A follow up on Velton’s Bonsai Blend.

A follow up on Velton’s Bonsai Blend.  I have now been pulling the Bonsai blend for a few days.  It has continued to improve each day that I have used it.  It is still what I would consider a big booming coffee.  I have more or less only gotten good shots from it, but I just pulled what I would call the first great shot of it.  I think this shot will be easy to reproduce.  The difference is twofold.  First of all, it is now about 6 days post roast, just entering its peak according to the roasters themselves.  Second I dropped the dose all the way down to 14.5 grams.  Veltons recommended an 18 dose, but joked that you should never trust a roaster as they will always want you to updose.  (I assume because if you use more coffee per shot you will need to buy more coffee).  For me, however, lowering the dose increased clarity without losing the big virtue of the coffee – the booming chocolate notes.  I pulled this one a little on the slow side (probably just over 30 seconds).  



The coffees that make me cry with joy tend to be the rare light roast that for me  transcends other coffees and this one is roasted a little darker than that.  This is an issue of my own personal taste.  There is a reason that Counter Culture – a world class roaster – has Toscano as its flagship roast and Afficianado as a smaller seller.  For me Afficianado is one of my all time favorite coffees and Toscano is a great coffee, but not in my top three.  On the other hand I buy Toscano a lot because it is really enjoyable.  I bring up these coffees because Bonsai reminds me a lot of Toscano and that is a high compliment for any coffee.  


I look forward to seeing it evolve further over the next few days.