Wow, these beans are good. They cut through milk with ease and produced a nice complex drink on the caramel side of things, with some fruit flavours. The espresso is also mid bodied with low acidity. I'll need a few more goes at this before I can lock in any real flavours, but again very promising. I already rate it better than the MT Bundja from last year. This one is richer with more fruit and a better after taste.

Definitely worth the price!

Had this again today and am reminded of......monsoon malabar!

I just had this as a 50:50 blend with the El Salvadore San Emilio Farm and I think the El Sal compromised the shot a bit. The SO is better than the blend... So I think I'll treat myself to the SO straight from here in.

Hmmm... very sweet and fruity in milk. As an espresso, the jury is still out. Nothing offensive though, just need the stars to align so I can get a good shot.

Oh for a machine with easy (read digital) temperature adjustment...

I have a few more shots worth left. This morning I opened the packet and got the aroma of dried apricots and sultanas and some other earthy notes which I'm at a loss to describe. The shot was pretty good with a faint prickly feeling on the tongue, but otherwise pretty smooth and mid bodied with similar fruit, but more muted than the aroma. In milk it is still a star with a chocolatey note on top of the dried fruit. I get flavours that are unusual like dried dates and sultanas.

My overall impression is this is a stellar bean. Unusual yes, but very interesting.

Compared to my current favorite, the Harrar longberry naturals, this is more approachable as an espresso, but with similar fruity complexity. Harrar still sit on top in milk, although this is different but no less impressive.

Compared to the Bundja that I got last year, this is head and shoulders more drinkable as a SO. The Bundja tended to get very nutty flavours, which I'm not looking for in a SO. I much prefer the rich dried fruit and chocolate.

I also think that taking this roast to 2nd crack, but not beyond was also serendipitous, as I can't imagine a better roast. In fact the description on the MT web site pretty much matches my impressions of this one.

Cheers,

Mark.

I roasted my second batch yesterday. They roast very dark and even. The roast only went to the start of 2nd crack but it was about as dark as I ever go. The sweet fruity aroma was evident only about 1 hr post roast and the beans seem to out gas quite a bit. The aroma is the same as the last batch and hopefully the taste will be too... They are probably one of the easiest beans to roast.

Anyone else experiencing these lovely beans?

Sparky wrote on Oct 29^th, 2007, 10:10am:


Yes, I am at the 7 day mark with a batch roasted 30 odd seconds into the second crack.

I can honestly say beyond any doubt at all that these beans are very coffee like.


Belinda

I agree this is a very nice base bean.

Mixed 50%  Mountain Top bin 549
      : 25%  Peru Segunda Naturals
      : 25%  Sumatran Mandheling

is quite an agreeable blend in milk with lovely chocolate notes and dare I say it sooth and creamy textures.

Above mixed 1:1:1 is both smooth and mellow, a nice morning drink.

50%  Mountain Top bin 549
50%  Peru Segunda Naturals

In milk produces a medium bodied, strong earthy drink with a nice coco aftertaste.  IMHO of course.


Belinda

I missed out on beanbaying this one up, but I picked up a bag from Brother Baba Budan.  

Through the clover it started off tasting of liquorice, then developed a fruity taste that some people have described as "coffee cherry."  Simon James commented that he thought it tasted a bit like strawberry.  This changing cup character is something that I really enjoy from the clover brews (or vac pot, or french press, or cupping, or even a long black, for that matter).

I ripped open the bag today and it smelled like capsicum (similar to the el salvador mirasol, if anyone has smelled that) and ... bizarrely ... tomato sauce!  I have only had a few shots so far, but I found it very interesting how the second and third last sips taste quite different from the first few.  Actual descriptions will be forthcoming.

Cheers,

Luca

I've finished my last batch and I miss it already. I find the complexity of this bean staggering. The dark fruit cake analogy lasted right up to the end, however, there was always an aroma of something more pungent, which ultimately never affected the taste in the cup. I also found that this bean liked a quicker shot and lost alot of its rich fruit with a ristretto pour.

It was also one of the strangest beans to roast in that it was so easy and it went so dark, even though I only took it to the onset of 2nd crack. I've done two batches so far and the roasts and flavours were nearly identical.

This bean isn't just good for an Australian product, it easily stands out above nearly any bean I've tried recently.

Ugh.  A few guests and 250g goes by in a snap.  Not sure when I'll get around to buying some more.  About all that I remember is that some of the shots started off with the same liquorice flavour that the clover started off with.

grendel wrote on Nov 6^th, 2007, 3:45pm:


Nice that we tasted the same thing in the same roast - at least if we're crazy we can form a club ;P

Sparky wrote on Nov 11^th, 2007, 4:43pm:




and the winner is .................................

