Malabar Gold My Thoughts (for what they're worth)

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Malabar Gold My Thoughts (for what they're worth)

Postby Steve » Thu Sep 11, 2003 8:03 am

Thanks to Phil for the Malabar Gold, roasted Sunday in his HotTop. I resisted the temptation of drinking it early (it was difficult). I let it rest until this morning (Thursday 11th).

I have heard about Malabar Gold for a while and the expectation was similar to the time I first drank Blue Mountain. Like Blue mountain I think my expectations were a little to high. It took me a few cups to appreciate how good Blue Mountain is and I think the same is happening now. My first impressions were how quick it comes through. My Grinder is finely set up to give me a perfect 25 second ristreto, this was a full double espresso by 20 seconds. So begrudgingly I changed the setting to sort this out.

Looking at the cup fantastic crema' which I expected to be honest. Every one says how good this is. First sip I was expecting a little more subtlety. Phil kindly did this to a light to medium roast (he knows me so well in such a short time :lol: ). The first taste was a little woody, bordering on harsh. It quickly calmed down into a smoother more pleasing chocolate taste.

Second Cup:

Again good crema' and looks lively. Doesn’t smell very espresso'y but I've drank nothing but my own blend for 2 ys or more now so I’ve got preconceptions. The second cup was much much better. The harsh woody taste was there but not as violent. Smooth chocolaty taste there again but this time a syrupy/ honey taste that was very pleasing.

Thanks phil and ill give further impressions a few cupps later

yours starting to buzz on too much coffee

Steve
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Woody???

Postby phil » Thu Sep 11, 2003 1:58 pm

Interesting. I guess at a stretch I can extrapolate my previous tastings of Monsooned Malabar based blends in this direction, but not to say harsh. That's a surprise.

Neku sent me his own tasting notes this morning by email. Could you post them here please mate, if you read this? His batch was roasted exactly as yours was Steve, although he tasted his a day early.

Must get my espresso machine fixed so I can taste this stuff myself.
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Postby Raf » Thu Sep 11, 2003 4:43 pm

To call them "tasting notes" is very friendly, but hardly precise ;)

THis is what I wrote:

"My grind wasn't perfect but it was a great cup: massive crema, great aroma, good body and yet somehow very light. Yummmm."

The shot came through quite quick as well. I don't know if my grinder has a finer setting, though (actually I'm sure it doesn't, but what I mean is: can I abuse it so badly it will clankingly and rumblingly yield to my request for finer coffee? damn Rocky :( ).

What struck me was

1. Phil roasts quite lightly compared to my local roaster

2. it tasted very light and a bit bright as well, but that's because my local roaster has a blend with a quite nasty, earthy undertaste. I missed the chocolate, but it was quite sweet (I add sugar FIY, but I might have to cut down on the sugar for the MG)

More to follow tomorrow when I will consume about three of these babies.

r!
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

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Postby Steve » Thu Sep 11, 2003 7:36 pm

I've just tried some more this evening and not sure if it cos its rested a bit more or the additional grind change has made the difference, or its just cos my pallete is a little more awake but the cholate was stronger the harshness was much much lighter (but still there a little). The crema was better than earlier too (which was good then) although the 20 min claim failed ( i did one and left it it was gone way before).

Its growing on my (like mold or fungus :mrgreen: )

I'll keep this one going and tell you my thoughts agian (if your keeping awake)


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Hah

Postby phil » Thu Sep 11, 2003 9:08 pm

Steve wrote:I'll keep this one going and tell you my thoughts again (if you're keeping awake)


Yeah well if you keep drinking it tonight you certainly will be awake. :lol:
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Postby Raf » Sun Sep 14, 2003 12:16 pm

I had about 9 cups of MG in the past few days, with some grind problems (seems that the HT shares at least one peculiarity with the CR and that is that you have to grind your beans finer than with a commercial drum roaster).

I like the taste: it is very delicate and fruity, but I do wonder what it would taste like when taken into second crack instead of finishing the roast before the second crack. When you read about MG a lot of people mention the "chocolatey body", and I didn't quite catch that. I hope you don't mind my saying so, Phil.

gotta run.
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Actually....

Postby phil » Sun Sep 14, 2003 12:26 pm

.... it was taken into second, just not very far (and possibly not for all of the beans).

Dr John says to take it really light when roasting, to preserve the varietal flavours. I didn't get round to sending you a phtotcopy of his leaflet. I'll do so in a day or three.

Re the degree of grind, well I actually found that I needed to grind coarser for my Hottop roasts of Brazil FC for example, than I did for Eward's CR/Imex roast. However, in this case (again referring to Dr John's leaflet) it is expected that you need to grind this stuff finer. I think it may be something to do with the Monsooned Malabar in the blend. I had the same result with my Vivace Dolce, which (judging by its appearance) also contains monsooned beans. I grind Brazil FC around 8-9 on my Rocky, but Vivace Dolce around 4-5, so you can see what I mean!

Now interestingly Steve does find the chocolate. Checking my roasting log I see that I misinformed you - Steve's roast may have gone 5 seconds further into 2nd than yours - so this is something to play with. That said, it may just be a vocabularly / personal taste issue.
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Postby Raf » Wed Sep 17, 2003 8:00 am

Regrettably, I'm all out of MG now, K's mother having had the last cup "Americano style" (the horror! the horror!). Thanks Phil for sending them over, we enjoyed it very much.
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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my experience with MG

Postby Sunnyfield » Sat Sep 27, 2003 2:43 pm

I have done 3 roasts in total. Each time I find the first cup (12h rest) a bit harsh. This blend definitely mellows over time. Could it be the Robusta?

I always notice a little bit of the infamous rubbery taste. I am a supertaster (like 25% of all people).

My first two roasts were just a couple of seconds into 2nd crack. It reminds me of the Vivace Dolce blend very much. A little bit too bright, whereas I normally like brightness.

My third roast was accidentally well into 2nd crack with oil appearing. Apart from the Charbux taste, it was very chocolately.

As usual, I suspect the ideal roast for me is just in between.
La Marzocco GS/3, Elektra Nino, Feima 800N solid drum gas roaster
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