Friday, November 18, 2005


the finch wa yrg, redux

as promised yesterday, i made up oren's prize-winning finch wa yrg this morning in the vac pot. i used my usual vac pot proportions -- 60 g/2 oz fresh ground coffee to 1 liter/33 fl. oz. water.

this coffee is now 7 days old -- which actually is just as well, because despite that age it bloomed so mightly in the vac pot i had to stir down the top globe like mad to prevent a foamy overflow!

i know you all already have that scaa flavor wheel to hand. . .

yesterday oren's full-city+ finch wa did a more than credible passage as a harrar. today in the vac pot it reverted to some more traditional yrg-like characteristics, such as a delicate, "tea-like" body.

while the dry grounds were just as flagrantly floral and blue as before, when the coffee bloomed, the plum/tamarillo scent seemed to me to be more like sweet candied prunes, quite reminiscent of those vanilla agen prunes i wrote about not so long ago.

i also thought the brew had a more maple-syrupy flavor. but boy howdy did it keep that harrar-esque chocolate aftertaste.

it's medium wine-y taste, interestingly enough, didn't seem to change much from the chemex. and again, this coffee kept its exquisite balance.

(on the subject of balance, ken david's definition makes it seems like it's a dull thing, as if you'd always rather have a wild, extreme coffee. this isn't true!

some coffees have a nature, like the kello yrg, that is best suited by wild, passionate excess; others are more like a refined piece of chamber music where all the parts should play in balanced harmony.

the question of balance and whether it's a fantastic thing or not is something that can only be experienced in the tasting, imvho. in the case of oren's finch wa, balance is gorgeous quality.)

tomorrow, the finch wa in the cafetiére! and, an apology to norman v: i should have thanked him earlier for his colombian and the 75% chocolate! i will get to that by sunday, i promise!

posted by fortune | 8:32 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 4 comments