More Coffee Options for Long Beach: Makai Coffee

Photo Credit: Makai Coffee Facebook Page

Weekends with my wife are my favorite. Our picture perfect weekends include 1) sleeping in 2) good food and 3) nice weather. Today was just one of those awesome days. Got up this morning at whatever time we wanted to, fixed ourselves some cereal (or in my case an espresso...don't judge my less than healthy breakfast choices, this is a coffee blog for goodness sake), and we were ready to roll out for some good eats at Veggie Grill in Long Beach. To add to the 70 degree sunny yet slightly breezy beach weather I  remembered a new coffee shop I've been hearing about located in Downtown Long Beach called Makai Coffee. Oh, you know where this is going... time to review a new coffee shop.

Makai Coffee:
Driving through Belmont Shore up toward Broadway (heading over to Downtown LB) I passed a couple of homeless looking college kids and bike riding hipsters and thought to myself, 'this would be a great spot to open up a coffee shop.' Then to my coffee drinking delight, I found Makai.

Ambiance:

As you park your car either in the neighborhood or along Broadway, you'll enter into this corner coffee shop and notice the simplicity. It's refreshing. Nice wood finish tables, plain walls with a slight touch of pattern along the ordering counter. As per your typical coffee shop, you'll find this shop with customers typing out their homework on their Macbook Pros or meeting a friend for a beverage. Beans from three local roasters fill the shelves as well as the sound of freshly ground up beans fills the air. As my wife and I found spot to sit, we were brought back to elementary school with our interesting grade school styled chairs. Yup, their bringing it back to 2nd grade people. I'm still a bit indifferent about that aspect of the decor, however my wife thought it was fun. I felt like I should be coloring or playing with Play-Doh in those chairs, but to each their own. True to it's name (Makai meaning towardsthe ocean") it's a quiet beach-like environment being just a couple blocks from LB's Ocean Boulevard without losing that downtown cafe feel.


The Coffee:

One of the unique things about Makai is their strive to support local coffee and that principle is exemplified in their coffee offerings. Makai offers up coffee from local Long Beach roasters Lord Windsor's Coffee Roasters, True Beans, and Rose Parks Coffee Roasters. For the sake of my wife and any other tea drinker out there, they had a variety of tea offerings as well. My wife ordered a peach blossom white iced tea as I ordered up their Panama pour over from Lord Windsor's. Needless to say, the coffee is good. It's smooth, tasty and very inviting (at least my Panama was).

The Verdict:
The Orange County/South LA area has been a recent breeding ground for good 3rd wave coffee (seen in increasingly popular places like Kéan Coffee and Portola Coffee Lab). Long Beach, being so close to the budding OC speciality coffee culture, has been popping up shops all throughout the downtown area proving to the average coffee drinker that speciality coffee is noticeably better than corporate coffee in roast style, shop setup, business practices and ultimately in taste. Makai Coffee is yet another addition to the growing number of speciality coffee shops in Long Beach. That being said, I'm glad they're there. Makai is a great option to choose from when looking for good coffee. Now in terms of 3rd wave coffee shops, this is a multi roaster; meaning they depend on other roasters for their coffee. This coffee shop model definitely works (and is seen in Los Angeles shops like Cafe Demitasse, Single Origin, Cogniscenti etc...), however it limits their ability to rise above other coffee shops. Basically, unless they have ridiculously amazing ambiance or some other kind of attraction, they have nothing different to offer than the roasters from which they buy from (which all happen to be very close neighbors to them, especially Lord Windsor being just down the street from them). It's a risk that this coffee shop assumes.

BUT...

Why should you try Makai? Because of baristas like Nick.

What sells me at Makai is what many shops lack; excellent customer service. During my visit my barista, Nick, who I've met before at various latte art throw downs in the area, not only knows his coffee but is a really nice guy. He was able to answer my questions I asked regarding their offerings, took into consideration my wife's request for caffeine free beverages (due to her pregnancy), explained the flavor profile for their espresso...and all with a smile. He was inviting, personable, and real. He wasn't an unexperienced coffee stooge nor was he a coffee snob, though he had the skill set to be one. He treated the customer right. This is Makai's selling point. It's baristas with these strong interpersonal communication skills that will encourage the customers to come back to Makai. I know that's my reason for going back.

