Author Topic: What's caffeinating you today?  (Read 128224 times)

dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
What's caffeinating you today?
« on: 26 September, 2010, 12:17:42 pm »
Just sat down with my second cup of Hasbean's new Jailbreak Blend.  To my taste, it's coming through just a teensy bit acidic.  Perhaps not entirely surprising, given that it seems to consist entirely of central American beans.

I know I have a lower tolerance for acidity in espresso than a lot of folks, though, and apart from that it's a very nice balance.  The smell is wonderful.  Worth trying.
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #1 on: 26 September, 2010, 12:23:22 pm »
Local deli house beans, americano.   :smug:
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #2 on: 26 September, 2010, 02:29:38 pm »
I actually drank a coffee yesterday, which is rare for me. Espresso as it happens. I think this is a sign of approaching middle age.  ;)
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #3 on: 26 September, 2010, 02:31:47 pm »
What's the coffee-drinking equivalent of a MAMIL?
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

YahudaMoon

  • John Diffley
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #4 on: 26 September, 2010, 02:35:14 pm »
Tesco's Italian fresh ground coffee. £1.85. not bad for the money.

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
  • Twit @iceblinker
    • My stuff on eBay
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #5 on: 26 September, 2010, 02:43:58 pm »
Out of date Pro Plus will be caffeinating me when I next get my arse on my bike.

Meanwhile, I'll have a cup of Kenko instant :P
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Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
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Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #6 on: 26 September, 2010, 04:08:16 pm »
+1. Carte Noir
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #7 on: 26 September, 2010, 04:12:56 pm »
Sainsbury's Gold Roast instant.
Friday night it was 10-year-old Coca Cola.

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #8 on: 26 September, 2010, 04:17:31 pm »
Just sat down with my second cup of Hasbean's new Jailbreak Blend.  To my taste, it's coming through just a teensy bit acidic.  Perhaps not entirely surprising, given that it seems to consist entirely of central American beans.

I know I have a lower tolerance for acidity in espresso than a lot of folks, though, and apart from that it's a very nice balance.  The smell is wonderful.  Worth trying.

Is it not just his new name for his Premium Espresso blend?  I've had loads of that stuff in the past and still have maybe 500g of green somewhere but I'm hooked on Red Monkey Organic at the moment.

What amazes me is that blenders can manage to achieve consistency given the variety in croppings of the same bean.  I've also had a go at blending green beans for espresso and it is bloody hard.


dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #9 on: 26 September, 2010, 04:26:51 pm »
Is it not just his new name for his Premium Espresso blend?  I've had loads of that stuff in the past and still have maybe 500g of green somewhere but I'm hooked on Red Monkey Organic at the moment.

It's a relaunch of the old Premium Espresso blend, but I believe it has changed significantly.  Certainly, this batch is more to my taste than the PE I had a couple of years back.  To me, it doesn't quite compare with the superlative Toba Sulawesi blend, but that's my taste-buds speaking, and I suspect the Jailbreak may be closer to what the majority of espresso lovers prefer.

Quote
What amazes me is that blenders can manage to achieve consistency given the variety in croppings of the same bean.  I've also had a go at blending green beans for espresso and it is bloody hard.

+1
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #10 on: 26 September, 2010, 04:46:17 pm »
Thanks for the heads up.  Once I'm through the bag of Monkey coffee I'll give the Sulawesi stuff a try  :thumbsup:

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #11 on: 26 September, 2010, 10:00:25 pm »
May not sleep tonight - in addition to a cuple of mugs of filter, I've had 4 half cups of Nespresso Kasaar.

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #12 on: 27 September, 2010, 09:49:00 am »
Cheapo (£1.49 for 200g) Bellarom Lidl Espresso-ground coffee. It ain't the best, but it's passable...
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #13 on: 27 September, 2010, 10:12:46 am »
Something from on top of the cupboard, but it's brown and wet.

Oh, and Myprotein caffeine tabs.  :o :thumbsup: :o :thumbsup: :o
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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Thor

  • Super-sonnicus idioticus
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #14 on: 27 September, 2010, 10:20:28 am »
Nespresso espresso - 'cos that's what we have in the office kitchen.   

Not quite coffee Nirvana, but better than instant or Starbucks.
It was a day like any other in Ireland, only it wasn't raining

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #15 on: 27 September, 2010, 10:48:51 am »
Strong cappuccino from Pret. Not great but it'll do for now.

That Jailbreak stuff sounds good. I tend to like an acidic coffee - I'm rather partial to Union's Rwanda Maraba Bourbon, which is positively grapefruit-like in its zesty fruitiness.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #16 on: 27 September, 2010, 10:49:30 am »
Tea.  It's always tea.  Sainsbury's in this case.  :(
Getting there...

