# Rave Rwanda Buf



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Afternoon all,

This is my first light roast SO bean, the rest have been blends or medium roast.

I am enjoying the coffee produced by this bean and find I am able to identify some of the flavours from the tasting notes.

However, I have noticed a couple of features to these beans:

1) When done right the acidity/citrus flavours are devine. I do find it very easy to tip over to sourness, a couple of times to a point of being undrinkable. The cause of this seems to be too long cooling flush as opposed to extraction issues.

2) I seem to get little to no sweetness.

As I am new to home espresso and lsol beans I was wondering how others are getting on with this blend and what brew ratio/time are you acheiving best results?

My favourite cup was 18g - 30g in 32 seconds.


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## Nopapercup (Nov 6, 2016)

I've got these beans. How long post roast did you wait? I found around 15 days is better than 10. With my Pavoni i'm doing 13.5 g in 26g out in 20 seconds. Maybe try going slightly coarser and and reducing extraction by 5 seconds.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I had this bean from James Gourmet - there was a ton of sweetness to it , but again inly drink filter , but i would have though even though a different roaster etc should still be doable. It's a SO though not a blend? I think as always you have a starting point at explore it yourself , combinations of water , grinder , and preferences mean trying to copy another ratio is not as much help as exploring your own adjustments and the impact they have on the cup.


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

That's great, thank you both for the advice.

The tasting note flavours aren't ones typically associated with sweetness (stone fruits, citrus and black tea) I wasn't sure if I was chasing flavours that the bean cannot provide.

I will go for a coarser grind and longer extraction to combat the sourness and will see if this allows some sweetness out.

It's so nice to have reached a point with extraction that I can experiment...


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

igm45 said:


> That's great, thank you both for the advice.
> 
> The tasting note flavours aren't ones typically associated with sweetness (stone fruits, citrus and black tea) I wasn't sure if I was chasing flavours that the bean cannot provide.
> 
> ...


When i had the james gourmet version i think the notes were " jelly tots " so it may be a different roast profile


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Too late now @Mrboots2u I'm chasing the sweetness rainbow ?

On a serious note, I'm not expecting jellytots with this profile but at present I'm getting next to no sweetness


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

that's a shame the JG one was stonking , found the supplies notes ...

"Cup potential: Filter: With good-to-great water, the filter coffee has the potential of tasting like coffee jelly babies. Ripe, sweet, red fruit sugars and low soft acidity.Unlike other naturals this is superbly balanced and nowhere near ferment. Consider this a conservative natural!"


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

This was an IMM a couple of weeks back, obviously a different roaster, but a much drier coffee than the James Gourmet natural. Wasn't particularly sweet, the black tea dominating the finish.


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

In my better cups I'm finding strong citrus flavours/acidity/borderline sourness and getting the black tea depth.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Go back to the grind you had with 18:30 in 32sec & try pulling more like 36-40g.


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

As in extend it to 36-40g with the same grind or coarsen the grind for 36-40g in 32sec?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Same grind, if you coarsen the grind you will end up with the same extraction at a bigger drink, which is fine, but you're trying to reduce the sourness by extracting more. Pushing more water through the puck at the same grind would be the first way to try and do this.


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

If you coarsen the grind you will risk underextraction and accentuated acidity


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## ShortShots (Oct 2, 2013)

just for reference, ours is the washed, not natural


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

ShortShots said:


> just for reference, ours is the washed, not natural


Ah.....noobs error on my part


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Quick update:

Despite the difficulty I've been having with this bean I have been enjoying the experimentation and it has proved to be a helpful bean for highlighting the impact (good and bad) process and temperature can have in the cup.

It's not a forgiving bean imho but is bringing my ability forward.

Since my last post I have:

18 in, 40 out in 25 secs, sour, no depth, quite an empty feeling shot.

Grind finer then:

18.5 in 35 out in 36 seconds

Sour, good depth to the cup though.

Slightly courser:

18.5 in 40 out in 30.5 seconds

First hints of sweetness are coming through, favourite espresso I've made with this bean.

Still getting lots of citrus/acidity flavour, which in this heat is rather nice.

That was the first time with this bean that I put the cup down after, sighed, thought that was lovely and wished for more.

My plan of action is to dial the grind a bit finer, aim for the 18 in 40 out around the 35 sec mark. Think I will get away with this as there seems to be very little bitterness naturally occuring in this bean.


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## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Good info, cheers.

A Rwandan got the better of me the other week despite boots' help


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