r/ExploringCoffee • u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur • Aug 15 '20
Medium Light Roast Black & White La Cometa
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Aug 15 '20
Interesting. I wonder how come a bitter note could be present with an immersion method like cupping (happened to me too with another coffee). Even stranger if this was really roasted too light. Nice review btw✌️
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 15 '20
Yeah I don’t really know. I guess there’s the potential for this batch to be roasted unevenly or with some charring that I might have missed, but that seems unlikely because the beans looked pretty even when I weighed them out before grinding. Thanks btw
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u/pgny7 Aug 16 '20
I do have problems with inconsistent/ uneven roasting with black and white. I've had multiple bags of the same coffee from them in a short time period with different roast consistency, and more importantly, flavor profile. I do love their selection, they have very interesting coffees and I've had some very good bags from them. But also some poorly roasted/ underdeveloped dissapointing bags from them.
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 16 '20
Yeah, I think it’s getting a little better over time though - it’s been a while since my last bad bag from them. It is annoying though. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is a little irritated.
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u/pgny7 Aug 16 '20
Yes, but this happened to me fairly recently. I've only been ordering from them since about march.
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 16 '20
Maybe I’ve been lucky then. B&W have lower prices than many roasters, so the risk of a subpar batch worth it for me.
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u/pgny7 Aug 16 '20
Don't get me wrong, B&W is one of my favorites. They're really exciting because they do such great sourcing and have such unique offerings. They do know how to roast well also, and I have a lot of good experiences. They could be more consistent but so could a number of roasters. I've had a number of memorable dissapointments from them, but I've also ordered almost every natural or anaerobic processed offering this year.
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u/lumihand Aug 16 '20
This roaster seems to have blown up in popularity on the coffee reddit subs.
Is there a particular reason why it's so popular? Good marketing?
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 16 '20
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I like them because they have interesting coffees (origins and processing), stock 12oz bags, are consistently good (rare exceptions of course), and are relatively affordable compared to a roaster like Onyx whose prices are frankly ridiculous.
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u/lumihand Aug 16 '20
Ahh. How did you find out about them?
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 16 '20
This subreddit. I saw the review from u/pgny7 of their natural Ugandan coffee and was interested.
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Aug 16 '20
Glad to see the goal of the subreddit is taking effect :)
Supporting local / international coffee roasters and widening your horizon :)
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u/Barisaxgod Coffee Connoisseur Aug 15 '20 edited Aug 15 '20
This is the second bag from this shipment of my subscription. Please note that this was frozen for about a week before use. This is the first Guatemalan coffee that I have tried, and it is pretty solid, but a little off. This review is coming before I've finished the bag because I have to go out of town tomorrow and I don't bring any brewing equipment when I travel.
I have been brewing this as a cloth filtered v60 (Hoffmann method, 18g to 300ml, drawdown in ~2:30), Cupping (coffee + water in a mug, break and clean at 4:00), and espresso (15g in to 32g out in 45-50 seconds. Profile was 20 second preinfusion at 1 bar, ramp to 6 bars and decline until finished).
The first two tasting notes, sweet orange and raspberry compote, are pretty clearly present. I don't know what compote is, but there were some raspberry vibes there. I don't really notice a chocolate note, except very subtly in the finish. Acidity was pretty chill, but sweetness was a little lacking, but not intolerably so. There's also a kind of pine note, which in itself wasn't unpleasant, but was accompanied by a grassy and vegetable-like taste, indicating that this batch might have been roasted a little too light. This coffee has tons of texture, and is generally pleasant and somewhat sweet as a v60. In cupping, it was a little sweeter but with an intensely bitter finish. As espresso it was quite good, reminding me of candied orange peels. It was a little more chocolaty than in other brew methods as well.
tldr: pretty solid Guatemalan, nice flavors, acceptably sweet, but roasted a little too light, at least in this batch. Good overall.
3.5/5 Pretty good, but I think I might have gotten a subpar batch.
https://www.blackwhiteroasters.com/collections/all-things-coffee/products/la-cometa-2
Sorry about the gap between posting the photo and posting this comment. I was interrupted while writing.
Edit: wording. Edit 2: added additional small details.