Craig’s Coffee / Motown Espresso

This coffee languished in my cabinet. I was very frustrated by the instruction to make such massive shots. I didn't really want to dial it in, and when I tried to create my own recipe, I failed and fell back on the one on the back of the bag. 18.5g in, 49g out, in 29 seconds. I was able to get exactly that, but I continuously struggled with puck prep and channeling and uneven shots that just tasted _bad_. I was trying to get the flavors on the bag - dark chocolate, caramel, Nutella, Snickers bar. The bitterness of the "dark chocolate" was very present. I could not taste any of the other notes as espresso no matter how hard I tried. However, in Craig's official description, he says that it is "even better with milk."

So I gave up on my pursuit of tasty espresso, and resigned myself to milk drinks. At first, I felt myself too proper to drink such a barbarous quantity of milk. If I wanted milk, I'd pour it into a bottle, lie on my back, and nurse as if I were 6 months old. So I limited myself to a Gibraltar. That tasted horrible. The enormity of the shot left just 3/4 of an inch for milk, and I could hardly even pour any decently steamed milk in.

I relieved myself of the burden of tiny drinks and let myself have a cappuccino. I justified it by picturing what an old Italian man in his mountain village would do. Would he have a cappuccino? Yes, he may, if it is before 11 am. So I did - and Craig was right. The coffee was better with milk! So I let myself have several cappuccinos.

I actually started to like the coffee. I let go of myself so far I permitted myself to (gasp) have a latte, a milk drink so far detached from Italian coffee culture we do not even know where the name came from. Here's my little secret - it was quite tasty.

Without milk, this blend was fine at best, finicky at the regular. With milk, the notes were all there. It was pleasant, sweet, and entertaining.