I'm currently using Aficionado as well, but I have to say, I prefer Counter Culture's Toscano. To me it has more espresso flavor, and less roast flavor. I don't like heavily (or in some cases "over") roasted beans, I tend to favor the lighter roasts, more of the "northern Italian" style I guess. But I'd agree that CC's beans are quite good. I doubt I'll be ordering them more though, simply because they're east coast, I'm west, and to get them shipped via 2-day air gets expensive when I compare to all the great beans I can get across the Northwest here, where I typically get them the day after roast (pretty much anywhere in Oregon or Washington), or maybe 2 days from California.
On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 1:14 PM, TWG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > What kind of shelf life do you get from the Aficionado? Most people > quote 10 days which might be accurate for peak freshness. But I > haven't experienced a large dropoff in quality even over two weeks > (especially compared to the local beans in Southern NJ). > > On Sep 30, 3:22 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I use to brew Dolce and Vita on a regular basis. After the price > > increase on these beans a while back at WLL, I switched to Intelli > > Black Cat. Great espresso, but not the best in my opinion. I am in > > love with Counter Culture Coffee's Espresso Aficionado. I do their > > three month pre-order (double subscription) and every other Thursday, > > I have beans two days off roast at my doorstep. > > > > The CCC blend is great and has much more taste complexity than the > > Black Cat, Dolce and Vita (in my opinion - but don't get me wrong, all > > of these blends are good - and taste is subjective). I get a lot of > > chocolate sweetness and nut flavor from CCC. > > > > When I first started getting into espresso, I took a good year and > > only brewed one bean/roast (I used Black Cat for this) until I was > > confortable pulling shots and making the minor adjustments needed to > > get better tasting espresso. After this, I felt I had the skill set > > to find a new bean that met my needs and CCC (at least for now) does > > that. > > > > On Sep 29, 9:50 pm, MBB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > This morning I dove into some new beans from Cafe Vivace. Espresso > > > Dolce is my new favorite and just may be the best beans I have ever > > > experienced. I am still playing around with the temperature, but I > > > think 96 is a good resting spot for now. The flavor is very clear but > > > complex and the crema is a pure delight. It was a very nice start to > > > the day, too bad the market killed the rest of it. > > > > > Any recommendations for fantastic beans?- Hide quoted text - > > > > - Show quoted text - > > > -- Chris Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
