I made some progress on improving the cup I'm getting from the Levercraft.  I went with a slightly finer grind and a little longer extraction in the french press and the results were good. This was with the Mexican bean, which I preferred to begin with. I'll run through the a few more of those beans before I try the same approach with the Burundi and see how it goes. I admit to not having a whole lot of interest in the subtleties of making coffee, I very much like to just grind, brew, consume (repeat as needed) without much/any fiddling.  

grawk,

The NFC disc for the Niche Zero showed up.  A few images....well, trying.  They are HEIC so I'm going to have to get creative.

The Niche is very nicely constructed, as it should be given they are proud of it.

HS

 

 

Science! New research on cold-brew coffee and other applications:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/the-chemistry-of-cold-brew-coffee-is-so-hot-right-now/

 

^^good looking burrs @HemiSam

my levercraft order had a hiccup and was delayed, but Eric ended up throwing in an entire extra jar of his Burundi for me. and it is a good jar indeed for pour over. 

 

Edited April 9, 20206 yr by Aura

Local roaster shut down services recently, and have transitioned successfully to Dunkin’ Donuts original blend lol. Surprisingly balanced and a smooth and easy enough drink for me personally. 

^^^ maybe their beans aren't half bad, but I can't drink the store brewed stuff anymore. I'd rather go without. And their donuts are dead to me at this point. 

@Aura- interesting that you enjoy the Burundi.  I love lime everything, except evidently coffee that inspires tasting notes related to lime.  I find the Burundi undrinkable. I've tried playing around a bit with grind size and brew times to extract more or less flavor and it just hits a bad note with me. If you want a 1/4lb of it let me know and I'll try to send it your way.  Seems a shame to chuck it.

probably a pointlessly-long post...

@n_maher if i've learned one thing in the last three months on this coffee expedition it's that the behavior of beans are really fucking random regardless of how much money you drop. if anything it seems like the higher-end bags have more variability from one to the next.

a good example - i purchased two different Guatemalan bags from Heart Roasters last month. the first one - absolutely fantastic with v60 pour over, so good that i didn't need to bother trying it with aeropress. a top 3-4 bag for me so far. so i end up buying another varietal that seemed quite similar on the site. it behaved completely differently on v60... it was generally "lifeless" and not memorable. i switch over to aeropress and it is great, maybe not at the level of the first one on v60, but good enough that i only used aeropress for remainder of the bag.

even within the same bag i can create a different profile if i change my method on pour-over. Hoffman method is very consistent and seems to give me a large brushstroke of what those beans will represent. if i try the same beans with the same ratios on 4-6 method, it's completely different. 4-6 will pull out extra flavors that verge on 'overbrewed' but not fully, less about intensity of bitterness and more bizarre nutty-type notes. Hoffman is definitely my preferred method and i don't do 4-6 unless i'm dissatisfied or just want to fuck around.

edit - don't even get me started on water profile and how it affects your brew... i started to fuck around with Third Wave water and if anything it made the cups a little cleaner but also a little more boring...

--

so we know that this Burundi is a pretty crazy bean and i pulled some flavor this morning that i've literally never gotten before from any coffee. on french press i could see this not being a good thing. on pour over, i'm all about it. at least you gave it a shot. appreciate the offer to share but i've got plenty to get through already , if i were you i'd freeze the remainder and save them for whenever you want to clean out your grinder.

Edited April 9, 20206 yr by Aura

I'm ready for some java and automatically went to DoubleShot.  Caught myself and have started a cart on Levercraft.  They have pretty slim pickings.  I can order the Burundi which is in the cart and I like Ethiopian so that's in the cart.  They are out of the Columbian and the Kenyan.  I'm not a fan of Mexican origin coffees so I guess that's about it.  I'll try to call them in case something is not showing up on my screen.

HS

anyone interested, send me your address and I'll send you a half pound of my coffee.

I’m definitely interested, but I have several pounds I need to use first.

^^Dan - what kind of beans? Your own roast?

my roast, I have a few options...Indian Mysore (why I started roasting), some Guatemalan, some Bali Blue Moon, probably a few others.

I hit up levercraft for four different types of beans including the Yemen.  I'll report back once I've had a chance to sample them.

HS

On 4/13/2020 at 5:03 PM, grawk said:

anyone interested, send me your address and I'll send you a half pound of my coffee.

 I took Dan up on his kind offer, having my second cup now, it's terrific.

