CremaPhile Senior Member Joined: 5 Nov 2004 Posts: 269 Location: Brooklyn, NY Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: Gaggia Espresso Grinder: Innova I2 Drip: French Press
Posted Sun Aug 21, 2005, 9:27pm Subject: Barefoot Redwood blend
Anyone else tried this new blend? I was disappointed. No matter what I tried, I got somewhat poor results: thin body, early blonding, and fairly flat taste. They behaved almost like stale beans. I recieved them at 4 days old and they did ok but not great for the first few days...I had better luck pulling shots on the longer side, my usual ristrettos came out bitter. The best shots were fairl balanced and had some nice woody cedar notes, but overall didn't knock me over. After about day 7, I could not do anything to get the shots to keep from blonding at around 15-20 seconds. Anyone else better results with this blend? Does it require a different temp profile or something?
Oddly enough, I had also ordered a pound of Barefoot's Colombia Mesa De La Santos for drip coffee. For giggles one day, I thought I'd give it a try as a SO espresso, and to my surprise it did very nicely. I have almost no experience with SO's, so I have no point of reference, but I was pleasently surprised, especially since most people around here don't seem too fond of Colombian as a SO. Nice heavy body with some rich chocolate and a really nice brightness like dried fruit. Actually, it tasted closer to the description of the Redwood blend on Barefoot's website than the actual Redwood blend did. For awhile I thought that they might have mislabled the bags, but as a drip and press coffee it did taste like a Colombian should. Anyway, it pulled better shots through day 12 or so than the Redwood did. Strange.
Also as a side note, a friend came over this weekend and brought me some of the new Zoka Quatro Organic blend. All I can say is...woah. This might be my new favorite blend. But thats for another post.
Almost any espresso is fairly dead by day 7. Most espressos (IMHO) are at their peak in days 3-5 and beyond that begin to fade VERY quickly. From your description, I'd guess you were extracting at the wrong temp for the bean as well.
I am an Element 113 dude.... when pulled right Redwood is a good change of pace.... I am not sure about the temperature comment but it is probable that if you were getting blonding that early there was something amiss...
DOM...evil genius ...Up to no good in espresso at all times... VIVA la parts de Espresso
Almost any espresso is fairly dead by day 7. Most espressos (IMHO) are at their peak in days 3-5 and beyond that begin to fade VERY quickly. From your description, I'd guess you were extracting at the wrong temp for the bean as well.
Obviously most beans start to take a bit of a dive after a week or so, but most of my favorite blends still do pretty darn well through at least 10 days. I've had some that are still perfectly drinkable, even enjoyable through 14 days. The Redwood was different. Even when they were in the 4-7 day window my shots had a really thin mouthfeel and not the thick syrupy character I'd come to expect from blends like Element 114 et al. I've pulled other blends at the wrong temperature and as long as they're fresh they still have nice syrupy body and character. And since the description of this blend on Barefoot's website includes "serious character," "good heavy rich body" and "a nice syrupy butterscotch," I was disappointed when I got little trace of any of these. Maybe I just got a bad batch, I don't know. I'm no pro but I'm experienced enough to know when something's a miss. I doubt that it was just a temperature problem.
Andy was kind enough to send me a new batch unsolicited, and I had MUCH better results this time. Not sure why. The only thing I can think of is that the first batch must have gotten baked in the back of the mail truck. Would this make beans stale noticeably sooner? It did take 4 days to get to me through priority mail, and I live in the same state. Its funny, I've gotten beans from the midwest in 2 days through priority mail, but for some reason in took 4 days from the bay area. So the verdict is still out on the good ol' postal service.
Anyway, water under the bridge. I got very nice results with the second batch of Redwood. I noticed right away that this batch had way more aroma when I opened the bag. Now I was getting all crema pours, much bigger body and more of the syrupy butterscotch thing. It took on a very nice subtle sweetness in milk, too. I surfed the temp a bit hotter this time too and it seemed to help. Overall very enjoyable and much more what I had expected in the first place. I think I'm still partial to Element 114, but the Redwood is a nice option as a more balanced, slightly less hearty espresso.
And I must thank Andy for customer service that is 2nd to none. Barefoot is cool.
heat will definitely affect how fast your beans go stale,
in fact as my Chem Engineer owner likes to say it's a product of time temperature and moisture and if any of those are increased during the coffee's life the lifespan decreases.
Dan Streetman Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company Austin, TX
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