Today’s Coffee: 10th March 2024

nev-clock

Beans: Campbell & Syme Carlos Arcila

Adjustments

  • Water to bean Ratio: 17.0:1 (289g)
  • Bloom Stage Weighting: 48%
  • “Bloom” Pours: 3

Method: Experiment 10-03-24 (Slow Feed)

  • 1st Pour (42.0g in 10s):
  • 1 Light Swirl
  • Wait 20s
  • 2nd Pour (56.0g in 10s):
  • Wait 20s
  • 3rd Pour (42.0g in 10s):
  • Wait 40s
  • 4th Pour (150.0g in 20s):
  • 1 Light Swirl
  • Bed Clear: 3

(Target weight and time in parenthesis)

Comments:

  • Very lightly roasted beans with a mostly savoury smell and a hint of sweetness
  • I need a better name for the first stage. When you’re doing three pours and using half the water it’s not really a bloom any more
  • Why did I choose 56g for the second pour? I’m not entirely sure yet.
  • I knew that pour one would bring too much acidity and I didn’t want that
  • I suspect pour 2 is about either sweetness or whatever the most delicate flavour is. Not sure which.
  • I suspect pour 3 is whatever is strongest in the bean, which in this case was that savoury tone
  • Because the bean had that hint of sweetness, I think I thought bringing that out would create a more complex flavour

Tasting Notes:

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.

Rating:

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

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.

Unchanged Settings

  • Coffee weight: 17g (pre-grind weight)
  • Grind size: 1Zpresso QS @ 69 (51.75mm)
  • Pre-grind anti-static water: 5 drops in with the beans
  • Water temperature: 88°C (190.4°F)
  • Hario V60 01 Brown
  • Funnel warming water: 400mm @ 88°C (190.4°F)
  • Water hardness: medium (calcium carbonate 100-200ppm)