I brew CCC at 95 w/ an Espro tamp. Nathan at CCC sent me a note upon request that gave me the roasters preferences and I went from there. Don't have the email anymore though.
I live in PA, so regular shipping has the beans to me on Thursday (2 days after roast) - when ordering Vivace from the West Coast - had to pay the extra shipping to get them in 2 days. I find that I don't have to start messing with my grind setting too much until after 5 days - minor adjustments to get a good pull. After 8 to 10 days, I can see a noticable difference, right at the brew on my naked port. The deep read starts getting more lighter striping after the 8 day mark. If for some reason I have any extra beans when my next order comes in, I use the left overs in my french press. Makes a good cup (or I give it to friends to use in drip). I have also brewed a few bags of the Toscano. It is good, but I feel the Afic has more complexity. But again, taste is subjective. At any rate, call CCC and ask for Nathan. He handles all internet orders and can answer or get you answers if you have any specific questions. If anyone has had any other east coast beans at this level or higher, let me know, always willing to try something new. On Sep 30, 4:14 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 - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