These are my favorite bean for 2007!!!

Again I'll reiterate that these beans roast very dark very quickly. I stopped my roast last week before 2nd crack, but it coasted into 2C after the heat was taken off. The roast level was between CS10-11 and the fruit flavours just survived along with the rich chocolate-like flavours.
I'll be aiming for an earlier finish next time to try and keep them from going past CS10 to highlight more fruit.

I hope we get some more this year!

Wushoes - David S wrote on May 18^th, 2008, 5:32pm:


Really?  

This is an interesting criticism, since it was (and still is) offered in the most recent beanbay and Andy's description says, "Last crop this was my favourite bean and this year its even better."

What do you base your conclusion on David?

Wushoes - David S wrote on May 18^th, 2008, 6:29pm:


Ah well, I roasted some today, will see how it goes.

Still, I've never known Andy to sell us anything but the goods ... so I'm planning on being pleasantly surprised  

Good call.

Plus, I haven't tried much of the previous crop so I have no point of comparison

Andy Freeman wrote on May 18^th, 2008, 8:00pm:


WHAOOO!!  Now there's a sweeping generalisation that (IMO) is waay off the mark

Now I love MTC as much as the next guy, and think there level of commitment to quality and r&d is increadible, but to discount some of australia's other fantastic farms and generalising australian coffee as being traditionaly bland and one dimensional is way off the mark.

Some of my favourite coffee's of all time have come from capricorn coast, and my first real 'wow' moment with coffee was drinking australian skybury.

Now back to the topic at hand...

Sorry Ian....I visited Skybury earlier this year....it was pretty ordinary mate. Not to mention, the owner who coincidentally is also named Ian...was lets just say.....a self masturbator, with comments like "you can't afford my coffee, even if you could, I can't give you any." or "this is the BEST single origin in the world, don't you think?" *hands me an underextracted 50mL espresso*

Frankly, I will never look or touch Skybury coffee unless it is something extraordinary.

I had qualms, admittedly, outlaying the dosh for 5kg of this particular bin crop ...

PR works in weird & wonderful ways fellas, so the stoush happening here about inconsistent cup quality from one seasonal crop to the next, has rested my mind that ... well, it's worth roasting & trying to see whether 'hype' is worth paying such a price ...

Tony

too true Andy. Nasty....it violated my mouth...but as any good guest, I drank it and bit my tongue and nodded.

I often have more successes when I let the bean speak for itself rather than trying to force it to produce a specific flavour/taste profile. Often it takes a looong time trying different roast profiles (and definitely not just aiming for the same agtron #) and a whole lot of thinking outside the square to finally understand how the bean works. Often too, how it works might be different to how you want it to work. Just because you haven't figured out the bean or what it offers don't match your expectations doesn't necessarily mean the bean is crap.

I also wouldn't be too hasty to dismiss a bean. Someone else might be able to figure it out, and I wouldn't want to stop them from trying.

HD

Hi All,

Andrew Ford here, owner of MTC. This is my first ever post on any forum of any kind so bear with me. I thought it might be worth while to add to this discussion on a few fronts. This is meant as knowledge sharing & not being defensive.  

Firstly let me say unreservedly, thank you to all who buy and openly support MTC, our products and philosophy. The production and marketing of Australian grown and high value coffees in general is not without it challenges & I really appreciate the support and in many respect recognition you guys show us that out hard work pays off.

A few points;

1. At MTC we set about from the outset to create distinctive coffees; we do not & have never wanted to be another producer of "speciality coffee" that simply meets the expectation of the growing consumer acceptance of quality coffee. We want to create coffees that are different and that will challenge traditionalists and evoke emotion amongst coffee fanatics.  Not "good Vs bad" or "Like Vs Dislike" but coffees which challenge industry professionals to rethink how they view coffee & the role of the producer in affective taste.

With this in mind we have two camps, the traditionalists who are seeking traditional styles & flavours & typically don't embrace change (French wine for the last 50yrs) and the romantics who embrace change, seek innovation and constant betterment, even if mistakes come along during the process. We don't and never aim to convert traditionalists and let them be along their merry way (god bless em)!!!

2. Part of this journey, and challenge for us, is the knowledge that crop years will differ; for example differentials between day & night temp during ripening will produce more or less body, stress during ripening will produce more or less complexity, harvest timing produces more/less sweetness and so on. Some factors we can control others we cannot.

