Over the past 2 weeks, Jamie @ The Coffee Adventures down in Florida sent me two bags of her best-selling blend “The Odd Couple”. Thankfully, both were roast dated – something you don’t see often enough in the coffee world (but that’s a whole other post).
The Odd Couple with Roast Date
Right, so this review was a bit of a Coffee Adventure in itself [pun untended]. Originally designed as a two bean blend for press-pot and pour-over, we decided to do some testing on the espresso machine. This of course was very exciting!
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Before I go any further I do want to post a disclaimer stating I did try this as both a press-pot and an aeropress (with the new Coava Disc). I will be comparing my notes from these techniques to what I get in the cup as espresso.
WARNING: this is very bright as an espresso. Love it or hate it, but I’m always open to working the coffee to find the best notes.
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To be honest, this coffee actually benefited from an unusually long rest period of a week or more. Over the course of the week I found more jam-like notes coming off the coffee, and this was especially true as an espresso. It really mellows out and rounds off, and I was able to get a really desirable result.
The best results I got as an espresso were all around 96 degrees Celsius (relatively high for espresso). Dose could vary from 19-20 grams, and total shot length of ~30 seconds was ideal.
Brewed as a Presspot / Aeropress with Coava Disc
This is a whole other beast, so I’ll do my best to be brief here and set-up for the espresso details (this is valuable information to use as a comparison).
This blend really was certainly odd, and the best way I could describe it was both coffees (in the two bean blend) ‘fight’ back and forth offering different notes across my palate. My notes were: berry, honey and pecan on the finish, which was strangely dry. I also found a little spice in there too. I’m calling it a medium acidity with a spring-off-my-tongue brightness. On the aeropress I was even able to find this excellent strawberry note (with the Coava disc). There was a little bit of a musty, gritty note occasionally from the Indian coffee which added a strange contrast (not necessarily balancing the coffee).
Straight Shot
First Drips of the Odd Couple as Espresso
I battled for a long time to try and find exactly how to describe one particular flavour, which I kept thinking was orange juice, but it was more of the acidity. Unfortunately it fell a little flat as espresso, but nevertheless it was interesting because of the brightness and berry + stone fruit notes. I REALLY need to point of that my favourite shots were a whopping 10 days off roast.
My notes were: brightness like crazy, acidtiy goes up from the non-espresso methods, with honey and some brown sugar elements. Again finding a nutty dry finish. Unfortunately the body does suffer as an espresso, but nevertheless still fun. As the espresso aged, I was able to find some jam-like notes around day 10 and 11.
In Milk
As a 6oz cappuccino, I could still find some of that brightness, which was excellent in contrast to the whole milk I used. It was relatively sweet and the acidity cut through the milk really well. I also noticed the musty, gritty element from the Indian smoothed out a little into a chocolate play.
Americano
As an americano I found it was okay. Honestly, I’d take it as a press-pot or pour-over any day rather than the americano.
Straight: Bizarre, interesting, but falling down on complexity and depth 8/10
In Milk: Less than 6oz of milk yields an 8/10
Americano: Okay, but grasping at notes similar to the aeropress 7/ 10
This was very difficult to rate, especially given the fact this whole thing was an experiment, really. After some thought, I’d give this a respectable 84 points.
Total 100 point score of 84/100.
Coffee Folk 