Update: Just managed to brew espressos with all 3 decaf beans (not the caf) as friends requested lattes at 10.30pm. Of course as the coffee connoisseur in the group I am more than happy to deliver, at the same time get some inputs from their not-so-sweaty tongues Interesting findings: 1. It requires a FINER grind. And I mean FINERRR. I am nowhere close to this grind size with my usual light roasted beans, even with high altitude ones. 2. What I taste: Interestingly very similar to my cupping results, with -EA highest acidity but not unpleasant, most fruity, no vegetal notes. Flatter finish -CO2 weakest and dullest overall, obviously more watery than others. -SW brings a higher body with chocolate notes, less acidity, and the most complex and lingering finish (My Fav) -I would obviously have confirmation bias now that I've done the cupping, so I let my friends do some blind tastings to see what they pick up with each cup and which is their fav. 3. What my friends think (blind tasting) -EA "high acidity", "more sourness", "dropped off a cliff" -CO2 "flattest", "less coffee taste", "fav cup because it tasted like coffee and that's it. Nothing more or less" -SW "Nice coffee", "smooth", "fav cup x2" Conclusion: Quite cool that my friends were able to pickup some key differences. I like the "drop off a cliff" metaphor, which is high brightest upfront with a big drop in finish that I tasted. CO2 was majority the least favoured cup other than 1 friend who drinks nescafes regularly *sus* SW won most hearts as its closer to traditional high body espresso with the most sweetness and complexity. My fav is SW as its the most balanced overall, but EA was a close second due to its pleasant juicy acidity upfront that I really enjoyed, but really lacking after that especially the finish. CO2 nothxbye.
i had very similar results from the tasting. but i liked the acidity of the EA. and i quite liked the coffee to begin with.. but maiby my roster roasted it a little more?
Hey mate thanks for sharing your results! Yea I would think if Caf was more pleasant to begin with I would likely favor EA too because it definitely escalated level of acidity I am confident thay Square Mile is a top notch roaster, so unlikely that they under-roasted it. It appears those who reported the unpleasantness weren't uniformly from one particular roaster, so even with the same roaster there were mixed feedback. I would hypothesize - Either before the roasting process (batch issue? Big logistical challenge to deliver to so many roasters around the world?) - Post-roasting? I am not sure how fresh the beans were as there was NO roasting date on mine, weird as with all my SquareMile beans there is always roasting date printed. And I also received an email just after delivery (about 2 weeks before the event) recommending me to freeze the beans, which I didn't assuming the beans were freshly roasted.
Update:
Just managed to brew espressos with all 3 decaf beans (not the caf) as friends requested lattes at 10.30pm.
Of course as the coffee connoisseur in the group I am more than happy to deliver, at the same time get some inputs from their not-so-sweaty tongues
Interesting findings:
1. It requires a FINER grind. And I mean FINERRR. I am nowhere close to this grind size with my usual light roasted beans, even with high altitude ones.
2. What I taste: Interestingly very similar to my cupping results, with
-EA highest acidity but not unpleasant, most fruity, no vegetal notes. Flatter finish
-CO2 weakest and dullest overall, obviously more watery than others.
-SW brings a higher body with chocolate notes, less acidity, and the most complex and lingering finish (My Fav)
-I would obviously have confirmation bias now that I've done the cupping, so I let my friends do some blind tastings to see what they pick up with each cup and which is their fav.
3. What my friends think (blind tasting)
-EA "high acidity", "more sourness", "dropped off a cliff"
-CO2 "flattest", "less coffee taste", "fav cup because it tasted like coffee and that's it. Nothing more or less"
-SW "Nice coffee", "smooth", "fav cup x2"
Conclusion:
Quite cool that my friends were able to pickup some key differences.
I like the "drop off a cliff" metaphor, which is high brightest upfront with a big drop in finish that I tasted.
CO2 was majority the least favoured cup other than 1 friend who drinks nescafes regularly *sus*
SW won most hearts as its closer to traditional high body espresso with the most sweetness and complexity.
My fav is SW as its the most balanced overall, but EA was a close second due to its pleasant juicy acidity upfront that I really enjoyed, but really lacking after that especially the finish. CO2 nothxbye.
Very informative
Glad you found it helpful!
i had very similar results from the tasting. but i liked the acidity of the EA. and i quite liked the coffee to begin with.. but maiby my roster roasted it a little more?
Hey mate thanks for sharing your results! Yea I would think if Caf was more pleasant to begin with I would likely favor EA too because it definitely escalated level of acidity
I am confident thay Square Mile is a top notch roaster, so unlikely that they under-roasted it.
It appears those who reported the unpleasantness weren't uniformly from one particular roaster, so even with the same roaster there were mixed feedback.
I would hypothesize
- Either before the roasting process (batch issue? Big logistical challenge to deliver to so many roasters around the world?)
- Post-roasting? I am not sure how fresh the beans were as there was NO roasting date on mine, weird as with all my SquareMile beans there is always roasting date printed. And I also received an email just after delivery (about 2 weeks before the event) recommending me to freeze the beans, which I didn't assuming the beans were freshly roasted.