I love all of the details, colors, patterns, textures, information on these bags... inside too!
It was the really attractive bags from AKA that got my attention, and they did not disappoint. Beautifully designed inside and out with unique colors, fonts, shapes, and textures, these resealable bags are on point. Coincidentally, this week the blog, Unpacking Coffee covered some history behind this rebranded roaster from the Oakland area.
As for the coffee, this washed Rwandan French Mission Bourbon varietal is decribed as being "a dynamic single origin coffee with notes of gooseberry and yuzu citrus." Admittedly, I don't know what either of those flavors are, but the description had me expecting light, bright, sweet, and juicy with plenty of acidity. To my surprise, this coffee was definitely a more developed roast than I was expecting. The flavor descriptors and acidity were slightly muted with some caramelized or stewed berry sweetness and very mild acidity. I tried brewing this coffee, fast slow, hot and cold, but couldn't really bring out any bursting fruit; this coffee was simply a darker roast for a third wave, bay-area, single-origin type. To be clear, it is certainly not a "dark roast" and there weren't any visible oils on the surface. Smooth and mildly sweet cups were best brewed at:
- 1 : 16 ratios in the 02 size Hario V60 using 196*F water and finer grind
- 3x grind weight bloom for 30 seconds, stirred
- Pour to 225 grams, stir.
- Additional pours in 50 gram increments to final beverage mass
- 3:00 total brew time
I love my trusty Bonavita Variable Temperature Kettle, it times the brew too! Click through for more info and to purchase one
The coffee was very similar as espresso. Smooth and rich, with very mild acidity and subtle caramelized or stewed fruit sweetness. I found shots that were given plenty of time to cool to provide these characteristics. Shots were pulled at:
Espresso shots were very smooth and subtle but came alive once they cooled.
- 17.7 grams in an 18 gram VST basket (the grinds were very fluffy and voluminous)
- Cutting the pump at 25 seconds on my E61 machine while letting the shot run out to about 29 seconds
- 197*F water and 34-36 gram final beverage mass
This coffee works well in milk, but might start to get a little lost in drinks over 10 ounces.
Who's it for?
This coffee will serve those that like more traditional or low acidity espresso but maybe want to dip their toes into single origin offerings. It is roasted a little more than most third wave single origins, but not so much that you can't pick out any of the terrior of the coffee.
This coffee appears to be no longer available, but I am finding their other offerings to be roasted in a similar fashion. All orders over $25 ship free, and this one was around $18 for a 12 ounce bag.
Good body from this coffee when brewed and pulled as espresso.