3. Our Bin lot range sprang from the concept that every individual process batch will be slightly different & we process up to 4 batches (potential bin lots per day) & over 100 per season. Often by combining batches together, which every single estate, origin, regional producer does as a matter of course, may actually flatten or reduce the flavour profile of the specific batch. For example when you combine a sweet liquid with an acid liquid the inherent characteristics of each is neutralised and thus you loose the individual "distinctive" characteristics of each. So selecting batches that exhibit rare & distinctive characteristics & combining batches to create Bin lots is a challenging process; then to get each bin lot to taste the same each year is impossible.

4. Meeting market demand vs adhering to stringent quality considerations is also important. We will never sell products that we & our independent taste panel feel are not suitable or ready for market (noting we are far from perfect). With this in mind we have sold about 7-12ton of Mt Top Estate bin lot coffee around the world since our first harvest in 2003, in 04, 05, 06 & 07. In 2008 this volume has reduced to less than 4-ton, a reflection on yield, quality and meeting our principles. Some of our very long term customers will not buy/receive coffee from this year due to yield and quality issues. I guess the point here is that we have tried every effort to continue to meet our rigid quality standards.

5. Ageing green coffee is incredibly relevant, important & oft misunderstood ... the brief history of Bin 549 is that this coffee has been used and in some part developed specifically for the Scandinavian markets. We have always produced coffees with allot of sweetness & often those which border on "ferment" or cherry fruit (this is all good by the way). In 04 Tim Wendelboe used the forbearer to Bin 549 because of its sweetness. Then our 05, 06 & 07 crops were all destined for Norway, Denmark & more recently Sweden. These coffees generally land in market in June each year and  then sold from July-Dec each year (Tim used his coffee in late June for WBC). Last year we had a part order cancelled from Denmark and our kind friend Andy from CS bought this batch, which then went on to Hazel & Mark @ St Ali with enormous success. Noting that the 07 crop coffee did not get into the Aus market till late August and St Ali didn't actually use it  "commercially" till about Oct/Nov.

We are always learning and I guess a mistake this year was to release the Bin 549 into Australia, perhaps too early! This coffee may not be at its best qualities until later this year. I guess this is part of the journey for us all (romantics) to see what we can learn from this experience.

6. Finally on the Aus industry; you must remember that Nth Qld (Skyberry), Central Qld (Cap Coast) & Nth NSW (MTC) are about 1,750km apart (from Mareeba to Lismore as the crow flies). And as such it is like comparing Brazilian coffee with Bolivian coffee OR Colombian coffee with Nicaraguan, PNG with Sumatra & so on (you get the idea). Unfortunately geographically we are all within the Australian borders and hence coffees which bear NO resemblance at all, are compared to each other (I hate to say it) but incorrectly. The coffee grown at MTC will never bear any resemblance to the coffees grown on the Atherton tablelands.

I apologise for the length of this & am unlikely to post again for a long time, however I hope this information is useful. I hope to meet those of you whom I haven't along the coffee journey.
Regards
Andrew Ford

You flippin Aussies make me jealous ! Anybody visiting NZ shortly with a empty 7kg carry on luggage bag.
Just fill it with Bin 549 and I'll meet you at the airport.

Interesting stuff Andrew, thanks for that !

Cheers CB.

Wonderful and very interesting post Andrew,. thanks for sharing this information.  I personally (just a humble home roaster) am interested in,.. and would prefer to support Aussie coffee growers and plan to buy mostly Aussie beans for my stash.  

Like wine,.. it's a given..that the harvested fruit will vary due to the conditions during the growing season. I cannot understand why anyone could even expect that batches will be exactly the same,..even harvested week apart,..let alone year in, year out when entire growing seasons can be poles apart from one year to the next.

This seasonal variable (a variable which cannot be controlled) is obviously challenging,.. some years more than others I expect,.. for the growers to maintain a quality product, and I think most coffee snobs would understand this and keep this in mind when purchasing beans.

An excellent post Andrew, thanks for saying what I struggled to get across...

Quote:


That nailed it!

CoffeeSnobs Espresso Wow is in the exact same camp, not your "traditional" espresso but amazing on the palate as a stand-alone coffee drink.  

I often give kudos to MTC for your "outside the box" approach to bean processing but I think your post does a better job of explaining my point.  

For a first ever post to a forum it was a grand effort, you are more than welcome to do it again somethime.


PS: Thanks for your efforts in raising the bar and moving Aussie coffee from another farm crop to a specialty crop!