# Hands-On-Coffee - 'North Coast Roast' review



## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Tasting notes from the roasters : ''Well Balanced, Marzipan sweetness, Slightly Nutty''

Roasted : 25th Sept 2011

Dose :18.5g

Temp: 94c

Extraction time: 33 seconds (inc 5 secs preinfusion without pump)

Extraction : 30g

This was my second attempt through the Expobar, the first one spritzed all over the place and delivered about 60ml in 15 seconds. Sink shot! Adjusted the Mazzer 3 notches, nearing about as fine as it will go without clogging the shoot. Used my 'brushing the grinds out the shoot' whilst grinding technique...delivered a neat clumpless pile of grinds, a gentle tap on the tamping mat & a light-ish 10lb tamp.

Took about 7 seconds before first drops appeared, looked like it was going to be too slow but actually speeded up quickly. think next time ill make a touch finer (1/2 notch) & even lighter tamp.

Crema looked attractive and about 4-5mm deep.

Aroma was almond-city (as a lot of my pours have been recently), swirling the cup I was getting some dark chocolate, nutty-digestive-biscuits.

Palate was where it got interesting, apricot acidity, very long finish , was reminded of bananas (!) the almond was there , as was the choc, but less of the biscuit & nuts. More complex than I expected as Hands-On suggest only experimenting as espresso. On the contrary, I think this is deserving as espresso intended! I need to try again at 93 & 95 to see if I can push it further towards the apricot and banana. In milk Id like to give it a go as a piccolo, dont think it would lend itself to being diluted much more.

All in all very tasty, I dont think this is easy to work with tho , it needs to be super finely ground which has channeling risks. Id give this 7.5 / 10 overall with the caveat I havent tried the intended brew method of press-pot.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I gave in. Made a flat-white with it, leaving all parameters as before but a hair finer on the grind. The milk wasnt at all fresh (4 days+) and subsequently wasnt quite as sweet as it could be, although texture wasnt terrible.

The coffee itself didnt really cut through, other than ''generic coffee'', maybe a tad biscuity-chocolately. I think next milk attempt will be freshly opened and a piccolo!

Also shall try V60, Aeropress & Clever-dripper brews over the weekend.....How geeky am I?!


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## crispy (Jun 6, 2011)

Very









Just ordered some of this for Chemex and French Press... looking forward to giving it a taste after your findings, will give it a try it as Espresso too and if feeling daring will post findings...

nice post Gary =)


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

Well I just tried their Lusty Glaze for the first time this morning.

It was roasted last sunday ( I was offered a choice of roasting batches ), I've only just reassembled my Gaggia Classic after I discovered a water leak which turned out to be a boiler O ring gunked up with 10 years of scale!

I've also just changed my grouphead/portafilter seal and got my bottomless PF from happy donkey, I'm really pleased with the PF, amazing quality and a joy to use as it provides instant visual feedback, good and bad, and as a bonus is much easier to clean and gives great crema.

As I'm still a novice, if I'm totally honest I didn't notice a vast difference in quality or taste from a freshly opened tin of Costa Beans ( which I now sell online ), although I'm sure my tastebuds aren't finely tuned enough!

This is a ( poorly shot ) video of my efforts, grind setting 2 on my Baratza Virtuoso and a 25sec shot: https://plus.google.com/109581142265954475469/videos


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

JohnnieWalker said:


> Well I just tried their Lusty Glaze for the first time this morning.
> 
> It was roasted last sunday ( I was offered a choice of roasting batches ), I've only just reassembled my Gaggia Classic after I discovered a water leak which turned out to be a boiler O ring gunked up with 10 years of scale!
> 
> ...


Cant get that video to work mate


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Vid works fine for me, chaps. Maybe cos I have a google+ account tho. I guess you can't access it without one.

Your shot is looking better every time







Foot off the gas a little...


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks for this comprehensive post Gary







))


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

OK, A brewed coffee update on my review.

Hario v60

Dose :15g

Temp: 94c

Extraction time: 2 mins 38 seconds (inc 30 secs bloom)

Extraction : 250ml

This was ground on my normal starting point on the mazzer for v60 (at number 5). Normally good results are on or around this setting with most beans I have tried. This extraction was a little fast, I normally aim for 3 mins - 3mins 15. I think this particular batch being quite long after roast date could have done with being ground a little more course (what madness is this contradiction?!?) - let me explain : everytime I have managed to 'ride the bloom' without any overflowing the end result has been to my taste. If the grind is too fine then water escapes over the sides of the bloom and channels...speeding up brewing time and causing under and over extraction accross the coffee bed and not the best cup. I will try again 1.5 notches courser & hopefully ride the bloom better.

Anyway back to the North Coast roast, as I didnt execute a perfect pour I didnt end up with MY perfect cup, or what i would hope for. The aroma is definate sweetness which could be almonds, but again banana springs to mind, more banana-cake-bread than the raw fruit. In the mouth I am getting a little sour and bitter, quite a dark flavour which has been caused by the grind/pour being off. The finish is caramel all the way, that much is clear...another go with this and im sure the end cup will be great...these beans are quality!

Anyway a few pics :


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