2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

[>Veneziano]

So what were your best coffee experiences this year? Lets create a few categories:

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)
2. Best coffee made at home
3. Best non-espresso coffee
4. Best caffe coffee
5. Best commercial blend or SO

Have at it!

Luca

[steve]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best SO was Sumatran Mandheling. Best blend... mix of 4 left over roasts, no idea what they were.
2. Latte with Veneziano Estate beans and a passable rosetta. My wife doesnt drink coffee and she liked it so it must have been good.
3. French press with my left over blend
4. St Alis short black
5. Veneziano Estate definitely somewhere near the top

[luca]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

Here are mine:

1. PNG Kimel. This one earns my nod for consistency. Every time that I have roasted it, it has been clean, aromatic and has delivered the goods with every brewing method. The same could be said of Yauco Selecto, but I cant exactly afford to drink it all the time! Honourable mention: Mandheling.

2. Without a doubt, my nomination for this category would have to go to the phenomenal ristretto made for me by Corey Diamond at his house. This incredible extraction maintained exactly the same flow rate, colour and honey-like texture from beginning to end. In the cup, it showed a smoothness, roundness and sweetness that will haunt me to my dying days. See attached photo. However, given that it was made on Coreys home PID Linea and Robur combo, Im also going to nominate a cappuccino that I made with some Pura Milk and a double ristretto of Kenyan Masai. In overall terms, it wasnt the most fantastic coffee in the world, but it did have an utterly unmistakeable berry flavour, even through very lactic tasting milk. This clarity of flavour validated my impulse upgrade.

3. Bella Vita blend run through a brand new french press after we removed the side of the FB80 at work to use the mix valve to dial the hot water tap to the right temperature. This was by far the sweetest french press that I have ever tasted. It almost didnt even taste like coffee. Subsequent experimentation showed that it is very important to keep your FPs clear of oils, so my little tip: the next time you buy espresso machine detergent, pick up at least a 1/2kg tub. Much, much better value than anything smaller and you can use it to keep your FPs and Vac Pots clean. Honorable mention: Sulawase Kalossi Toraja, cupped a few months ago.

4. Hands-down, this goes to Toshi at St Ali. Very early in the year, they had a single small bag of Australian "Coast" peaberry. Toshi made me a cappuccino with a double shot that basically tasted like a hot chocolate! Honourable mention: An espresso made for me by Joe, the owner of Caffenatics. The espresso itself wasnt that incredible, but it was a great surprise because they are using a Veneziano blend that is made to cut through milk and I usually dont like it as an espresso.

5. Im going to give this one to the blend that Caleb from Island Espresso used to win the Tasmanian Barista Comp. This was very sweet, brick red and very syrupy. It was great to see the passion showed by all the crew from Island help them triumph over established favourites Ooomph Coffee, even though Island were the new kids on the block. I was lucky enough to get some of this to take home and it was almost impossible to pull a bad shot. But as much as this was a fantastic blend to drink and extract, it wins my vote for best commercial blend because I like to think that the acclaim that this blend was met with is partly responsible for Danes decision to upgrade his 600g air roaster to a drum roaster and really go for it. And having more quality roasters around is never a bad thing. Honourable mention: St Alis house blend. Not once has Mark rested on his laurels. This blend has been lovingly worked on since St Ali started and it shows.

Cheers,

Luca

[Thundergod]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)
PNG Peaberry (1st roast) because my wife likes it.

2. Best coffee made at home
No one stands out yet. Would have to be any that I made for someone else and they liked it.

3. Best non-espresso coffee
N/A

4. Best caffe coffee
N/A - Havent managed to get to any of the recommended ones yet.

5. Best commercial blend or SO
Have to say Hazels "Sibilas Brew" because its the one I buy the most.

[Javaphile]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

So what were your best coffee experiences this year? Lets create a few categories:

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

Ethiopian Harrar Longberry Horse uuummmmm.....Blueberries!

2. Best coffee made at home

Javacino with the Harrar Longberry Horse Blueberries & Cream.....Nummy!!

3. Best non-espresso coffee

Cold Process Tanzanian Peaberry Ruvuma Estate

4. Best caffe coffee

None. I havent had one in the past year.

5. Best commercial blend or SO

None. I havent had one in the past year.


Java "Sippin his blueberries" phile

[pie_in_ear]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

A blend of Kuda Mas Estate Mandheling and Ethiopian Moa Horse Harrar I did on my Imex Sample roaster. Playing around with blend ideas for a new Blend I just hit the perfect balance of Earthyness, Honey, and Blueberries.

2. Best coffee made at home

Light roasted Indian Mysore AA in the vac-pot on Boxing day, it was the peanut butter for my toast!!!

3. Best non-espresso coffee

Complete shock as my Kitchen Hand and budding barista (who pulls better shots than 90% of my customers) showed me her plunger technique which has taken 2 years to fine tune and perfect, I was definately humbled.

4. Best caffe coffee

Setting up a customer in Hervey Bay, his ECM Michealangelo is the perfect match to my dark roast. He made me a ristretto piccollo latte that would be my number 1 coffee made off-site.