Go to Makai Coffee. It's an awesome addition to the increasing number of speciality coffee shops in Long Beach. And tell Nick to keep up the good work in what he does.

Update:
Makai no longer serves True Beans coffee, however now includes Verve Coffee Roasters (one of my favorites) and San Fran's Blue Bottle Coffee! Coffee lovers, rejoice!

Coffee Review: El Salvador La Roxanita by Verve Coffee Roasters

By now, I've had what I would like to consider to be a reasonable amount of coffee from various roasting companies. I'm not claiming to be some ultimate coffee guru or anything even close to that. I'd like to consider myself as a home coffee enthusiast, if you had to call it anything at all. It's just my thing. While other men are glued to the TV arguing over why that coach didn't put that one guy in at that one time, I'm adjusting my grind size and measuring coffee extraction levels. All that so say, out of all the coffee roasters that I've tried I have not yet found one to be better than Verve Coffee Roasters. It may be a premature thing for me to say, but it's my blog and my opinion, so take that! Anyway, without getting deeper into my tangent on how much I like Verve, I'm just going to talk about today's cup. Today we're talking about Verve's La Roxanita. 

El Salvador La Roxanita
Roaster: Verve Coffee Roasters
Region: El Tunel, Chalatenango
Processing: Honey-Process
Varietal: Pacamara

Why calculate TDS and extraction yield when a computer
can do it for ya?

Method: Chemex, paper filter
Grind: Course-Medium (26)
Grind/Water: 19g/300g
Pour Method: 60 (agitate/bloom)-150-200-250 (agitate)-300
Initial Water Temp: 198 F
End Water Temp: 130 F 
Extraction Yield: 21.05%
TDS: ?? (Again! I messed up on my measurements)
Aroma: Chocolate, berries, roses
Taste: Milk chocolate, tinge of orange, subtle berry
Mouth feel: Balanced, smooth


The Verdict:
While being excited for Verve's newest shipment that's come to my door via their free online shipping, I still want to maintain as much of an unbiased opinion of this coffee for the readers sake (you're welcome). That being said, this coffee's fantastic. One thing I can always appreciate about Verve is that whatever the package says it's going to taste and smell like is not an exaggeration of what you're going to get. Initial aroma's reminded me of a chocolate dipped strawberry and roses (not even joking). Basically smelled like Valentines Day in a cup. Once brewed, my first sip had those rich milk chocolate undertones. A couple sips later (as it started cooling) the hint of orange kicked in with some very subtle berry tastes as well. 

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience. It was really good. Very balanced; meaning as it sat in my mouth it wasn't more acidic or more spicy. It was smooth, tasty and stinkin' awesome. Like I mentioned in previous posts, much of the character of the coffee develops even more as it cools. That being said, this definitely maintained it's balanced taste as it cooled down which makes me want to try this things iced. Hmmm. Might have to...

Now I'm all about supporting local, however I'm also about supporting talented and well done. Verve Coffee Roasters really do roast quality coffee and, in my opinion, is one of the best out there. Support local coffee roasters, but please do yourself a favor and try something from Verve. You will not be disappointed with their single origin coffee offerings. And they have free shipping! Come on! You're running out of excuses! Go get some. Oh you don't have a link to their online store? Boom. Here it is.

Any questions? Have you had better coffee that I need to try? Shoot 'em in the comments area and let's talk. 

How To Brew That Perfect Iced Coffee

The only thing better than a hot cup of coffee on a cold winter's day is a cold cup of iced coffee on a warm Southern California winter's day. Let's just set the record straight here: Southern Californian's (like myself) have no clue what appropriate winter weather is supposed to be like. We're freezing at anything less than 50° F. That being said, as I looked outside during my lunch break/date with my wife at home, I decided not to waste the beautiful California sunshine and poured myself a tasty iced beverage.

Now when I say iced coffee, I'm not talking about a Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappaccino or that sweetened McDonalds McCafe. I'm talking about pure iced coffee; the kind of iced coffee that without any sugar or syrups added gives off those amazing fruity notes and that refreshingly crisp finish that invites you for another sip. If you've never had the opportunity to experience coffee in this light, allow me to show you exactly how to make your very own perfect iced coffee right at home.

