October brought variety: a new roaster, a new origin, and my first real struggle with grind settings.
Check out the intro post for my equipment setup and rating system.
Wahgi Valley
S.K. Coffee · Papua New Guinea · ★★★☆☆
Grind: #2 espresso · #18-19 pour over · Water: 205°F
My first bag from S.K. Coffee. A Papua New Guinea isn't an origin that I remember bring very much of, but that's another point of this journal - remember what I'm brewing. Solid three-star territory that was pretty good. I'm not sure this type of roast is in my wheelhouse.
Baide
Verve · Honduras · ★★★★☆
Grind: #4-5 espresso · #20 pour over · Water: 205°F
Really good coffee and easy to brew in the Chemex. It was alight roast and a single origin. It tasted more dark than a light roast. I bet if I eased up on the grind setting a little bit I would taste more of the flavors of the light roast.
Chelchele
Verve · Ethiopia · ★☆☆☆☆
October 16, 2024
First take is too bitter. I'm still far from working this out. Bitter made my morning harder. I wouldn't serve this brew to anyone. Can't figure out how to brew these small Ethiopian beans. First take I went 18 grind. This is too fine as my pour was around 5 minutes. Coffee was bitter.
One star. Not because the coffee is bad, I bet it's probably excellent in capable hands. But I couldn't get it right, and a coffee I can't brew well doesn't earn points for potential.
Lessons learned: Ethiopian beans need coarser grinds than I expected. Also, S.K. Coffee is doing great things for Minneapolis coffee roasters.
Next up: November 2024—a Kenyan that arrived just in time for Thanksgiving.