West Bean - Guatemala Santa Isabel Single Estate

I had been meaning to give this single origin espresso a go for quite a while now, I had been looking through coffee review and noticed the review for it. It had gotten a score of 92, which I thought was pretty good, and since they were here on Roaste I wanted to expand my horizons a little and try their coffee.

One of the reasons why  I got this coffee was that it was a Guatemalan coffee and I have had good experience with them before as a single origin. To me they tend to be one of the more balanced single origins, not nearly as acidic as something like an Ethopian but not as mild as most Brazils. I guess I figure Guatemala is the Goldilocks of origins.

The coffee came to me in a priority USPS box decently packed, no crushed beans like I got in one package from a roaster I will not name. More importantly about this blend is that they sell it per pound and not the normal 3/4 pound that a lot of roasters are selling. This is good and bad because I have had this coffee for a week now and still have about a quarter pound, but the price of admission is a little more, $17.00, while this ends up being quite reasonable at $12.75 for a 3/4 a pound, it still means you have to pay.

All that being said, I have gotten to see how this coffee has changed over the course of week that I wouldn't normally get the chance to see.

When  I first started pulling this coffee as an espresso it was having a really nice front of bitter-sweet chocolate, but a bit of an acidic bite that was not in a good way. I would say that it took until about day 7 to 8 post roast for that bite to mellow out some and become quite delicious all the way through. It was never bad, but it went from being a decent espresso to being something that was pretty good.

In the tasting notes for the coffee it says it has a bright edge to it and I am assuming thats the ending of the coffee that I was talking about above, Prior to the 7 day mark that brightness was really good in a latte because it didnt get drowned out but as I hinted at above it was not as pleasant in an Americano or straight.

However, I do not get a lot of fruit flavors in the coffee like I had expected even using a VST basket that seems to pick out those flavors, I think that might be because it is a little on the dark side for a medium roast. I was expecting more fruit flavors because it is a natural processed coffee, these coffees are dried with the fruit on them and typically have more fruit flavors.

Overall, really good espresso that I would recommend. but would think about sitting on it till maybe day 5 or 6 just so you can see it change a little. Also, it can be for those that don't like a super bright espresso. very well balanced.

Based on this coffee I am going to give their espresso blend Sussex a try because I am thinking it's going to be a nice comfort blend.