Wednesday, January 12, 2005


motor oil, changing to crema globs

i only know one way to say this, so i'm going to say this: david's atomic coffee "veloce" blend from yesterday is an effing awesome espresso. it's what you wished illy would be.

grab your scaa flavor wheel. . .

i didn't cup this coffee, but just brewed it up this morning on silvia, my italian princess, as a triple. i ran a lot of water to try to bring the temperature down.

david didn't really give me any temperature or time guidelines. but i think this coffee is best at 25 seconds (um, i brewed a couple shots to check this out).

the veloce is a medium-dark roast; at 4 days old, some beans show pinpricks of oil. it has a sweet, mild taste, and i couldn't find any brightness at all.

the body is exceptionally heavy -- it flowed out of the single spout like motor oil, in a stream spiraled with crema. at about 13 seconds, the crema "globbed up" and fell out in discrete honey-colored spheres.

the dry grounds were very strongly floral. david said he was blending for caramel, and i think he found it -- caramel and vanilla syrup.

the aftertaste had just a hint of, hmm, how to describe this? walnut skin!

you know, if you chew on a bit of the papery skin on the toasted walnut meat? the finish leaves your mouth a little watery.

david describes this coffee as earthy, but i couldn't find any of that today. . .or maybe what i'm calling "toasted walnut skin," he's thinking of as "earth."

this is a very yummy coffee, as sweet and heavy as advertised (those superpremium brazil cerrados!). after having a shot plain, alas, in the interests of fair review i was forced to make another as an italian-style cappuccino.

here's where it reminded me most of "illy. . .plus." in italy, the illy really blends into the milk; it's not lost there, but creates a new, happy thing with the microfoam.

and the veloce blend is exactly the same. however, when i drink illy, it's a good coffee, but seems a little dull to me; this may be an age issue.

the veloce is like the illy, in that there's nothing overly fancy -- you could in fact drink this coffee all day, in the italian style (that is, you know, italians will stop by their favorite bar for 3 or 4 shots throughout the day, which is possible in italy, since an espresso there is usually just E0.75).

for this model, you need a really pleasant, friendly coffee, interesting enough to finish the cup, but not so complicated that it twists you up trying to figure it out.

so the veloce offers the plus of freshness and interest!

i think the veloce is just a beautiful, beautiful coffee, not to mention that incredible body. i'm crazy about this espresso; why does it have to be roasted completely around the planet away from me?

ok, i can't sob on the ground over this. but i'm tempted to.

if i were a home roaster, i might buy a large amount of this green and parcel it out to other interested parties -- then the shipping might be vaguely affordable. . .only then. . .sigh.

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