For this brew, we'll be using the V-60 Pour Over. I like pouring directly into a mason jar for my iced coffee so that I can easily transfer it into the fridge to drink some now and save some for later. These measurements will get you about 24 ounces of iced coffee goodness.

Measurements:
30 g. coffee grinds (course-medium)
470 g. water
200 g. ice

Remember that using good coffee is the key to making good coffee. That may sound redundant and even a bit obvious however it's something that's often overlooked and such a crucial component of making good coffee. I laid out the importance of using good coffee here if you didn't get a chance to check it out.  Today, I'm using Portola's Ethiopia Yukro.

Step 1: Coffee Prep
To avoid sounding like a broken record, I've laid out detailed step by step instructions on the beginning steps for good coffee brewing. If you missed that blog entry, check it out here and follow the first 4 quick steps. For this brew, were using 30 g. of coffee, so make sure you adjust that in step 1.

Step 2: Add Ice
Add 200 g. of ice to your container/carafe. This ice will melt as you begin to pour your hot water through your grinds. Not to worry. We're adding ice at the very end, however this initial ice will cool off your brewed coffee (and is factored into the overall coffee/water ratio) so that the ice you add in the end won't melt as quickly and dilute your coffee with additional water. It'll work, I promise.

Step 3: Start Your Pourin'

When using our pour over, make a habit of allowing your grinds to bloom by doing an initial 60 g. pour/agitation. For those who don't know what the what I'm talking about, check out step 5 on my entry on making amazing coffee. Total brew time should be at about 4-5 minutes. For today, my pours went as follows:

60 g. (bloom/agitation) → 150 g. → 240 g. →330g. →420 g. (agitate) → 470g. 

Step 4: Done!
Shake up your mason jar or carafe so everything homogenizes and you are good to go! Grab yourself a cup filled with ice and enjoy your beverage. Like I said earlier, this makes about 24 ounces of iced coffee, so unless you want to feel jittery all day long and drink the entire mason jar, you can always put the lid on it and stick it in the refrigerator for later. I've heard some baristas claim that this kind of iced coffee can be left in the fridge for up to two weeks. Personally, I can say that from experience this can be left in the fridge and still taste pretty good for about a week or less. Any longer than that and it'll just start tasting old and stale.

I brought this back to my co-workers to try and the responses were nothing but resounding wow's. Clean, bright, a hint of lime and reminiscent of an iced tea. If you've never experienced a coffee with these kinds of tastes, you owe it to yourself to try out this recipe for iced coffee. It's perfect for your nice summer day, or for us living in Southern California, any day of the week. #boom 

Part 2: How To Brew Awesome Coffee...Every Time.

"Please don't take as long as you did in that last entry to talk about brewing one cup of coffee. Please?" I've heard your anticipated cry so I will make this how-to short and sweet.

For those who didn't get the list of supplies needed to make this cup, reference here for that list. I also recommend having some sort of timer or stop watch nearby. Brew time should be about 4 minutes, including a 1 min bloom time (I'll explain).

So we're looking to make a 300g cup of coffee. 300 grams is about the size of your typical coffee mug. We'll be using 19 grams of coffee for our 300 grams of water.

Step 1: Measure the Beans

With your digital scale, measure out 19 grams of whole bean coffee. Remember, your coffee's only going to taste as good as what beans you're using.

Step 2: Grind the Beans
Make sure to set your grinder to a medium grind. We've discussed the importance of making sure the grind isn't too course nor too fine for our pour over in the last post. Once you've ground your coffee, many in the professional barista community would say that you have about 15 minutes before those grounds become stale (reason being is due to the fact that your grounds now have a much smaller surface area therefore it's decay rate is now much quicker).

Step 3: Set the Water To Boil
Water boils at approximately 214° however the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has found the perfect temperature to brew coffee at anywhere between 195°-205°F. You can either measure it with a thermometer, like I would typically do or just let the water boil (or whistle, whatever your boiling indicator is) then wait 25 seconds before using it to brew your coffee. By that time it'll be at the ideal brewing temperature. Too hot and you burn the beans. Not hot enough and the water won't fully dissolve/extract the desired amount of coffee from the grinds (that gets into TDS, which is a whole other discussion).

