Random Brew Recipe:  89g coffee / 1 kg water, 4 minute brew time.

Brew Method: Aeropress
Actual Recipe: 18g coffee, 200g water at 198F
Coffee: Seven Stars Bakery Espresso Blend from New Harvest Coffee Roasters

Notes notes notes: Let me begin by saying I did not alter the grind setting for this coffee from my usual Aeropress setting. If you are familiar with the Aeropress, you probably have a scrunched-up face right now. This reaction is appropriate, and was my reaction as well.

Four minutes plus a serious brew time with the Aeropress made our espresso, which is usually sweet and full-bodied, with a little berry hanging around the background, into a serious sour-face pucker. It was the kind of sour that made the edges of my tongue hurt. It was oily and heavy and is definitely not in the running to become a regular Aeropress application.

I’d give it a 2/10. Not my favorite.

Random Brew Recipe:  53g coffee / 1 kg water, 6 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 53g coffee, 1 kg water at 202F
Coffee: Costa Rica Tarrazu, in-house fluid air bed roasted (aka popcorn popper)

Notes notes notes: Unimpressive! The IHFABR is challenging. Could it be the air flow? The quantity of green coffee? The open window? The closed window? It is just not well roasted coffee, and as such the brew can only be ok. I suspect that it’s time to crack open the IHFABR and bypass the thermostat – because usually whencoffee isn’t all it could be, side-stepping a safety feature is the first move.

If this is my final entry, know I died as I lived – dangerously.

It’s a bit nutty, a little cocoa at the finish, but mostly it tastes bready and vegetal. Definitely under-roasted. The brew recipe itself does not seem to have provided any negative affects – which is a little surprising, given the 50% longer brew time than I’d usually use. My brew times have been a little long lately from the RBG, and I’ve been surprised at how little negative impact it has been having. Perhaps I’ve been speeding through brews that just needed a little more time to open up.

I’d give it a 5/10. Tastes of too-light a roast and shame. The recipe would be closer to 7/10 with better coffee, I suspect.

Random Brew Recipe:  100g coffee / 1 kg water, 3 minute brew time.

Brew Method: Aeropress
Actual Recipe: 20g coffee, 200g water at 198F
Coffee: Crema Coffee  El Salvador Finca Suiza

Notes notes notes: WHOA 100g per kg! We’re into triple digit doses, folks.

This is a big big dose and a longer brew time than I’d usually go for with the Aeropress – but the Aeropress is a mystery, and its ways can be strange and interesting. Huge thanks to our barista Kate who brought this coffee back from her recent tour, from a shop called Crema (a “brewtique,” continuing coffee’s long love affair with punnery), down in Nashville.

First, even with kind of out-there parameters, this coffee is solid. I am excited to try it again closer to where I think it will shine, but even at almost twice the coffee I’d usually use, this was no joke. It was the kind of coffee that had folks curious – in a good way – as the aroma hung around the grinder. Monster citrus right up front, toeing that sour line but not quite crossing it. It had the kind of quick, aggressive body I associate with underextraction, but it still pulled it off. I finished the cup. It was a really, really nice brew, hoenstly more enjoyable than I anticipated when I pulled up the RBG.

If nothing else, this random brew has proved 1.) Nashville is no joke and 2.) Good coffees are good even when brewed out of spec – if there even is a spec! I can’t wait to try it tomorrow.

I’d give it a 9/10.

Random Brew Recipe:  75g coffee / 1 kg water, 5 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 37g coffee, 500g water at 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ Rwanda Coko Coop

Notes notes notes: I’ve gotten to know this coffee pretty well over the last little while; at its very best it presents a delicate, floral sweetness, really reminiscent of melon or peach, with a fairly creamy mouthfeel and out-of-this-world aromatics.

At these parameters, the taste experience became shorter and more tart, when hot it was like an underripe peach, as it cooled it really more resembled that first bite of a grapefruit: tart and tangy. It was surprisingly aggressive in its acidity, given both the press pot and the regularly mellow nature of the Coko. I don’t think it would be for everyone; it’s a little like an espresso brightness bomb – almost too big. But I kind of liked to see this side of the coffee.

I’d give it a 7/10.

Random Brew Recipe:  77g coffee / 1 kg water, 2 minute brew time.

Brew Method: French Press
Actual Recipe: 77g coffee, 1000g water at 198F
Coffee: New Harvest Coffee Roasters’ Whisper Espresso

Notes notes notes: Boom! This coffee hit hard. Even with the reduced brew time, the upped dosage of a blend intended for espresso via a French Press was a bold choice. It was a hearty cup for sure, but rather than the sweetness and creamy body of the espresso, it was a punch of underextracted sourpatch kids.

It’s probably too obvious to say, but I’m surprised at how different coffees are more or less flexible across random parameters. As an espresso, Whisper is incredibly forgiving, offering interesting notes through brew ratios of 1:1 – 1:1.5,  all the way up to 1:2 sometimes. I’ve had this coffee in drip form and really enjoyed it. Anecdotally, my own preferences seem to lean toward acceptance of subtle and delicate tastes (what some might call weak or underdeveloped?) but a bit put off by intense ristretto or sour flavors.

The Random Brew Generator has much to teach, it would seem!

I’d give the brew a 6/10. Just didn’t do it for me.

Hopedale, MA tomorrow for Q retakes!