5. Best commercial blend or SO

Fine tuning My Heritage blend yet again, I should be sick of it by now, but damn its good!!!

[luca]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

126 views and only four people have had coffees worth writing about?!

[fatboy_1999]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

Very impressed with the Mocha Java, Mountain Mist and Altitude blends this year.
Also still a sucker for Indian Tiger Mountain and Peru Grace Estate.
Picking a winner - Mocha Java - Its all gone!

2. Best coffee made at home

My flat whites with art have come a long way this year. Its the one I do the best.

3. Best non-espresso coffee

As above

4. Best caffe coffee

Headquarters - Simons large take away latte. Excellent coffee made more impressive by the size of the cup. (3 shots I think).

5. Best commercial blend or SO

The Veneziano coffee that Headquarters uses. (Probably the only one Ive had this year that wasnt mine really).

Brett.

[dailybean]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

ok heres mine. just before the new year

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

ethiopian harrar/sidamo (unlabeled - twas from an african grocer). it was my first home roast ever and was great. had it ground coarse and put into the plunger. yums... i still remember the aroma. the taste was pretty nice - chocolatey, not very acidic


2. Best coffee made at home

the godshot came to visit one night (just last month) when i was having some brazil daterra bourbon (from St. Ali). everything was right. even the milk texturing a very very smooth chocolatey coffee. i almost thought it was a hot chocolate made with just dark chocolate...


3. Best non-espresso coffee

see above.


4. Best caffe coffee

mm... havent been out to cafes much ever since i started home roasting :


5. Best commercial blend or SO

see above.


2006 has been a great year of coffee for me. lots learnt. lots still to learn... happy new years guys (in advance).

[Viviane]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

Ok, here are mine:

1. Best home roast (blend or SO) - Sumatran Mandheling. Im really only just starting to work some of the differences between coffees, but from the first roast this one has stood out as a favourite.

2. Best coffee made at home - the first shot I pulled from my Silvia. Was it great? Probably barely drinkable, but it was from MY new Silvia, and so for this year its right up there.

3. Best non-espresso coffee - the latte I made for my sister last week - it had a resemblance to a rosetta on top....

4. Best caffe coffee - the one I got in replacement of the "too hot" latte a couple of weeks ago, I think the guy was shocked that anyone wanted it at the right temp, and took a lot of care with the replacement.

5. Best commercial blend or SO - dont have one.

[hazchem]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

Im not home roasting yet, but I guess well see what happens in 2007!

2. Best coffee made at home

Double ristretto I pulled a week or so ago with some Single Origin House Origins blend. Just one of those mornings when everything came together for me!

3. Best non-espresso coffee

Hmmm, I made a french press during the year that had some leftover SO beans I had that werent enough for a shot. It was pretty tasty, just cant remember what I put it in now, but I do remember Yirgacheffe being a feature.

4. Best caffe coffee

Wow, this is going to be tough. Ive been lucky to drink in just about every must visit cafe around the country this year and have had some AMAZING coffee as a result. Ill say, based on a few visits only the Nicaraguan SO Triple Ristretto I had at Epic in Perth is possibly the single best coffee Ive had all year, while any coffee I order at Mecca in Sydney is always excellent and is the most consistent coffee Ive had all year, followed very closely by Single Origin.

5. Best commercial blend or SO

Again, Ive been lucky enough to buy beans from roasters all around the country this year, but I think the blend I enjoyed most this year was David Makins WBC blend from Veneziano. I only wish I could have got some once I bought my Silvia to see what it would taste like made through her!

[Bullitt]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast.
I had quite a few nice ones, but my pick from 2006 would be the MTC Boomerang.
Roasted very nice and even, taste was really nice and sweet, with plenty of body.

2. Best coffee made at home.
SO, without a doubt the double ristretto MTC Boomerang as mentioned above.
Blend, Brazil Cerrado/Mandheling/decaff Yirg, I managed a good roast of each bean variety, the blend was outstanding, very smooth with nice chocolate notes. (So far havent been able to replicate this one).

3. Best non-espresso coffee.
Plunger. My morning coffee when I am at work.

4. Best Cafe Coffee.
Island Espresso in Hobart when Dane gets going his coffee is really good.

5. Best Commercial blend/SO.
Didnt buy any, I roast my own.

[Bon]

Re: 2006 Coffees: A Year In Review

1. Best home roast (blend or SO)

I only took the plunge into roasting some time in December, even then it involves watching Framey roast more than anything.

But with that said, The India My Sore Nuggets A Grade And Mountain Top Boomerang Framy gave me to try were clearly my top 2, with the Mountain Top probably coming out in front.

2. Best coffee made at home

Some shots pulled with Hazels Paracelsus Punch and one of Single Origins blends I forget the name of now...


3. Best non-espresso coffee

Huh? Whats that?

4. Best caffe coffee

Shots at Mecca before Wine Oz, Big Al was on fire! And a double ristretto pulled by Benee at Suspension with the Ooh La La blend, absolutely off the hook!

5. Best commercial blend or SO

Paracelsus Punch