jammin Senior Member Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Posts: 658 Location: Boise Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Speedster, Cremina Grinder: K10, Vario-W with Ditting... Vac Pot: Hario Drip: manual Roaster: quest m3, hottop b
Posted Wed Feb 3, 2010, 5:05pm Subject: Re: Stumptown Hairbender
Im glad everyone has gotten such good results but do not understand why everyone finds it so implausible that I may have gotten a bad batch. I did try a wide variety of dosing and grind levels all yielding very lack-luster results.
Both blends I have tried since, Redline and my locals guys, have been terrific from the first shot. I just don't see how I could go through 24oz of Hairbender and have bad results throughout.
Furthermore, I am just not interested in burning up 21 grams of coffee at a time if it is only yielding .75 oz of coffee. Maybe if I had as good of results as everyone else I would be more inclined to.....
At any rate, i really do appreciate everyone's assistance, I am bummed I couldn't get it right. On the plus side though I am now addicted to Redline, holy moly that stuff is amazing. BRB, pulling a shot of Redline:)
Yes, implausible. Not saying it's impossible, just unlikely. As I see it, there one of three possibilities or a combination there of.
1) You got a bad batch 2) You didn't pull the shots properly 3) You don't like hairbender
Despite its popularity, it's not the most crowd pleasing espresso out there, IMO. Don't get me wrong, It makes a fantastic cup with a lot of dimensions, but it may not be for everyone. I have a good friend who honestly can't stand it.
But you've piqued my interest though jackson; I think it's about time to get some Hairbender after work tomorrow.
EDIT: Oh, I should probably explain why I think it's unlikely. Stumptown roasts alot of coffee and more stumptown than anything. It's my understanding they post roast blend the beans. Meaning they roast each bean seperately and then mix them all together in the right proportions. So they take large batches of individual beans to make super collosal sized hairbender beans. It wouldn't be just your batch that was ruined, but rather many batches likely even the ones stumptown uses.
jammin Senior Member Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Posts: 658 Location: Boise Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Speedster, Cremina Grinder: K10, Vario-W with Ditting... Vac Pot: Hario Drip: manual Roaster: quest m3, hottop b
Posted Wed Feb 3, 2010, 7:57pm Subject: Re: Stumptown Hairbender
Joel_B Said:
Yes, implausible. Not saying it's impossible, just unlikely. As I see it, there one of three possibilities or a combination there of.
1) You got a bad batch 2) You didn't pull the shots properly 3) You don't like hairbender
Despite its popularity, it's not the most crowd pleasing espresso out there, IMO. Don't get me wrong, It makes a fantastic cup with a lot of dimensions, but it may not be for everyone. I have a good friend who honestly can't stand it.
But you've piqued my interest though jackson; I think it's about time to get some Hairbender after work tomorrow.
if it's not too much trouble, could you snap a macro of the beans for me? it would help my mind if I could see what another batch looks like. to be clear, i think it is very easily a combination of the factors you mentioned. just weird how bad all the shots extracted. spritzer city
kopidrinker Senior Member Joined: 2 Feb 2009 Posts: 180 Location: S.F. Bay Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: SS Saeco Aroma w/ NPPF Grinder: Compak K5, Maestro Plus Drip: Melitta 10 cup manual,...
Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 12:23am Subject: Re: Stumptown Hairbender
Yes, I don't have the greatest equipment, but compared to other beans I've tried, I have never found the Hairbender that enjoyable. Guess I could try pulling those extremely tight shots, but that's like using a V8 or V10 to produce 250 HP. Not the most economical, which IMO, should be a factor in evaluating beans.
When you get the time, would you mind putting one of those .75 oz shots on a scale and reporting what it weighs in grams? Grams is a more reliable indicator of how "long" to pull a shot than ounces. Thanks.
mtbarista Senior Member Joined: 3 Feb 2010 Posts: 3 Location: Portland Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: La Marzocca Linea Grinder: Mazzer Major E Vac Pot: Hario Drip: Hario V60 Roaster: Stovetop Popcorn Baby!
Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 12:16pm Subject: Re: Stumptown Hairbender
andys Said:
When you get the time, would you mind putting one of those .75 oz shots on a scale and reporting what it weighs in grams? Grams is a more reliable indicator of how "long" to pull a shot than ounces. Thanks.
Perfect timing to get up and find out, payroll gets old real quick!
Ok I pulled 3 sets, all at 21g for 27-28seconds, weighing single shots they came in at 15.5g, 14g, and 15g.
I also noticed the other day after posting that HB tends to blond earlier than I stop the shots, and I like it that way, its very little like maybe a second or two max. But when I pulled the shots prior to this the shot seems too single sided and lacking the acidity I like.
malachi Senior Member Joined: 5 May 2002 Posts: 1,761 Location: SFCA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Monster Mia (for now)_ Grinder: Monster Cimballi Junior Vac Pot: Not any more Drip: never Roaster: Ecco, Stumptown, Intelli,...
Posted Thu Feb 4, 2010, 2:48pm Subject: Re: Stumptown Hairbender
The most likely reason for your shots not working out is that you're trying to extract with parameters that are outside the (admittedly narrow) window for the coffee.
Dosing less than 18g is unlikely to give you happy results. Not being super diligent about distribution is likely to result in all sorts of channeling.
The odds of you getting a "bad batch" of Hairbender (in the way you're describing it) are really, really low. It's not just the afore-mentioned post-roast blending or the volume. Stumptown has pretty serious QC (with dedicated QC staff) and as their most-sold coffee is the Hairbender, it's checked daily.
The description of the shots to me sounds simply like a prep issue combined with a personal taste issue.
To re-iterate.... Hairbender is hard to work with, Hairbender really does require working within its window (dose, temp, etc), Hairbender does not taste like most espresso blends and is not to everyone's taste. You can do things like "age" it to tone down the acidity, but in the end it is a specific taste profile that you like or don't like.
If you want to determine if you like the coffee - you should prepare it the way that the roaster intends it to be prepared (how it is best prepared).
Wow, those are concentrated shots indeed! Worthy of the name, "ristretto."
mtbarista Said:
I also noticed the other day after posting that HB tends to blond earlier than I stop the shots, and I like it that way, its very little like maybe a second or two max. But when I pulled the shots prior to this the shot seems too single sided and lacking the acidity I like.
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