"Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."

I still need to get our decaf "needs" resolved, but in the meantime Sweet Maria's threw us a curve ball. 

My neighbor Will buys an espresso blend from them called Liquid Amber. They've been selling it for years so it came as a surprise when they announced to Will that they were "out of stock". When he asked the when-question he was told "we don't know when we'll be able to buy all the components of the blend".

So that means we're back to the drawing board. I bought samples of 3 different espresso blends (he uses it to brew his pour-over)-

  • "Espresso Monkey blend" from Sweet maria's
  • "New Classic Espresso blend" from Sweet Maria's
  • "Ferdelance Espresso blend" from Coffee Bean Corral

I got the first roast of the Espresso Monkey done but I wasn't happy with how things went, so I reworked the profile thru changes to the "Recipe" (the way the roaster software automates a roast) and gave it another try. Simultaneously the weather turned warm (80°F+ range when I started this) and that seems to have a meaningful impact as well.

Nothing was a grabber so we're still negotiating the taste preference.



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