Step 4: Pre-Wet Your Filter
Place your V-60 on top of your coffee cup (I'm using a mason jar). Place your number 2 paper filter in the V-60 and pre-wet the filter before placing the coffee grounds in. Pre-wetting the filter will get rid of some of the impurities and paper taste from the filter. Once you've done that, dump out the water from your cup and now you're ready to put the coffee grinds in your V-60, as shown in the picture to the right. Try to make sure the grinds are spread out evenly.

Step 5: Let the Pouring Begin!

Place your coffee mug and V-60 on your gram scale and tare it so it's at 0 grams. I'll get into pouring technique on another post, but for beginners, what you want to do is pour in a clockwise motion, starting from the inside and making your way outward without pouring directly on to the filter. You're goal is to always be hitting the coffee grinds. Try pouring in a consistent stream without any abrupt stops. A nice gauge of how fast you should be pouring should be about the thickness of a piece of spaghetti. Ahhhhh! I'm sorry! I said I wouldn't get into pouring technique, but here's a quick 101 on it.

Coffee bloom is a bubblin'

• Start your timer and pour 60 grams of your water on to the grinds (making sure all grinds have been touched by the water) and let it bloom. When the coffee blooms, you'll notice the coffee start to bubble a bit. What that does is it allows the trapped C02 in the coffee to escape, which lets those trapped gases in the coffee out (also a good sign of fresh coffee). I like to grab a small spoon at this time and agitate the beans to ensure all beans have been wet.
• Once your timer hits the minute mark, pour again from inside to outside in a clockwise fashion. This time pour till it reads 125 grams.
• Let the coffee drip and start pouring again (wait till the water has passed through the filter, but not long enough to let the bed of grounds become dry). This time, pour till it reads 200 grams.
• Repeat the previous process, then begin to pour again until you get to your 300 grams. While the waters passing through, I like to give it one more quick agitation to ensure that all the grounds were fully saturated. 

Step 6: Sit Back and Enjoy

Your hard work has paid off. It's been a total of about 3.5-4 minutes since you started pouring and now your ready to enjoy that amazing cup of coffee. You'll be able to not only taste the difference, but you'll even be able to see a difference in the clarity of the coffee. Very light in color, almost tea like (obviously depending on what kind of coffee you're using). It's definitely like night and day compared to that Costco-Brand Coffee you've been drinking every morning this week (no disrespect to Costco, you win when it comes to polish hot dogs and a drink for only $1.50... am I right people?). 

See, Quintana's! Your gift from Down Under gets good use!

Now I hear and have heard critics tell me, "that's way too involved, I'll never do that." If that's you, remember that total brew time is only about 4 minutes, which isn't much longer than your coffee machine. Still impatient? As the old English saying goes, "good things come to those who wait," and those words ring true when it comes to good coffee. Take your time brewing. It doesn't have to be a chore and, at least for me, it's a relaxing and enjoyable morning ritual. It really is a fun part of my morning and in the end you reap the benefits with an absolutely tasty cup of coffee. When I drink a good cup, it just makes me think of how awesome it is that these interesting tastes can be naturally occurring in coffee. It's a wonder to me! I've had so many different kinds of coffee over the past year and half and each time I taste one I like, it blows me away how God has made these roasted coffee cherry seeds to emulate other tastes, like blueberries, strawberries, apricots, dark chocolate, or random other tastes like herbal tea, and toasted marshmallows (seriously, I've had some coffee that has a tasted like a toasted marshmallow, it's bonkers). 

My beautiful wife, the coffee antagonist, would be able to vouch that there is a world of a difference between these hand crafted cups of coffee and Starbucks. There's no comparison and it's obvious that this coffee blows others Keurig coffee or instant coffee miles away. My challenge to you is to just try it. I'll let you borrow my set up for a day if you want or just come over and I'll make you a cup. This kind of coffee is the way coffee should be enjoyed; smooth, tasty, and an enjoyable compliment to your day. If you've done coffee this way, comment away and let me know what you think. Questions? Let them be known and I'll do my best to answer them. 

Part 1: How To Brew Awesome Coffee...Every Time.

