A Word About our Espresso Series:

Blending coffee to make a great espresso, year in and year out, is one of the great challenges facing professional coffee roasters. There are two primary reasons to blend coffee. One is to harmonize coffees from various origins to perpetuate a desirable taste profile. The other is to save money by blending high grade beans with less expensive "filler" coffees. We don't engage in the sort of tomfoolery that the latter represents. It's profitable to do so, but we like to make good coffee first and foremost, and that's pretty much not going to happen with that approach. In contrast to the vast majority of specialty roasters, we don't purchase filler coffees to make blends. If a coffee is going to go in one of our blends, it's going to be good enough for us to offer as a stand alone single-origin. So, you'll see every component of our blends on our single-origin offer sheet as well.

About Espresso Classico:

Classico, as it's affectionately referred to, references back to an old Northern Italian coffee blending tradition of using high grown, mild Central American coffees (Colombia has long been a favorite) as a base, and blending that with Far East coffees for body and crema. Coffee has come a long way since those days of yore, of course, and we've constantly upgraded and contemporized this coffee to reflect evolving brewing technologies that allow for much better cup clarity, and to reflect changing tastes. We could call it something edgier, perhaps, like, oh, EightThreeOne, but there's something nice and reassuring about the well worn patina on the old name. So Classico it still is.

This Spring/Summer Edition is a post-roast blend of variously, a Guatemala Antigua, a Honduras SHG coffee and a pinch of natural Ethiopia Oromia for a fruit sparkle. Yeah, if we produce a blend without an Ethiopia in it, its only because we fought our primal impulses, and resisted the temptation. It's clean, wonderfully balanced, and deliciously sweet. Superb espresso, and great drip coffee too.

Brewing Parameters:

Temperature: 200F

Dose: 19-21 grams

Brew Time, Flat Profile, 8.5 Bars: 30-33 seconds

Brew Time, Pressure Ramp Profile, 7 Bar Peak: 40-44 seconds