 

My Levercraft order arrived.  Over a $50 purchase and shipping was free...I reached out and they sent me the code.  It wasn't obvious to me on their site.  They also updated their store / available coffees after I contacted them as only two were of interest to me that showed in stock.  They had a good bit more than the website reflected at first which made purchasing a lot more satisfying.  The coffee arrived promptly via USPS and packed well.

A few observations at this point as I've only tried the Yemeni.  The Yemeni is as described.  A lot going on and some very bright tart cherry/wine flavors.  Very interesting.  Not a pretty bean...smallish and some tan looking ones, but the coffee is top quality.  $24 per half pound???  I dunno...that's by far the most expensive coffee I've purchased.

The bottles are interesting.  My only concern is that when you open one you get the pfffft of built up gases.  I'm assuming it's a CO2 build up and why good coffee comes in bags that allow for it's release over time.  So not sure about that part.  Beans were roasted recently as marked on the bottles which is always a good sign.

More to follow as I get on to the next few.

HS

 

given that Yemen is a war zone, and they have to smuggle it out...  for me to get Yemeni beans it's 3-4x more per pound to buy, and it's a trickier bean to roast correctly.  It's also really hard to get in any kind of quantity.  It's amazing to me that it's cheaper than Kona or Blue Mountain, and I think it's significantly better than either.

 

Point well taken, grawk.  Just an observation from a value for money standpoint.  Lots of places that produce coffee are heartbreaking IMO so that's a tough call vs say an African country like Ethiopia.  

Having said that, it is an exceptional cup.  Kona I like but it's a bit too delicate for how I drink coffee and it is certainly pricey.  Had some nice beans when we last visited.  The Blue Mountain...I'd have to revisit.  I recall liking it very much, but I'm with you...it's really expensive for what it is.

Very cool to support an Austin outfit.

HS

I use the Yemen coffee when I wanna sit and enjoy my coffee slowly.  It's way too subtle for my first cup of the day most days.

I tried the Burundi.  The Yemen is light years above it.  The Burundi is not bad but definitely not my favorite.  The lemon they profile I get.  The cinnamon not so much.  To me it's a bit on the earthy side...not quite like a Sumatran but some earthiness there that's not my preferred profile.

I'll try one of the others tomorrow.  It's fun to have so many new coffees in the house.

HS

Dan beans! medium-dark roast, no visible residual oils (a good thing). on the v60 it bloomed like a motherfucker, biggest i've ever seen with exception of fresh bali blue krishna. aroma is absolutely fantastic, i can't really ask for a better roasted note. i think i slightly over extracted because the taste wasn't dialed in, too fine a grind. i've done multiple aeropress after this initial brew and it's better balanced. gonna go back to pour over at least once more for  science 

i would be a buyer @grawk 😁

I'm glad you're enjoying it!  That's a fantastic compliment.

I'll echo what @Aura said, you want to start selling some beans, Dan, I'm in. 

I have to upgrade my roaster before it makes any kind of sense.  It takes about 30 minutes per half pound, so it makes more sense to give it away at this point.

Very nice, Aura!  Enjoy...

I've now had the opportunity to enjoy each of the four Levercraft offerings several times.  Very cool to have a TX roaster on the menu.

Overall, I appreciate that they do not over roast their beans.  The coffees I prefer (I'm a french press and pour over/Chemex type...Chemex new the last few months) are lighter to medium roasts...that's where the beans find the sweet spot.  It's the roasters that get this that I'm inclined to prefer and buy from.

My favorite by far is the Yemeni.  It is pricey, but it really is special.  Only beans I have enjoyed more are those select Ethiopians with all heavy blueberry notes.

Then I'm split between the Kenyan and Ethiopian beans.  Both very nice and approachable.  The notes they suggest I mostly pickup which I find satisfying for some reason.

Finally, the Burundi.  It's a good coffee.  It's just not one of my favorites due to the earthiness...what they refer to as cinnamon I believe.

Overall, great find.  Thanks, @grawk

HS

@HemiSam makes sense why i enjoy the Burundi so much, earthy and spicy is definitely my jam. 

couple of Onyx Colombians the past few days... 

Colombia Jhon David Molina. the apple note on this one is outrageously good, like a red apple baked into a pie. onyx claimed the tartness of this can be too much if you under brew, no issues here.

Colombia Inmaculada Gesha. my first time trying a gesha, by far the most expensive beans i have bought. the nose is less sweet and more spice. more sharpness in taste and you really have to let it sit to just above room temp to pull the underlying cocoa. with only 4oz to play with there's not much i can try changing on this... it's good but not as memorable for me as the Molina.