Australian Coffee Blends

[flynnaus]

After trying a couple of Australian Chesterton A single origin roasts, I found the bean nice but not interesting enough for my palate to continue using it as SO.
However, given the ChesterChesterton's characteristics of sweet, mild, low acidity reminded me of Brazilian beans and I thought I'd give it a go as a base bean.
The classic Brazilian base blend uses 50% Brazilian and 25% each of an Ethiopian and Indo so i aimed for something vaguely similar for a 500g batch size:

Aussie Chesterton A 250g (50%)
Ethiopian Harrar Longberry 167g (33%)
Indonesian West Java 83g (17g)

As i was near the end of the bag of Harrar , I ended up chucking it all in. Also, I didn't want the Indo to overwhelm the Harrar so wouldn't have used equal quantities of these anyway.
It was a 15min roast which was probably a bit quick but, at Day 9, the results were quite nice and flavoursome. The grind was quite tight - perhaps a bit too fine.

Predictably, the Aussie knocked the edges off resulting in a sweet, smooth, mild brew (flat white) but there was some Harrar fruitiness trying to struggle through and there was more earthiness courtesy of both the Aussie and Indo.

I am encouraged to continue with blending the Aussie but with a smaller proportion (25-33%) and trying a Central American instead of an Indo.
Hopefully others have tried blending with the Chesterton or other Aussie bean and be willing to post their observations.

[flynnaus]

Further to this, I roasted a batch of Yemen Mocha Ismaili (2019 crop), Panama Hartman Black Honey and Aussie Chesterton, 160g of each on Friday. We'll see how that goes.

Also, I tried another cup of the Aussie/Harrar/West Java with a looser grind - about 50ml in 35secs which resulted in a smoother but less bright cup. Not as flavoursome.

[Dimal]

Certainly seems that it is well worth experimenting with Steve...

[flynnaus]

Yeah, several CSers have expressed disappointment with the Chesterton so I thought it would be worthwhile opening up doors

[flynnaus]

Aussie/Harrar/West Java blend on Day 12 - delicious. Very smooth and balanced but with a caramel undertone. Earthiness has faded. Still some brightness, almost fizz, from the fast roast time.

[flynnaus]

Further to this, I roasted a batch of Yemen Mocha Ismaili (2019 crop), Panama Hartman Black Honey and Aussie Chesterton, 160g of each on Friday. We'll see how that goes.

Well it didn't go so well. I started drinking at Day 8 and there appeared to be competing flavours between the Panama and Aussie which continued right through to Day 13 when the Yemen kicked in. This blend was inspired by a Greenman blend made of 45% Panama,30% Yemen and 25% Indo. Perhaps my blend would work better with a similar ratio and with a longer roast time. The roast was quite bright, almost fizzy, on the palate right up to Day 12.

Anyway, my next venture on the Aussie Chesterton blending campaign is with the Aussie plus Colombian Volcan Galeras. I suspect beans from the South and Central Americas and the Caribbean will be a better match for the Aussie. In the meantime, I have a lovely Ethiopian Gambella roast to occupy myself with ?.