What I Am Drinking: Malawi Mapanga AAA

This morning, I was very excited to wake up because I know that today, I will have the ability to make myself quality coffee. The coffee I'm excited to be drinking today is the Malawi Mapanga AAA roasted to a City+ ten days ago by me (I know, it passed a week after roast but due to my situation, I was not able to brew it earlier). The coffee was roasted and stored in quart size mason jar and packed away in shipping box. When I opened the lid of the jar this morning, the lid pop out with a loud pop and a nice fresh aroma greeted me. 

As I have said, the coffee was roasted very light, but I decided to make an espresso with it in the La Pavoni anyway. I figure that to tame the acidity, I will have to grind finer and dose lower; this I did (12.5 grams) with the Baratza Vario. On the espresso machine side, I flushing much more hot water to bring the group head's temperature higher than normal for a higher brewing temperature (easily acomplished with the OE's Temperature strip).

I obtained this Malawi about a year ago (in green form of course) and stored it in cool place. I have been roasting this coffee before but never really evaluate it or my roasting critically until now. Before, mostly I have been drinking this coffee using the french press or the siphon coffee maker. Therefore today, I'm really excited to see how it does as espresso.

The cupping note for this coffee, courtersy of the cupper Chad Sheridan of Green Coffee Buying Club is as following:  

Excellent cup.  The complexity of the fruit comes out as the cup cools--there's citric (I got some tangerine and lime), tree fruit or stone fruit (plum), and hints of red apple.  Caramel sweetness rounds the cup, and there's a small praline hint in there as well.  SO shot was a bit acidic, but lots of potential I think with the roast stretched out a bit for espresso.  Siphon pot of this was awesome--the creaminess in the body came out, with a silky feel as well.  Recommended.

I would very much agree with the cupping description of the coffee, afterall, it is not so surprising since I roasted the coffee to a similar roast level, using the same roaster (Hottop). The espresso pulled very nicely (the flow rate was a tad too quick but crema and tiger striping was stunning). The aroma is slightly nutty, a hint of graininess (due to light roast) and chocolatey. The taste is highly fruity (I'm tasting green apple, and lime.  I drink the espresso straight but I'm thinking it would have make an awsome americano! This espresso is really for someone who really like bright and acidic espresso shots!

I'm thinking I will try even finer grind with this coffee and maybe a tad higher brewing temperature, I would like to tame the acidity a bit more while pulling more sweetness and caramel out of these beans. If I was roasting this coffee next time, I would roast it slightly darker perhaps into the City++ range. But overall, I'm extremely happy with how it perform as espresso. Today, I will see how it does in the French press or the Aeropress!