What I am drinking now – Velton’s Bonsai blend.
What I am drinking now – Velton’s Bonsai blend.
I just got my first bag of Velton’s Bonsai blend. This post is an initial reaction to it. I think there should be a big distinction between a blog post about a coffee and a blog review about a coffee. This is definitely the former. If you are very lucky the first few pulls you make of a coffee will knock your socks off, but I can think of only one or two coffees ever that I pulled at home for which this was the case. The classic example is Stumptown Hairbender, which may well be my favorite coffee, but which I did not like the first time I tried it – not just for the first shot, but the first pound.
This coffee will not fit the category of coffees I disliked at the start. It was quite good. It is a medium dark roast and my first two shots of it were quite pleasant. They had full body and big chocolate notes. These were not fruity or acidic shots at all. I pulled them at a moderate temperature and moderate to slightly high dose (probably 201 degrees, 18gs for the first one and 200 degrees 17 grams for the second).
The shots were good. If I was served them at a café I would be happy and if it was not a café that was already known to have good coffee I would be very happy.
The coffee as it stands in the first two shots is full bodied and booming, for it to be a great coffee I want to pull out some subtlety, too. This will probably require lowering the temperature and the dose is my guess.
I also think the shots I pulled would be great in milk, so I will check that out this afternoon.
The question ahead is can it go from very good to great? I am optimistic as of now, but time will tell.
I just got my first bag of Velton’s Bonsai blend. This post is an initial reaction to it. I think there should be a big distinction between a blog post about a coffee and a blog review about a coffee. This is definitely the former. If you are very lucky the first few pulls you make of a coffee will knock your socks off, but I can think of only one or two coffees ever that I pulled at home for which this was the case. The classic example is Stumptown Hairbender, which may well be my favorite coffee, but which I did not like the first time I tried it – not just for the first shot, but the first pound.
This coffee will not fit the category of coffees I disliked at the start. It was quite good. It is a medium dark roast and my first two shots of it were quite pleasant. They had full body and big chocolate notes. These were not fruity or acidic shots at all. I pulled them at a moderate temperature and moderate to slightly high dose (probably 201 degrees, 18gs for the first one and 200 degrees 17 grams for the second).
The shots were good. If I was served them at a café I would be happy and if it was not a café that was already known to have good coffee I would be very happy.
The coffee as it stands in the first two shots is full bodied and booming, for it to be a great coffee I want to pull out some subtlety, too. This will probably require lowering the temperature and the dose is my guess.
I also think the shots I pulled would be great in milk, so I will check that out this afternoon.
The question ahead is can it go from very good to great? I am optimistic as of now, but time will tell.
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