Too Much Coffee

My attempts at getting a drinkable shot out of the beans I've got stashed away have been full of fail. This is where you come in. If I list the beans I've got in stock and beg for people to suggest blends, I might get some drinkable shots between now and payday/the chance to try something new and pick up a large bag of Perfetio.

Despite the entirely selfish motives for starting this thread, it might be something used by others looking for a few pointers and those who enjoy helping with this kind of thing?

My stash isn't brilliant in terms of size, so there isn't much for you to play with...

Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira Bourbon (A little bit of 07/08 to get through, plenty of 08/09)
Rwanda Crop of Gold COCAF Amizero 2007-2008
Colombian Single Estate "La Manuela"

I think I've got a little bit of Rwanda Washed Robusta kicking around too.

I could drink some more SO shots of the Cach, but it would be nice to try something a little different.

Cheers folks

Looking at that lot, I would try maybe a 50/50 of the Manuela and Cach. Then throw in around 10% of the robusta for some thing extra.

My *advice* would be to look at what flavours you want, what flavours these offer ad just mix away and have fun. Maybe even a 3rd of each to start with.

I've found that Manuela makes a great base for blends and goes well with Chocolatly, low acidity beans.

The other 'blend' to consider is a multi-roast level S.O It is one of my favourite things to do... I think either the Manuela or Cach could come out rather lovely. Perhaps one roast just after 2C (maybe 5-10 secs after start of 2C, depending on roasting method ) The other one somewhere after 1C but before 2C begins? That's what I'd try to do if I had my hottop with me

I'm not familiar with the Rwandan but why not give it a go anyway?

I'll also add that my fave three SO's to multi-roast were the El Salvador Finca La Fany, the currently unavailable Brazil Sitio Boa Sorte, and the Zambia Zambica

Good luck

Hey I might give that a go with the La Fany Beranie.

Personally I wouldn't reccomend taking Manuela much before 2C myself. IIRC (Which I possibly don't) it had a really green taste at that level. But conversley that night work with a darker roasted Manuela as a balance which is what you were going on about eh?

I was too impatient to wait for replies in the end and went down the highly scientific route of bunging it all in and hoping for the best.

I could work out the percentages, but I'm lazy. For the 150g roast my iRoast could handle I threw in 75g of Cach, 50g of Manuela, 20g of Amizero and 5g of the robusta and stopped it just after the 2nd crack Aside from the blend being 50% cach I've got no idea how I decided what amount of the other beans to use.

As I mentioned in the thread about the Murambi, I'm crap at describing tastes in coffee, but I got a drinkable shot with a pleasant aftertaste out of it, but it wasn't anything special. It'll get me through the next few days though.

It might be a better idea to roast the coffees first and blend afterwards unless the roasting profiles of the different beans are pretty much the same.

Of course roast separately, than make coffee from the SO's and than blend the liquids: instant results.
The only method to test many blends quickly.
Another method to consider:
Blend your favorite coffees relative to their standing in your list:
Top 2 together 50/50
Top 3 etc.

Good luck

Ivo