Nose: Boozy nuts.
First Taste: Chocolate orange with lingering whiskey finish. Nice!
Second Taste: DSweetness really exploding up front now, pleasing. Finish has a touch of darkness in it that the whiskey is fighting with.
We’re back to a slight lack of body, though, perhaps because I pulled the pours too close together but overall this is an great cup of coffee and these beans continue to deliver.
Nose: Hazelnuts, caramel, mulled wine.
First Taste: Subtle to start, lacking that big bright sweetness of yesterday, but then explodes into a delightful orangey middle before giving that boozy finish. Finish not as big as yesterday, though.
Second Taste: As it cools, some of that sweetness comes back up front but it’s the middle that’s strong today.
If I could combine the sweetness and finish of yesterday with the body of today, I would have a hell of a cup of coffee. As it is, this is a well-balanced mug and these are great beans.
Nose: There’s that delicious boozy wine smell. Also some cloves, so mulled wine, which is great because I love Christmas.
First Taste: A nice big bright opening. The whiskey is in there, and some milk chocolate notes on the way out. Just a really pleasant evening reading a good book in my favourite armchair by the fire.
As suspected, though, it is somewhat underdeveloped (the coffee, not the fire).
Second Taste: Getting even bigger. Raspberries, pineapple, and a long lingering boozy finish just leaving the most amazing aftertaste. There are other notes that are triggering sense memories but that I can’t yet place on the Coffee Flavour Wheel. The only solution, of course, is to drink more of this stuff until my brain figures it out.
This is an exceptionally good cup of coffee with all of the unique flavours are going a long way to make up for the lack of body. The whiskey finish especially is an absolute delight and just sticks around for ages.
Nose: Malts, caramel
First Taste: Strong acidic/boozy opening. Dark chocolate and a hint of caramel on the way out. Possibly a little over-extracted.
Second Taste: Blueberries appearing along with raisins. Lingering whiskey finish now, very pleasant.
These are the first boozy beans I’ve gotten to try and I am liking them so far, such a different flavour tone.
Darker roast means they are extracting quickly. Next time, I’ll try coarsening my already quite coarse grind size, increase the second pour, and bring the second and third pours forward by 10s each to try to pull out more sweetness.
Nose: Hazelnuts
First Taste: If I’m being generous, there’s some dark chocolate but it’s the overpriced kind you find in health food stores where eating it is more of a punishment than a treat.
Second Taste: There is always a redemption as it cools and it comes in the form of blackberries. This would be more than acceptable if it then didn’t end with the ashes from the funeral pyre where we burned the hope I had of ever getting a handle on this.
OK, this was a disaster. I think my instincts to push more of the extraction up front were correct but then I totally screwed things up and did the opposite.
The delay in getting the water through led to over-extraction, combined with the fact that these beans were ground before I discovered the benefits of slow feeding which led to clogging and contributed to the lingering bitterness.
Nose: Kept the tang smell from the dry beans and there’s some roasted veggie savoury notes in there even though it’s not a Sunday.
First Taste: This is definitely a super sweet brew, back to the bright Fruit That Shall Not Be Named and maybe even some summer fruits. Possibly over-egged the ending god damn it aren’t you tired of tryna fill that void? I think there’s enough sweetness in the main part of the mug that it just about balances it out.
Second Taste: That sweetness is really coming alive now. Like a huge explosion of it when I take that first sip. Maybe it’s more like a cherry, there’s just a hint of sourness in there but like not bad because cherries aren’t bad.
I am reluctant to give this an extra half-moon but I’ve crashed through the surface and now they can’t hurt us so I’ll say this is an excellent cup of coffee.
Am I matching the results to my initial thoughts, massaging my conclusions to match my expectations, generally suffering through all sorts of fallacies that double-blind peer-reviewed science was designed to eliminate?
I don’t think so. I mean, just look at how many numbers there are up there.
(Target weight and time in parenthesis)
Nose: Roast parsnips (probably just a coincidence that I’m once again getting this on a Sunday).
First Taste: Bright cherries, ending with an 85% cocoa content dark chocolate which is still a lot darker than I would like given my previously established predilection for a glass and a half.
Second Taste: OK that’s more like it. A real apple sweetness breaking through now and it’s doing wonders to kill off the darkness at the end. Just leaves the mouth with a pleasant tang. Unfortunately, it’s a tad watery probably because of the coarse grind and the fast draw. Also, while very pleasant, If I’m honest it probably did overwhelm the overall taste tone.
A solid mug that is bringing more out of these beans, let down by it being too diluted. Hopefully that can be fixed with some additional coarseness.
I’d like to get a better balance, but we’re already in dark chocolate territory so I’m wary of adding an additional pour at the end. Perhaps if I did but at a 4:1 ratio, I could get some additional robustness without adding The Darkness.
Nose: Cheese and leek pie but like right at the moment when you just cut into it and all the steam comes and melted cheese comes out and you are all “I have made good choices.”
First Taste: Definitely the lightest taste I’ve gotten so far from these beans. Big burst of bright cherries with some lime on the way out.
Second Taste: Merging together to be more like a sweet chili stir fry as it cools. Lovely mix of sweet and savoury, like putting pineapple on pizza which is right and correct. Still some darkness at the end.
Pleased at this result. This is the best I’ve gotten out of these beans so far but I think I can go further. Maybe go 50:50 on the bloom to strength ratio, then change the ratios of the bloom pours.
Determine preparation and taste tone differentials between fresh ground and pre-ground coffee.
Recreation of previous 5.5 moon recipe with pre-ground coffee, grind date: 27/03/24
(Target weight and time in parenthesis)
Initial observation is that the clear time was a full minute later. Expect this to have an oversized impact on tonal qualities.
Olfactory inhalation: Subject reports, quote: “I love the smell of melted butter in the morning.”
Primary ingestion: Subject reports milder Citrus × aurantium, less pronounced than control. Darker exit.
Secondary ingestion: Subject’s excitement visibly increasing, mentions increased Citrus × aurantium although hard to make out through all the shouting. Subject exhibiting feelings of delight and well being.
Following restraint and sedation, subject provided additional details on tone mapping. Through incoherent mumbling, subject expressed desire for further increase of Citrus × aurantium and decreased savoury notes on exit.
Observation: Pre-ground increased draw time dramatically and as a result balance thrown. As grind size locked in, recommend adjusting other parameters e.g. agitation, water ratio.
Recommendation: Further study required.
Target weight and time in parenthesis)
Nose: Warm buttered fruit scones today
First Taste: Grapefruit vibes again, but not as strong. Everything’s a bit more muddled today.
Second Taste: Grapefruit gets stronger as it cools, and there’s some savoury vibes in there I can’t place.
A bit all over the place today, probably because I was too busy fiddling with my spreadsheet (NOT a euphamism, good grief) rather than focusing on the coffee production. I take full responsibility.