I was excited to see this review because I am drinking this coffee right now too and honestly I've had nearly the same impressions. I think I've had a bit more luck getting some of that pear sweetness out of it, but by no means would I call this a sweet coffee. I'm very curious what this would have tasted like with a lighter roast profile.
Oh good, someone else that has tried this coffee! Also glad to hear you had a similar experience validating both of us on it (though would have hoped it might have been better for you overall). Not sure if you were working with it earlier but it definitely felt like they might have had different intentions on this one than what it ended up being
@@CoffeeReviews I started drinking mine about 2-3 weeks from roast. For what its worth I'm mostly still enjoying it, I don't find it off putting like some fermentation style coffees can be. But like you said its just pretty generic tasting which is kind of a shame because I had high hopes for this one.
I and another coffee nerd both had a similar experience with their anaerobic Ethiopian that appeared earlier on your channel - we just couldn't get any distinct flavor out regardless of settings. It was eerily tasteless. I wonder if you had a defective batch?
That could be another explanation but it's likely this is just what the coffee is. B&W has been making a lot of changes recently and a lot of the feedback (including yours) has indicated this might just be the norm these days....
I wonder if this is the same phenomenon that happens with many roasters as they grow in size (e.g. Onyx). I recall some lightly-roasted coffee from B&W in years back. B&W now have three Loring roasters, including a 70kg Loring. The 70kg Loring alone can roast about 600 tonnes of coffee a year. So they’re pretty high volume for a specialty roaster. As a roaster grows, they serve more customers, and as they serve more customers, they have to appeal to a wider audience. And even though the trend for hardcore coffee enthusiasts is for lighter coffees, I doubt that’s true of a wide spectrum of coffee drinkers.
This is something I was thinking about because I saw an end of the year list of people's favorite roasters and Black & White were the favorites of so many. Seems their way of going about things is beneficial to them and that should be what matters
It’s really hard to have alignment on what light, medium, and dark mean since it’s not as simple as just a color label, but I really wish roasters were more specific on what they mean when they describe their roast profile as a level. Where I am, things people think are “light” aren’t even remotely close to light for me.
A universal spectrum would greatly benefit the consumer but that's something the coffee world will never adopt. Makes it tricky trying to relay roast profile to people sometimes
A universal spectrum sounds nice, but how would you actually quantify it? Coffees vary a lot in color beyond roast profile. The processing method can have a lot to do with how dark it appears (even if it’s a light roast profile).
@user-hb1mv7fz4h you're spot on with that and it's a question I'd ask a roaster because there's temperature and duration of the roast. Think it's less about appearance but, interestingly, possibly more about the machine itself given different types of roasters roast at different times/temperatures. Having never roasted myself, I'm sure someone more familiar with the process would have a good way to quantify it
I was excited to see this review because I am drinking this coffee right now too and honestly I've had nearly the same impressions. I think I've had a bit more luck getting some of that pear sweetness out of it, but by no means would I call this a sweet coffee. I'm very curious what this would have tasted like with a lighter roast profile.
Oh good, someone else that has tried this coffee! Also glad to hear you had a similar experience validating both of us on it (though would have hoped it might have been better for you overall). Not sure if you were working with it earlier but it definitely felt like they might have had different intentions on this one than what it ended up being
@@CoffeeReviews I started drinking mine about 2-3 weeks from roast. For what its worth I'm mostly still enjoying it, I don't find it off putting like some fermentation style coffees can be. But like you said its just pretty generic tasting which is kind of a shame because I had high hopes for this one.
I and another coffee nerd both had a similar experience with their anaerobic Ethiopian that appeared earlier on your channel - we just couldn't get any distinct flavor out regardless of settings. It was eerily tasteless. I wonder if you had a defective batch?
That could be another explanation but it's likely this is just what the coffee is. B&W has been making a lot of changes recently and a lot of the feedback (including yours) has indicated this might just be the norm these days....
What kind of auto drip maker do you use
Just a Bonavita Connoisseur
B&W doesn't really do light roasts
Seems a very unfortunate reality based off the last couple of reviews....
I wonder if this is the same phenomenon that happens with many roasters as they grow in size (e.g. Onyx). I recall some lightly-roasted coffee from B&W in years back. B&W now have three Loring roasters, including a 70kg Loring. The 70kg Loring alone can roast about 600 tonnes of coffee a year. So they’re pretty high volume for a specialty roaster. As a roaster grows, they serve more customers, and as they serve more customers, they have to appeal to a wider audience. And even though the trend for hardcore coffee enthusiasts is for lighter coffees, I doubt that’s true of a wide spectrum of coffee drinkers.
This is something I was thinking about because I saw an end of the year list of people's favorite roasters and Black & White were the favorites of so many. Seems their way of going about things is beneficial to them and that should be what matters
@@animeanytime this and sourcing is why TW explicitly isn't growing anymore.
It’s really hard to have alignment on what light, medium, and dark mean since it’s not as simple as just a color label, but I really wish roasters were more specific on what they mean when they describe their roast profile as a level. Where I am, things people think are “light” aren’t even remotely close to light for me.
A universal spectrum would greatly benefit the consumer but that's something the coffee world will never adopt. Makes it tricky trying to relay roast profile to people sometimes
A universal spectrum sounds nice, but how would you actually quantify it?
Coffees vary a lot in color beyond roast profile. The processing method can have a lot to do with how dark it appears (even if it’s a light roast profile).
@user-hb1mv7fz4h you're spot on with that and it's a question I'd ask a roaster because there's temperature and duration of the roast. Think it's less about appearance but, interestingly, possibly more about the machine itself given different types of roasters roast at different times/temperatures. Having never roasted myself, I'm sure someone more familiar with the process would have a good way to quantify it