by HughF » Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:38 am
I have only dealt with Two Loons once but Steve Ackman was definitely helpful and on the ball. Prompt and informative as to when stuff was shipped.
I would be entirely happy to buy from them again, no problem. The main thing nudging me towards Sweet Marias instead is the much better coffee descriptions there - Two Loons' are much shorter and often there is no roasting suggestion - plus SM seem to be regarded as the best of the green suppliers on alt.coffee etc.
I bought the Two Loons "Mega Sampler" - 17 coffees, one pound of each, which I'm still working my way through and I've liked all the coffees.
The Timor Aifu Organic you asked me about has ironically made least of a hit with me so far; the last roast was better - I hit the Cool button on the HWP for 30 seconds a couple of times just after first crack subsided (David Lewis on the SM list suggested hitting Cool for 5 seconds at 20 and 90 seconds after first crack which didn't seem to make that much difference). It is pretty dark but with no oil, roasted for cafetiere. (I prefer the Monmouth Coffee East Timor, it's more to my preference. The Two Loons isn't as smooth or fruity but others might well really like it, see next paragraph.)
However, you have to allow for the fact that I like fruity coffees for cafetiere (e.g. Kenya Peaberry) and roast only to City. Even for espresso, I rarely go beyond first oil. I liked Uganda (Bugisu?) a lot from Two Loons as a rich smooth single bean espresso but I'm using Jim Schulmans 1234 blend right now which is, as you'd expect, more complex. It also cuts through milk a lot better than straight Ugandan (about 6 oz. Gold Top to a double shot - I can't froth any less milk with the Gaggia).
I liked my results with 1234 more at first than I do now but I think that I'm messing it up somehow - I seem to keep needing to grind coarser, from 5.5 to 7.5 on Rocky. Light tamp and 19 grams still.
I've cleaned the showerhead on the little Gaggia (no change), I'll clean Rocky next. I find it very difficult to be consistent with the Carezza but that may just be me expecting too short a learning curve since I only bought it in February. I may try Uganda Bugisu from Monmouth in a while just to see if it's the blend/roast or my technique that's the trouble.
The 1234 blend is (if I can quote Jim Schulman) :
1234:
10% Kenya, 20% Harar, 30% Aged Sulawesi, 40% Brazil
Suggested roast was to first oil but optionally into rolling second until all beans are oily.
I was using Monsooned Malabar for the 30% which was an option in his original wider spec. for this blend, I'll be using SM Aged Sulawesi this weekend now the MM has run out. I'll see if it makes any difference - he has recently stressed the importance of the "chocolatey" AS in the blend.
I was running out of Harrar so asked Monmouth if they had anything similar and they offered previous years Ethiopian Djimmah and threw in an extra kilo free as it was the last and too little to go in their roaster - always nice people there.
I want to roast some beans I don't care about well beyond second crack to see if I can get used to hearing second crack and roast darker more reliably as everyone else seems to prefer dancing on the leading edge of second crack.
Having given Hill and Valley the "I will never deal with you again" speech via email, I am sticking to Monmouth for urgent green beans (and ready-roasted for my parents who have a Dualit burr grinder I gave them and a cafetiere) and surface mail greens from the USA (SM or Two Loons, more likely SM) otherwise. HasBean sounds good from your posts also.
Very long-winded, sorry, but I hope a quick scan of this post answers your posted/emailed questions about Two Loons, the JS 1234 blend and Timor!
Cheers,
Hugh
Grinders : Macap MXK conical for espresso, Mahlkoenig Vario for Chemex, Macap MC6 (spare when our office was closed) for cafetiere, Zassenhaus Knee Mill for cafetiere when working away from home.
La Spaziale Vivaldi S1 espresso machine. HotTop KN8828P roaster. Chemex manual drip for most brewed coffee plus cafetieres and eSantos.