You know what isn't the best part of waking up (besides Folgers). It's waking up with a stuffy head and drippy nose. What makes the morning even less enjoyable is having to pass on that warm, tasty cup of coffee that you so enjoy every morning while you do your morning routine. Well today is day 2 of being stuffed up and I've said, "the heck with this, I'm making myself a cup of coffee. And I'll even blog about it! So take that, cold!"

As I've told you already, this past year and a half have been very enlightening to me in regards to our world's second greatest commodity (darn you petroleum for being number one!). I've gone from drinking garbage coffee, to making what I thought was good coffee (realizing now that it wasn't), to now being able to replicate awesome tasting coffee every day. So without further adieu, allow me to explain to you step by step what goes in to making an amazing cup of coffee so you too can make an amazing cup every single time!

Choosing The Beans

It's all about the beans! Let me take a moment to emphasize that:  IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEANS! If you were to assign each component of coffee making a percentage, I would say that the kind of coffee you use makes up about 60% of the overall coffee making experience, 20% would be in brew technique, and 20% in equipment. You can have the most expensive brewing equipment, fantastic technique, and awesome grinder, but if you're using regular store bought Maxwell House coffee, it's not going to taste good. This is a mistake I made back when I first started making coffee. I started using a pour over method with just any coffee, thinking that I'd be making awesome coffee and I wasn't. It tasted like regular old coffee. Then I decided to step it up and use pre-ground Starbucks beans. Still, no good. Then I stepped it up yet again, now getting whole beans from Peet's Coffee and Javatini's. Better, but not as good as those shops like Portola, Intelli and Verve. Disappointed, I brought my situation before my friend and awesome barista, Andrew, who threw down a bit of coffee wisdom on me saying, "It's all about the beans." Sure enough once I started buying artisan coffee I got artisan results.

For today's brew, I'm using a nice El Salvador Pacomara from local roaster Golden State Coffee Roasters (oddly enough their website didn't help me in finding out who they are or where they're at...not good when you're starting out a brand name for yourself).

The Equipment:
For a good cup of coffee every time, you're going to want a couple of essential items that will allow you to replicate your good brew every time you're in the need of some caffeinated goodness. Here's our equipment list we're going to be needing.

1. Coffee Grinder
2. Digital Gram Scale
3. Hario V-60 Pour Over
4. Coffee Drip Kettle (not absolutely necessary, but very helpful).
5. Some sort of water boiler or tea kettle

 Okay, let me talk real quick about some of these pieces of equipment. Real quick!

Coffee Grinder:

Now in order to make awesome coffee every time, you're going to want to be consistent in everything, including grind size. It's true for grinders that you get what you pay for. The least expensive coffee grinder, the blade grinder, is going to run you about $15 or so which isn't much. Blade grinders are the least consistent grinders when it come to making coffee as it overly grinds some beans while not grinding other beans enough. Next on the hierarchal scale of grinders is the mid priced conical burr grinder such as my Cuisinart Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill. These will get you a good enough grind for pour overs and presses, however not good enough for espresso grinds (the burrs aren't that good). These ones fly for about $45-75 at a Target or Macy's. Last on the affordable home grinder range is the higher priced Baratza grinders. The one in the picture above is an older model Baratza Maestro Plus, which has been replaced by the Baratza Encore (pretty much the same thing but with better burrs). This is my weapon of choice. This Baratza grinder has the ability to deliver consistent grinds for anything from French Press to a good espresso grind and for $129 it's the best deal on the market for the home barista (especially if you intend on making espresso in the near future).

To speak on the importance of grind size very briefly here's why it matters for our pour over coffee:

• Grind too fine= Water passes grinds too slow= Over extracted coffee= Muddy/nasty coffee
• Grind too course= Water passes too quickly= Under extracted coffee= watery/flavorless coffee

Obviously you're going to want something in between the two. Now with a blade grinder, you get some grinds that are course, some that are pulverized into dust. Therefore, some grinds are over extracted and some are under extracted. It's inconsistent and some day's you'll have okay coffee while other days you'll have bad coffee. I say if you can just get a burr grinder.

