Sunday, April 30, 2006


gillies colombian supremo european decaf

long-time readers know i'm not personally a big decaf fan, but only because most decaf you see is swiss water. i like the owner of swiss water, frank dennis, a great big huge whole lot, and he's an scaa pro member.

but that doesn't mean i like what swiss water does to coffee. i know, frank works hard to improve that process every year.

still, i think european decaf tastes better, more like regular coffee. i confirmed that for myself this afternoon by brewing up a half-pot chemex in the "oren proportion" of don schoenholt's gillies colombian supremo european decaf.

what's interesting about this bean is that it's one of the darkest gillies roasts; i'd call it vienna. dark, and each bean has a glistening sheen of oil, without actually being oily.

as with all decafs, you can tell it's not regular right away -- it just lacks some of that fantastic, delicious, mouth-watering aroma you expect from freshly ground, freshly brewed coffee. there's no getting around that with any decaf, i think.

but, the main aromas of a colombian are there and the darker roast adds some nice roasty notes that really boost this coffee beyond ordinary decaf. it's the best decaf i've ever had, actually.

got your scaa flavor wheel handy? at about 6 days old, the coffee was pleasantly crisp tasting, just as you'd want from your colombian.

the darker roast moved the aromas into the woody-spicy and dark nutty range. because i made it in the chemex, it had a medium body.

even with a half-pot, i had a little more than i could drink, so i chilled it for iced coffee. now i'm going to get really enthusiastic about it, because this was truly superb iced.

when i came back from a crowded yoga class -- why do i always somehow get stuck next to that new macho gym guy who falls outta shoulderstand and just barely misses your head as his beefy feet come toppling down because he won't admit to the teacher that he needs help? -- really, watching this guy fall was like the slo-mo implosion of a skyscraper -- he's coming down, girlfriend, and you're frozen in terror at his base -- lemme just say i truly needed a refreshing, crisp, cold drink!

i shouldn't sound so snarky. this guy was a newbie; he wound up his courage to go to the sissy-girl yoga class, and endured having his butt kicked by all the poses, only to embarrass himself in front of the whole room by falling down.

he didn't know any better per se, since toughing it out is what they taught him at the gym. altho' fear might have brought him wisdom to ask the teacher for help.

but the teacher should have been looking out for him a little more too, once he told her it was his first vinyasa yoga class. however, i escaped doom and made it home for delicious iced decaf.

so that's a very good day. tomorrow -- the gillies co2 colombian supremo decaf, same bean, same roast.

we'll see which tastes better!

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posted by fortune | 3:43 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments