Our Blends and Single Origin Selections, Roasted for Espresso
Some months ago when we introduced our regular roasted "coffee pairings" we stopped offering roasted espresso and roasted decaf. We think that the roasted coffee pairings are working out well; customers enjoy the differences between the two coffees, giving access to great small-lot coffees from around the world.
Now we are bringing back roasted espresso! We will offer one Espresso Workshop blend and one Standard blend for sale each week. Or maybe it will be a Single Origin espresso, or two Workshop blends – we'll see what strikes us. We plan to roast the coffee weekly and keep it in stock as an inventory item – so you can add the coffee to an existing order and it all ship together. Our reasoning is this: roasted espresso stays fresher longer, and the flavor will change as the coffee sits. Generally, even with the lighter roast style I am doing now on espresso, I will not get the most out of the coffee until the third or even fourth day out of the roaster. We will post the roast date on the coffee, and have enough fresh espresso on hand to fill orders as they come in.
Recently, we divided our green coffee blend offerings into Standards, blends we maintain and consistently offer, and new Espresso Workshop editions. These later "editions" are blends designed around specific lots; the blends will last only as long as their unique ingredients last, and then they are gone. Instead of maintaining the blend and making ingredient substitutions down the line, the Espresso Workshop editions follow the crop cycle of the coffee; they come and go. We also will insert specific unblended, Single Origin coffees in our espresso roast rotation.
Our roast style for espresso is light, what has come to be called West Coast Espresso in forums and blogs lately. These are roast levels that have not reached 2nd crack, and produce a clean, bright, lively cup, without the carbony, tarry flavors some people associate out of habit with espresso. So be forewarned! If you are accustomed to espresso roasts as black, shiny blobs of coal, you won't like our roast. If you are excited to see what other flavors are possible in espresso, then the Espresso Workshop selections might interest you.
If
you roast your own, you might want to cup your roasts versus those done
on the gas-fired German Probat with our profile tailored to espresso, and compare the "degree
of roast"
we have chosen for the specific coffees to your own. If you don't roast
at home, well ... here's the next best thing!
We have a new Sweet
Maria's Roasted Coffee Weblog where we discuss the why and
how of each week's selection ... and you can make comments too. It serves as an archive for previous roast sessions, so you can go back to review our comments, versus your findings.
If you're interested in roasted coffee for drip brewing, check out our Roasted Coffee Pairings.
Roasted espresso offerings:
Espresso Workshop #7 - La Tessitura (roasted on 2009-11-20) - $12 (1# ship wgt)
One of our newer workshop blends, with mellow brightness, hints of ruby red grapefruit, and bittersweet finish. This is a terrific straight shot and the batch was roasted to Full City with no sign of second crack.
Sweet Maria's New Classic Espresso (roasted on 2009-11-20) - $12 (1# ship wgt)
Our updated take on classic espresso roasted to Full City+ with one or two snaps of second crack. This is wonderful as a straight shot or in milk drinks.
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Espresso Workshop #7 - La Tessitura
The 7th limited edition, lot-specific espresso blend we are offering goes by the name Tessitura. In music, the Italian term Tessitura (from the Latin word textura) describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding texture or timbre. I thought that expressed quite well this lot-specific blend, where I feel each coffee is giving it's best, and is perfectly proscribed to the range of flavors they can deliver. We are covering a few continents on this one. We have coffees from Brazil, from El Salvador and Guatemala, and an Ethiopia "grace note" coffee that gives this a dry fruit accent. It's not as bright as our other blends have been as late, but of course the relative brightness has a lot to do with your degree of roast, and the pressure and temperature variables of how you pull your shot. We prefer this edition roasted just to the verge of 2nd crack, but not entering it. The dry fragrance is an interesting mix of austere fruited tones and chocolate alkaloids. There are suggestions of dried banana, plum, and some savory notes as well, even a bit of Tamari sauce. But it is sweet nonetheless, and this comes out in the shot aromatics; dry apricot, dark berry, Swiss chocolate. The cup has an amazing range, from alto to bass notes, with sparkling citrus brightness (especially as it cools and in the aftertaste), but flavors more along the lines of dried fruits and light-roasted cocoa nibs. It's an unusual flavor profile, brightening as it sits on the palate, but initially not biting. Ruby red grapefruit and fresh peach highlight the finish, along with a sustained and balanced bittersweet flavor, and some savory undercurrent. It's a hefty, powerful set of flavors this blend brings to bear, without needing darker roast levels, or the burnt or pungent flavors of darker roast levels. The mouthfeel and weight on the palate is medium, neither thin enough to be noted as a deficit or super thick either.
