Thursday, May 04, 2006


the gimme el naranjal colombian c.o.e.

i wasn't kidding yesterday when i said i couldn't wait to rush home and brew kevin of gimme's el naranjal colombian c.o.e. up a.s.a.p.

got your scaa flavor wheel handy? ok!

the coffee doesn't have a roast date, so i can't tell you exactly how old it is. i'm sure this is just an oversight on kevin's part.

the roast color's one of the darkest i've seen for a while, which isn't too unusual for a gimme coffee. the beans were lightly oily all over and many had divots missing from the sides; i'm calling this an espresso roast.

which makes sense, since kevin is pulling shots from it for americanos in his shop!

as promised, i brewed up a half-pot chemex of this in the "oren proportion," for a total brew time of 4 mins. 10 seconds. the first thing i want to say is that despite the lack of date, the coffee's quite fresh.

the grounds actually hissed as the carbon dioxide escaped during the first bloom. those fresh grounds had a lovely orange-flower-spicy fragrance as i spooned them into the filter.

the taste, however, was less bright and crisp than you might think, due to the darkness of the roast. i'd call it slightly nippy.

as the coffee brewed, some nice dried citrus peel and dark molasses flavors wafted thru the kitchen. these came through clearly in the cup, along with spicy, warming notes.

think cedar and woody-spice, with a solid dose of roastiness. the body was lighter than i expected for the chemex.

in short, i don't think the chemex is the way to go for this coffee. it might be better off, body-wise, in the cafetiére.

you know me, i'll be pressing it tomorrow without fail! thanks kevin, tons. heart

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posted by fortune | 8:35 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments