks though since it’s taller than an EK43S, weighs over 30 lbs, and can’t grind espresso. If anyone wants exact details on how to do it just PM me though.
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A thing Onyx is doing that I love is having Elika demonstrate a recipe specific to the coffee. This is how everyone selling expensive specialty coffee should be doing it but props to them for going to this level of detail, because this level of detail absolutely matters. I’m not a roaster, but if I was there’s no way I’d sell coffees without doing this part because I think it’s really that important. Onyx only started doing this two years ago which tells you approximately where we’re at on the specialty coffee timeline.
4:00 for 12g is wild, so what’s cool is instead of having this happen to you, they provide a nice guide and sanity check that can probably help you figure it out faster since the “search space” of doing what he’s doing here is pretty large if you consider all of the variables. The roaster doing that work for you to a large degree is nice because it you have a point of comparison and won’t need to chase out 3/4 of a bag to find what their entire team of people figuring this out came up with.
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Yeah it’s definitely not right. I’m going to brew it again tomorrow and if I’m still getting cinnamon I’ll contact them.
I think generally speaking I’ve had not great luck with BW stuff over the last year.
I ordered the pink bourbon because my current April offering wasn’t very flavorful. Better than the bourbon though. Just got another shipment from April so I’m hoping that ends up being good
I think something must have changed at B&W within the past year or so. Wouldn’t surprise me if they are expanding even more now and cutting corners somewhere, or maybe just hiring a bunch of new people to keep up with demand. Sometimes I really wonder if roasters even try to brew their own batches. I really think you need to test every batch before sending coffee out because I’ve purchased so many coffees over the years that just weren’t very good, which is what I suspect is happening a lot of the times when I can’t get something to extract properly. Like maybe it’s just terrible coffee or terribly roasted.
I have a local roaster here who once sold me an organic Ethiopia that was so bad I couldn’t believe it. Brewed it using every method and trick I knew and every time it tasted like saltwater (literally). Called to see if anyone there had tried and they hadn’t, and also asked if anyone had complained and they said no. I might have been the only person to ever drink that particular coffee.
Eww saltwater, that’s sounds awful.
And yeah as specialty coffee has gotten bigger the last few years there have been a lot of companies getting bought out or expanding rapidly. It has to reduce quality
Easily the worst coffee I’ve ever had and will never forget it.
I’ve put about a dozen brews through these new blades now (didn’t season) and can confidently say the cups are much cleaner than before. It definitely mutes out the acidity compared to Vario steel. For example, this Yemen mokka has just a hint of isolated lemon acidity that’s separated from the main malty flavor on the Vario, but on the Fuji Jericho it cups more like sweet tea. I wouldn’t say one is necessarily better than the other, just different, but my perception is that ghost tooth protects from going UE and getting a harsh, sour acid bomb from LRSO. It pulls the flavors to the same volume level so to speak, which may be better or worse depending on the coffee and your preferences I suppose.
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coffee scene in downtown SLC is… grim. 5:30 am, only options are mcdonalds and a local place that is really more of an avocado toast joint than a coffee joint. It looks like a couple of other options open up around 7:00.
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So. Mrs R has been teasing me about my hipster coffee for months.
Shes out of the country for a month. I’ve just had a delivery of coffee which she order for me online. This is a $70 bag of coffee and very very good.
Shes a keeper. Clearly.
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update on this, three pines coffee is legit, they carry Heart beans, and they serve sparkling water with their spro, which is basically a guarantee that they know what they’re doing. They don’t open until 8 on the weekend tho :(
Other places worth mentioning:
Cafe Juniper, a bit outside of downtown proper, decent espresso with what I think are locally roasted beans, in a nice space (an old church that is now a coworking space, lots of room and great natural light and stained glass), opens early.
Alpha Coffee, hypermodern (apple store aesthetic), with a weird military worship vibe (looks like it’s owned/run by vets), spro is acceptable but not noteworthy, it’s best attribute is the location
heading out to see the salt flats this morning
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Sounds cool. How close is the closest one to the airport?
these are all downtown, I took the greenline from the airport to city center, they’re all in walking distance. Using Getaround to borrow a 2013 Hundai Sonata today to drive out to the flats.
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Round 1 at Three Pines, cow-orkers blurred for their safety
Round 2 later with the wife,
Amazing space at Juniper:
Another one I forgot about, Ascoli Espresso, very minimalist (they have those elcheapo plastic patio chairs from home depot) , competent espresso.
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I’m currently brewing some coffees that seem to prefer longer contact time. Normally people say “grind finer!” but that’s finnicky and doesn’t always lead to expected or consistent results. I’m also not a big believer in being able to consistently influence this with your pour. Instead, my favorite adjustment here is to change the paper. However, what if you need an extremely slow paper? My preferred option in a pinch is to modify Chemex filters since they’re relatively cheap and easy to find.
This probably sounds complicated but it’s something you can do in 10 seconds. One way is the Lance method which is slightly tricky, but I use a simpler method:
The edge nearest him is a fold and the edge nearest the bottom of the image is open. Cut the crease (blue arrows) through only one ply of the paper from the open edge to the folded edge nearest him. That will give you two flaps. Fold one flap up, fold the other side of the filter horizontally back over the crease (blue arrows) like you’re closing a book, and then fold the flap down over that to make a square. Now when you open the filter, each side is 2x2 paper ply instead of 3x1. Finally, place a flat V60 filter as a template in the correct position and cut to make a perfect shape. I made a proper template just for this purpose but it’s not necessary.
This place looks amazing.
The Yemen and pink bourbon were super easy to extract. Now I’m brewing a Costa Rica microlot and Ethiopia Sidamo, and so far the only result I’m getting is bland coffee. Not sure I could even tell them apart in a blind cupping. I’ve thrown the kitchen sink at these with grind size, temperature, and contact time and nothing is changing. Can’t tell if they’re underextracted or just bad, and that’s the reason I’m still considering a refractometer.
There’s an Amazon lightning deal on the Fellow Ode for $229. Dunno who is looking for a grinder but that’s a good price, even if it has the old burrs. You’ll probably swap them at some point anyway because the appeal of this grinder is being a platform for 64mm flats, of which there are many options. Don’t think there’s a cheaper way to experience flat burrs.
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