Digital Gram Scale:
Why the US refuses to use the universally accepted and preferred metric system is still a mystery to me (besides the fact now that...never mind I won't get into it). For our coffee purposes, I always encourage people to weigh things out. It doesn't take long, and it saves you from wasting coffee and allows you to repeatedly make awesome coffee every time. I always compare coffee making very much like baking a cake. If you add 3 cups of water instead of the 2 that the recipe calls for, you're going to get some drastic differences in that cake. Same with coffee. If you're going by the measurements I'll be giving you but decided to add 28 grams instead of 26 grams of coffee, you will get very different results. Coffee's a finicky beast. For this reason, and in addition to not wanting to waste coffee, I say that the gram scale is very important. You can get one for anywhere from $20-60

V-60 Pour Over:

There are many different good ways to brew coffee. From a Chemex to Aeropress to French Press to siphon and beyond, there are many brew options to work with. For today, we're using one of my favorites, the Hario V-60 Pour Over. I like the V-60 because it's easy to use, makes a tasty cup, and the $25 price tag makes this a good bargain for good coffee making. I could go on into further detail why I like this method, but I'll save you from my excess and unnecessary ranting.

Drip Kettle:

This piece of equipment is kind of pricy, but if you're looking for long term use it's a good investment. This will allow you to pour consistent streams of water when brewing which is very important in making good coffee and for the sake of repeatability. This piece of equipment will run you about $50

Tea Kettle/ Water Boiler: You know what this is. It boils water. I use this guy, pictured to the right. Use whatever will get that water to a boil. Whistle kettles bug me, so I use this Capressi Water Kettle. No whistle and, most importantly, looks cool when it starts boiling.

Now if you're thinking, "that's a lot of equipment just for a cup of coffee," I would remind you that we're making an amazing cup of coffee here for you, everyday. Artisan cups of coffee run for about $3-7 a cup, so if you do the math you'll see that over a short period of time you'll be saving money by making these cups at home rather than going out and buying them daily. On top of that, you'll have the freedom to use different beans, try different measurements, and see what kind of results you get. For me, it's a hobby. A tasty hobby. And if you're looking for a one stop shop that'll get you most of these items at a REALLY good price check out Portola's online store for the V-60 Bundle Kit. $100 and your set with everything I've mentioned and more.

Coffee's one of those things that many people use to survive in the morning. Maybe that's you too. If coffee's something that you'll be drinking every single day, why settle for something that doesn't taste good unless you drown it in creamer or sugar (which isn't really coffee as much as it's just coffee flavored sugar). If it's that important to you, it's worth the investment of a couple extra bucks and an extra minute or two.

Brewin' Time!
Wow, I think I wrote too much. Intermission time. Go take a break, grab some Goldfish, listen to this, then pass Go, Collect $200 and advance token to nearest railroad. And then read my next entry.

Best Compliment to a Good Cup of Coffee

Well not really. This is just what happens when you grab what you think is a breakfast bar, only to find out it's filled to the brim with prenatal goodness. By the way, it tasted like peanut butter flavored chalk. Men: stay away; I've taken one for the team to report this back to you. You're welcome.

today's bible reading:
1 Samuel 28 (I always wondered if Star Wars got the name for the Ewok home, Endor, from this passage...hmm)

Coffee Review: Organic Bolivia Anjilanaka by Intelligentsia

It doesn't take much to get me to brew up some coffee at Casa Hernandez. My cousin, and fellow coffee connoisseur, Fabian just got a new bag of Intelligentsia Coffee that he wanted to bring over and brew up. Obviously, this is a no brainer for me; bring it on over!

So, thinking about it, this post could go two different ways:
1) I explain to you, in deep unnecessary detail, the visit from my cousin Fabian. This would include our family history, embarrassing stories from our childhood, and us ending our visit with a nutritious family dinner consisting of sloppy joes and curly fries.
or
2) I give you, in brief detail, our findings from our awesome coffee brew party.

Let's go with option 2.