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #17 on: 28 September, 2010, 04:59:31 pm »
Is it not just his new name for his Premium Espresso blend?  I've had loads of that stuff in the past and still have maybe 500g of green somewhere but I'm hooked on Red Monkey Organic at the moment.

It's a relaunch of the old Premium Espresso blend, but I believe it has changed significantly.  Certainly, this batch is more to my taste than the PE I had a couple of years back.  To me, it doesn't quite compare with the superlative Toba Sulawesi blend, but that's my taste-buds speaking, and I suspect the Jailbreak may be closer to what the majority of espresso lovers prefer.

Quote
What amazes me is that blenders can manage to achieve consistency given the variety in croppings of the same bean.  I've also had a go at blending green beans for espresso and it is bloody hard.

+1

I've just ordered a bag of Jailbreak and one of Toba Sulawesi!  Happy Donkey Brazilian Fairtrade in the grinder at present though.

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #18 on: 28 September, 2010, 10:35:59 pm »
Mountain Dew <3

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #19 on: 28 September, 2010, 10:38:46 pm »
PG Tips Extra Strong.


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #20 on: 29 September, 2010, 01:18:52 pm »
Tea.  It's always tea.  Sainsbury's in this case.  :(

Still tea.  I'm taking oral steroids and I want coffee.  But I have tea :( :( :(
Getting there...

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #21 on: 02 October, 2010, 10:29:21 pm »
Jailbreak:  Not impressed.  Too bitter, too intense and lacking any sense of subtlety.

Toba Sulawesi:  The best coffee I've tasted by an order of magnitude.  Absolutely sublime.  Yes, a hint of grapefruit, but overall a tremendously rounded flavour without any hint of unpleasant edge.  Espresso has body and silkiness, excellent crema and grinds consistently.  I won't be hurrying to try anything else.

Rhys W

  • I'm single, bilingual
    • Cardiff Ajax
Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #22 on: 02 October, 2010, 10:39:21 pm »
Once I finish a hopper-full of Lavazza, I have some Happy Donkey Classic Italian. And they also included as a free surprise in my order, 100g of their new Sumatra Mocha! Beats a couple of Wiggle wine gums any day. :thumbsup:

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #23 on: 05 October, 2010, 06:39:18 pm »
Toba Sulawesi:  The best coffee I've tasted by an order of magnitude.  Absolutely sublime.  Yes, a hint of grapefruit, but overall a tremendously rounded flavour without any hint of unpleasant edge.  Espresso has body and silkiness, excellent crema and grinds consistently.  I won't be hurrying to try anything else.

Good.  :thumbsup:

I've just ordered two bags of it, one green and the other roasted for reference.

Last night I roasted two batches of beans, neither are for the machine.  Honduran 'La Fany' which I've probably had before, but is sitting de-gassing in the fridge.

The other batch is Ethiopean Yirgachef, which I have had hanging around for ages. I bought a 2kg bag on recommendation, roasted 250g of it and found it lacking any taste.  I dug it out yesterday, two years later, and realised I had made a terrible mistake.  In my head I'd confused it with Harrar, which is an earthy coffee needing a mid-dark roast.  Yirgachef is more akin to Kenyan Peaberry, with grapefruit acidity and floral tones.  I'd killed all of that and just got a butterscoth flavour... not unpleasant, but unremarkable.

I roasted it very carefully yesterday, taking it just out of the first crack, but a million miles from second.  The beans looked beautiful, with a lovely cream stripe.  This evening, I cupped.

On the nose it was delicate.  Caramels abounded, a vague hint of chocolate, but no! In the cup what awaited me was light, bright, lemon acidity, with a typical light floral jasmine coffee blossom. But the huge surprise in this one is the peach apricot and summer fruits zooming through the mid-palate of the cup.

Re: What's caffeinating you today?
« Reply #24 on: 05 October, 2010, 07:23:46 pm »
I've read about that Yirgachef on one of the American gourmet coffee forums; it sounds awesome and I am going to have to come over and try some.  If you can emulate the body and rich silkiness of the Monkey, then I'm in for a treat.

Going back to the Toba Sulawesi, I've noticed that the citrus note is becoming more pronounced as the beans age in the hopper.  It was sublime after 4 days, wheras now it is maturing into more of a specialist breakfast bean; sharp and fresh but not as rounded and wholesome as it cupped when freshly roast. 

I emailed Steve at Has Bean about it and he replied today, saying that he has found the same thing.  His view is that it is a specialist interest for a particular type of palate. 

In passing, he mentioned his new Kicker blend which, he suggested, might be right up my alley.  In fact, he has promised to do me a special batch as he now knows I like it rich and dark, and was thinking of revising the blend for those who prefer a more wholesome mouthful.  I pointed out the rather downmarket associations with the name and he has agreed to label my bag "Sebago" instead!