Mr. Espresso

No I am not being arrogant and asking you all to refer to me by Mr. Espresso, I am actually talking about the Oakland CA based roaster.

It's actually quite sad that this is the first time that I am enjoying the coffee from Mr Espresso at home, because I live really close this roaster and even had their coffee as a drip a time or two at a local bakery. The truth of the matter is that Mr Espresso is a rather established roaster in my area starting in 1978 and does a lot of business with companies and the like, I believe they only have one shop of their own and it is a little out of my way. So I kind of wrote them off as one of those roasters that just makes coffee for those machines located inside an office.

After my wife and an online discussion pointed my attention to an article with an interview with the sons of Mr Espresso and hearing their insights into the current coffee trends did I figure I should give them a go at home. The article I mention talks about how Mr Espresso is an established roaster that does have to meet the needs of their clients that expect a certain taste to their coffee, but that they do offer other coffees that they feel meet well with the current trend of coffee. That's a real nutshell version so please do read the it.

I liked the packaging, a Mr Coffee Bean as their logo is pretty sweet and being able to mark your box like that is a nice touch that really entices you to open up the box.

Anway, I got this on a Wednesday and as I opened the box to find my package of Organic Neapolitan Espresso Blend I was a little saddened that there was no roast date on the bag. I could tell it was fresh because of puffyness of the bag, but still just a minor thing that you expect from roasters. I guess that is the downside from being a largish regional roaster.

However, even tho I had a little bit of Velton's Bonsai blend left I decided to take the coffee for a spin that night with a press pot to get an idea of how fresh the coffee was. Basically I got a lot of gas coming off the beans that night in my press so much gas that I thought I would let it rest a bit before pulling it as espresso. My press pot was good low acidity and a nice dark smoky flavor. Very traditional.

After finishing up the last of the Velton's last night, I was very eager to try this espresso out this morning and I was not disappointed. I had left my grinder right where I was grinding the Velton's the night before and my first shot ran a little fast, 2 oz in 20 seconds, but took a taste anway. A lot of Dark chocolate and a slight smoky flavor, but the body of the espresso was amazing, like drinking espresso flavored Nyquil.

After that made a slight adjustment and got to be 2 oz in 23 seconds and kept it that way for a double Americano I take with me in the morning to work. Like a nice a real nice mouthfeel to the Americano and a nice dark chocolate flavor. A real crowd pleaser i think this one is. Probably going to play with it a little to see if I can get some deep fruit flavors out of it.

After tasting this blend I am going to be looking closer at their offerings, and would recommended this one to anyone that is not looking for something with any acidity or is trying to get someone hooked to good coffee, could be a gateway coffee.