Organic Bolivia Anjilanaka
Roaster: Intelligentsia Coffee
Region/Farm: Caranavi, Las Yungas

Processing: Wet Processed
Varietal: Typica, caturra, catuaí

We decided to prepare this coffee two different ways so we could determine which method we thought would be most tasty for our home brewing. Here were our findings:

Method: V-60 Pour Over
Grind: Course-Medium
Grind/Water: 26g/410g
Pour Method: 60 (agitate/bloom)-140-220-300-380 (agitate)-410
Initial Water Temp: 200 F
End Water Temp: 152 F
Extraction Yield: 19.23%
TDS: ???? (because I messed up in my measurements...bahh)
Aroma: Berry, spices
Taste: Fruity, cloves, dark chocolate (especially as it cools)
Mouth feel: Slight acidity, mild.

The Verdict: This is the part where most of my friends would say, 'yeah, I have no idea what those numbers have to do with coffee, just tell me how it tasted.' Alright alright! So at first slurp, it honestly did not taste as good as I had imagined it to be. Usually that first sip, if you brewed it right, is where you get those crisp, clean, slightly acidic notes on the tip of your tongue (obviously depending on what kind of coffee you have). This had a bit of a bite to it. I wish that I would have been able to measure the TDS (total dissolved solids) because that would have given me a pretty good indication if I brewed the coffee too strong. However, one thing you always want to remember with coffee is that it is complex. There are many variables that contribute to the overall taste of the coffee. The first variable I thought of was the water temperature at the time of consumption. The serving temp I had for this coffee was 152 F, which for me is usually a bit too hot for my liking (I usually like mine in the 140-145 range). So I waited about a minute for it to cool and once I had it at about 145 F, it was pretty good. Coffee continues to develop character as it cools off, so keep that in mind when drinking your coffee. The fruitier notes definitely kicked in once it had time to cool.

So was it amazing? No, however it was still good. One thing I'm trying to stay away from is knocking specialty coffee roasters for not having shockingly amazing coffee. To me, as long as their products taste good I'll consider that a win for them.  Typically your South American coffees end up being a bit heavy ended, such as your Brazil's, your Columbia's, etc... Given that, and the fact that I'm a bigger fan of the wilder berry tasting coffees, I'd say that this coffee was good. Have I had better? Yes, but this stuff still knocks the pants off that Yuban you had at work this morning.

After less than stellar results from our pour over, we were interested to see what this coffee offered run as an espresso...

Method: Mypressi Twist Espresso
Grind: Fine
Grind/Water: 18g/2 oz (approx)
Pre-infusion: Yes
Shot Pulled: 20 sec
Initial Water Temp: 207 F
Aroma: Berry, dark chocolate
Taste: Bright apricot, brown sugar, slight limy acidity
Mouth Feel: Light yet full body, mellow

Coffee drinker by day, amazing musician by...well,  by day too. And night.
FabianChavez.com

The Verdict: Smiles were all around with this coffee done as an espresso.
Fabian's first words after finishing his shot was "Dude, lets make another one!"  Crema was nice and rich in color. The sweetness given off from this coffee as an espresso was smooth and mellow, yet sugary with a hint of acidity as you finish it. We sipped that shot and gave each other imaginary high fives and 'atta boys, thinking that this coffee had redeemed itself in our graces. There was no debating between the two of us that this coffee is best served as an espresso rather than pour over. Again, it's not a bad pour over, it's just better as an espresso.

Overall, it was a nice side by side comparison between the two coffees. One coffee done two ways. Both tasted good but the espresso just tasted better. We felt that the espresso brought out the more subtle fruity notes and made them more vibrant and noticeable. It's neat how brewing coffee as an espresso does that. A friend of mine once described espresso brewing as a caricature, or exaggeration  of that particular coffee; meaning if the coffee tastes of berries, it's likely to taste really bright and vibrant as an espresso. Or if it had subtle chocolate undertones, an espresso would really bring out that chocolate to the forefront of your tasting, making it rich and dark.

If you ever get your hands on Intelligentsia's Organic Bolivia, try it different ways. I believe that the beauty in coffee is in it's complexity. There are so many factors that contribute to the coffee's overall taste, so play around with your brew methods. Don't be afraid to mess up. Record what you do, adjust your variables when somethings off, and repeat your method once you get it just right. In the words of the late Aaliyah:
"If at first you don't succeed, you can dust it off and try again, you can dust yourself off and try again, try again."
Literally. Dust off that portafilter and try again (wow, that quote worked perfectly for this coffee entry).