Roast:In drum roasting, this blend is best if the roast is stopped just before any sign of 2nd crack. In an air roaster it can pass just a tad into 2nd crack. Yes, it's supposed to be bright!
Compare to:Those who like properly fruited espresso will enjoy this.
Once there was "Classic Italian," our espresso blend to set the benchmark for traditional European-style espresso. It was a blend based on quality Brazil coffees, with a touch of aromatic Central American coffee to add a grace note to the cup, and it had a small percentage of premium robusta in it for crema, mouthfeel, and to add traditional flavors found on the continent. But times change and tastes change. Espresso culture is much less Euro-centric, and for good reason. While Italy gave us espresso, the general quality of street-level espresso there can be exceptionally poor. Don't even talk about coffee in France. The big brands in Europe are largely run by multi-nationals who keep a close watch on price, and gleefully buy lower quality green coffee if they can save .01 Euro. The privates follow suit, in order to compete. Of course, there are the exceptions, but the darker roast styles, well into 2nd crack, to cover up the use of low quality green coffee ... well, that is NOT something to emulate. For Sweet Maria's, espresso has never been our dumping ground for coffees we can't sell, old lots, or ones with mild defect. It's been a program where we have dedicated much time, focus in cupping, and roast testing. With this in mind, we want to start over again, and offer New Classic, a somewhat silly name, an oxymoron, and overused ... but it says what I want it to say: Here is the new benchmark espresso with sweet-bittersweet balance, body, crema, and finesse, the core definition of the espresso beverage, and defines it in the established West Coast espresso style (clean, bright notes) without the burden of European espresso conventions. In other words, no robusta! No obsessive interest in crema! (You can produce buckets of crema in espresso and still have a very mediocre-tasting cup. What ... do you make espresso just to look at the beautiful crema? No dummy, you make it to drink it!) While this blend is designed primarily for a lighter roast, stopping the roast before 2nd crack, it also works well with a darker roast treatment. It does not have the extreme brightness that have been the trademark of some of our Espresso Workshop blends; it is a bit more restrained in it's overall demeanor. The cup has a balance between sweet and bittersweet flavors, moderate bright accent, soft traces of fruit, body and depth. The lighter roasts have a very sweet aromatic, fruited with plum and a hint of spice (cinnamon stick, cardamom). Darker roasts tend toward chocolate laced with dark fruit tones, in both aroma and cup flavor. Both have a firm, opaque body, with toasted almond roast notes as the espresso cools. In the aftertaste, peach tea flavor (and it light roasts a bit of jasmine tea) are evident. Of course, results vary with how the espresso machine and grinder are set up. We use 8.5 bars of pressure at the head, with 202 degrees water temperature (measured at the head) to start, dropping to about 198. At higher temperatures, it's a more aggressive espresso with a bittersweet edge and well-suited to milk drinks.
Roast:We recommend a range of roasts from FC, FC+ to light Vienna. That means just ending the roast just before 2nd crack (FC), a few snaps into 2nd crack (FC+), or as second crack begins to gain some momentum (Vienna).
Compare to:Not your Italian espresso, no robusta, no old Brazils! This is the new standard for West Coast type espresso extraction. New Classic is blended with some coffees from our Farm Gate program.
Some months ago when we introduced our regular roasted "coffee pairings" we stopped offering roasted espresso and roasted decaf. We think that the roasted coffee pairings are working out well; customers enjoy the differences between the two coffees, giving access to great small-lot coffees from around the world.
