Prodigal / Kenya Krush

My wife got me a bag of Prodigal's Kenya Krush, one of their blends they always keep stocked. It is something like 80% Kenya, 10% Colombia, 10% Ethiopia. 

We all love Kenyan coffee, and our new Kenya Krush is a nod to the Kenyan coffees of yesteryear. 

I do like Kenyan coffee, and I have been trying to let myself get over preconceived notions like blends are not as good and I don't like East African coffee (not true). I also have wondered what makes expensive coffee so expensive. Now that I have a good grinder and a gooseneck kettle, I should be able to defeat any coffee and find its peak flavor. 

I'm really grateful for her getting this bag because it is about $0.50 per brewed cup in beans. When it came in the mail, the first thing we did was wait. Prodigal says resting your coffee improves the flavor. I am inclined to agree. On my first brews, there was so much CO2 coming out in the bloom. 

I learned a lot brewing this coffee. First off, AeroPress definitely muddies the flavor. When you bloom coffee, you can burn it by hitting it with too much super-hot water right away. It is probably better to bloom with colder water. You can also have a lot of variance when brewing a hand pour – this is the biggest flaw of hand pour coffee. Also, I don't know what mango flavor or notes is. In my opinion, mangoes are just meant to be super sweet. I think that the mango notes in this coffee are more like the scent of a Mexican mango than the flavor of a fantastic mango. Mango is a misleading note. Don't put it on coffee, please.

I was very impressed by my best brews. Some of the brews I made felt like they were dripping with juice, as if there was literally grapefruit juice in my cup. Quite frequently, brews had a rough, dirty characteristic, which I think is my fault. I do not know how to get those flavors out of my coffee - I tried many different ways. Prodigal says the flavors are meant to be clean. I am not an incredibly talented barista. 

When it peaked, though, this coffee peaked high. Grapefruit, juice, plumpness, nectar, all words you could use to describe this coffee. It stands up as Japanese cold brew as well. It is a great coffee, and I am glad I got to try some pinnacle coffee. 

Unfortunately, this coffee is not worth the money for me. The flavor profile is very grapefruit, and while I like that from time to time, it is not my top choice for a luxury coffee. It definitely has a summery character, though.

Now that the bag is gone and I am drinking other coffees, I do miss it. It is an exciting profile that is not my typical purchase. 

Dark Matter Coffee / A Love Supreme

I've moved to Chicago now. My wife is going to medical school, so we will be here for at least four years. I do quite like the city, and it is nice to be somewhere so big and dense. My work also has a very nice office, with free lunch three days a week, cafe-grade espresso machines, and pour over setups at every snack station. There is three named coffees available across the office, and unlabeled coffee in the mega-batch brewer and the "coffee robot." The two espresso machines have Intelligentsia's Black Cat Analog Espresso and a Metropolis decaf espresso roast. I don't think anyone has cleaned the grinders, but they have a Mazzer Super Jolly and a time-based Mahlkonig. 

At every pourover setup, they have two Baratza Encores (not ESP), usually set to 25 (I adjusted to 15), filled with Dark Matter Coffee's A Love Supreme, one 03 size V60 range server, and three glass V60s drippers on three V60 drip stations on three V60 scales.  The roast dates that I saw were all within the past month. This was on the darker side of medium, though, so I think it would have more longevity.

Four thousand dreams may decay into indigo dust and still, the voice will say: “Love!” A Love Supreme activates a wave of kinetic energy that unites and inspires the creative consciousness. This elemental substance burns bright in the hearts of all. Balance, sweetness, and body are the pillars forming a voluptuous, chocolatey, and easy-drinking potion. A dreamy spectacle for all and a pleasure for every generation. 

It is a little frustrating that every coffee in the office is a medium-dark roast. What about light roast lovers, like me? I will simply drink coffee at home. I do like a darker roast under milk, though. 

Let's get back to A Love Supreme, though. It was a good coffee, definitely had a Brazilian or Indonesian chocolate/earthiness going on. The beans were moderately sized. I made a big cup, and I had to bring filters from home. Hot water on demand was super useful for rinsing the filter. The Bonavita kettle does make for an easy pour, but I do like the aesthetics of my Hario at home. I wish they had filters in the office so I didn't have to bring mine in. I wonder which buttons I can press to make them restock the filters. 

I think I should try again, but grind at 17, to see if I can balance the sweetness and bitterness. I liked it. It was certainly not bad coffee. I might try the "mokapot-style" recipe on an AeroPress there, which I loved with the medium-roast George Howell Mamuto AB. This may be contingent on me finding AeroPress filters, but I could bring some from home.