Bill Szep brought us some organic Peru beans he roasted late last week. We don't get a lot of Peru here and tell you the truth, it's been so long, there was no memory of what we tasted last time we tried any Peru.
Perfect opportunity for finding out. We broke out the Yama vacuum brewer and also did a press pot. With the Yama, using a 30g of semi-coarse grinds for 360ml of water we got some beef broth and tomato tastes as well as some tamarind-like flavors residing between sour and savory. The coffee definitely benefitted from cooling as it was a bit sharp right off the heat. Belle and John felt it was aggressive and syrupy. Rich simply found it quite lush. We will try to revisit at a lower dose (the Taiwanese instructions call for 10g while Sweet Maria's calls for 7g). Maybe we'll put it in the mix with the tasting this afternoon (still two seats left - call us if interested!)
In the press pot, using 29g of coarse grinds for 17oz of water, the flavors were mellowed out. John preferred the balance in this cup, Belle remained ambivalent and Rich found it somewhat thin, although some of the same elements from the vac pot came through once the coffee cooled. If you're working with this Peru, you may want to experiment with grind and dose as it's capable of a wide range of flavor profiles.
We don't have details from Bill on the actual origin of the beans
within Peru, other than to note it's organic. But this was what you could call a "masculine" coffee -
aggressive, brawny, up front, wysiwyg type of brew. It might not be an
everyday brew for most, but it would be a nice change of pace from the
more delicately balanced coffees we've been getting used to of late.
If you're interested in the Peru, we'll be happy to brew up a press pot for you. We've still got a bit more than a half pound here. If you like it, there's plenty more to be had, thanks to Bill and Andi up at Caffe Amadeus, the best coffeehouse in Indiana, PA!
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