Monday, November 15, 2004


the espresso temescal

following the roman espresso situation yesterday, my plan was to cup james' blue bottle "espresso temescal" and also make it in my napoletana, since he'd said he intended this for stovetop moka coffee.

but household events intervened this morning -- it's really shocking how life interrupts one's coffee -- and i didn't get a chance to cup it formally. as a result, i was forced to simply enjoy it from the napoletana in a deruta tazza; ah well.

the temescal is a delightful coffee. it appears to be what i would call a mélange, where the blend components are roasted separately and then mixed together.

i say this because the beans are not a uniform color, altho' they are all roasted to what i would consider medium vienna, that is, the beans show patches of oil. however because the temescal is an all-organic blend and does contain sumatra, there might be some wiggle room there.

what i'm saying is that these are beans that, like james' previous yemen, might not always roast evenly. got out your scaa flavor wheel yet? good!

the fragance of the dry grounds hovered between floral and fragrant, with a coffee blossom and slight cardamom feel. this full coffee with a fairly heavy body offered me notes of vanilla and caramel, and a slightly clove flavor.

it had a mild, sweet taste; altho' the blend contains some costa rica, i didn't detect anything more than a low brightness.

with a tablespoon of light cream and pinch of raw sugar, the temescal was a cheerful breakfast cup from the stovetop. if i have time tomorrow i'll brew this in my espresso machine while it's still fresh enough to produce a lovely shot. . .

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