||ESPRESSO|| Counter Culture Coffee - El Salvador Finca Mauritania Pulp Natural Espresso

Coffee: Counter Culture Coffee - Finca Mauritania Pulp Natural Espresso
Price: $10.25/12 oz. + Shipping = $1.15/oz.
Year: 2008
Blend: Single Origin Espresso from Santa Ana, El Salvador
Roast: Slightly darker than they roast this same lot for drip/press coffee - probably just before second crack.
What they say: "An experiment by our roasting department has resulted in one of most delicious single origin espressos we have ever experienced. Roasted to the perfect pitch for espresso, this unique, very limited single origin espresso offers rich, round notes of dark chocolate, molasses, cherry, and licorice above a smooth, creamy body." Read about it on their website

TASTING NOTES
Scores - 87, 87, 87, 87, 87

Crema: Quite dark in the cup, with a burnt sugar taste. I found the crema to be on the thin side overall.

Aroma: I found aromas of flowers and anise. I think less of the roast itself comes through in the aroma than in a typical espresso, making for a lighter, sweeter "nose."

Body: I found the body to be light overall, but not sharply bitter. Often times thin body means a poor prognosis for a shot of espresso - not the case here. While thin, the shot still goes down smooth. The sip lingers on the tongue, but more like a windbreaker than the down-blanket characteristic of many espressos.

Milk: I only had soy milk available for this espresso's tenure. The "lattes"were unexciting, but can't you say that about all soy-milk drinks?

Profile & Flavors: One thing to note is that I found myself able to pull this espresso very consistently, with only minor grinder adjustments. The major flavors I tasted were cherries and plums, with a bit of anise. I also tasted dark honey (the chunky, unprocessed stuff). Think about those chocolate covered cherries with the liquor that bursts out, but with less chocolate ... like biting off one end and eating the whole filling ... then tone the intensity down about half. Someone I was sharing this with made a comment that this espresso would be a great way to win over your regular coffee drinkers to the world of espresso. I couldn't agree more. The shots are not as big as traditional espresso blends. The Finca Mauritania is smooth instead of rich, tastes of fruit syrup instead of melted chocolate, and is sweet instead of smokey. If your typical espresso is a port reduction, this is a "coffee consommé," that being a concentration of all the flavors you might expect to find if you brewed this coffee in a press pot.

Pairings: Good dark chocolate is the perfect compliment for this espresso. I thought it might actually make a good breakfast coffee, so I tried it once in the moka pot, and made enough to get a small cup to sit alongside my chocolate chip pancakes. Success.

Buy Again? Again, my overall impression was positive. Compared to SO Costa Rica espresso I tasted earlier, I preferred this one for sure. That being said, I would probably only recommend this in two situations: 1) The SO aficionado, who wants to try any SO espresso worth trying; and 2) The lonely espresso lover looking for a way to slowly sway friends toward espresso drinking.

||ESPRESSO|| Counter Culture Coffee - Twin Cities Express

Coffee: COUNTER CULTURE COFFEE – TWIN CITIES EXPRESS
Price: $15.50/12oz + Shipping = $1.61/oz
Year: February 2008
Blend: Lem Butler’s custom blend with coffees from Brazil, El Salvador, and Ethiopia
Roast: Full City, no surface oils
What they say: “Counter Culture barista Lem Butler used this custom espresso blend to win his second Southeast Regional Barista Competition in three years. Rich notes of caramel, toasted nuts, and citrus dance atop a smooth body and a sweet, berry-like aftertaste.” Read about it on their website

TASTING NOTES:
Scores - 87, 90, 88, 89, 89

Crema: Rich, dark brown crema with a toasted marshmallow flavor. More sweet than bitter

Aroma: Mostly sweet on the nose – almost floral. I also noticed a faint hint of fresh sawdust on the nose.

Body: Excellent body, very rich and smooth. I often consider how viscous an espresso feels in the mouth as a major determinant of body. It isn’t just the pull – some blends give a more syrupy character, and this is an amazing example of just how syrupy and rich an espresso can feel in your mouth. The initial sip is thick and rich, and the body never fades.

Milk: A very nice espresso to blend into milk drinks. I found myself consistently making some very interesting cappuccinos. The coffee flavor was not at all lost in milk, and the resulting
drink was very rich with flavors of cream and dark berries.

Profile & Flavors: Overall, this was a blend that I felt I was pulling fairly consistently by looking at the shots. Upon tasting, however, I found a wide variety in flavors. Some shots were very sweet, with orange and blackberry flavors predominating. Others I found a completely different profile, with brown sugar, butter, and nutty flavors. Yet others were a sort of complex medley that was difficult to define. Though the shots may have tasted different, they had one thing in common: they were all very rich, and all very delicious. I think not quite knowing what to expect out of each shot may very well have made me like this espresso even more. Overall, the most notable characteristic was the thick, rich body. The overall buttery, sugary backbone of the shots reminded me of dark nut brittle that hasn’t quite hardened.

Pairings: Come to think of it, some dark nut brittle would probably have been a great companion, though I cannot confirm this. I did find that the shot tasted great with dark chocolate pieces.

Buy Again? Yes, though I believe this blend was a limited time thing. Mr. Butler, if you come up with another espresso creation, I will certainly give it a go.