I got a ton of Intelligentsia’s Black Cat espresso in the mail, so I took a bag to my friend’s cafe to play around with. They only have one grinder so I didn’t have much time to play with the grind, but I did have one of my hand mills with me (a Kalita with metal conical burrs), so I gave that a shot as an espresso grinder. Surprisingly, at the finest setting and dosed to 20 grams, it gave me a pretty decent shot (~45-50ml in 25-28 sec). Better than decent actually, it had a tangy sweetness and chocolatey finish; I enjoyed it. It just took a good couple minutes to grind it, haha.
I also got some coffee from Finca (Farm) Santa Teresa, in Panama; and Finca Matalapa, Guayabo, in El Salvador. I haven’t gotten into the Santa Teresa yet (I like to focus on one coffee at a time, trying different grinds and alternating between V60 and Aeropress), but the Matalapa, Guayabo is really nice – intensely tart fruity sweetness, definitely reminiscent of cranberries as mentioned on Intelli’s tasting notes. It’s really in-your-face, distinctive. As it cools it’s more like juice than coffee.
I’ll try the Santa Teresa at work tomorrow and update this post. :)
UPDATE:
Tried the Santa Teresa, Panama today on Aeropress and V60. The tasting notes on the label are spot on, “devil’s food cake” and “blackberry and concord grape.” To me it reminded me of a dark chocolate infused with merlot wine grapes you can buy at the convenience stores here. Really a nice, rich, layered coffee. I believe this is a blend of washed and pulped-natural/honey processed coffee from the same farm.
