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Beans: 5 Brewing Blend, Guatemala Miravalle Farm, Colombia Popayan Caturra, Typica, Castillo.
Shop: 5 Brewing, Seoul, South Korea.
5 Brewing Blend: Background information.
This is the review of the 5 Brewing Blend, a blend that was carefully selected by roaster Do Hyung Soo, who happens to be the owner of 5 Brewing as well. Mr Soo wanted to create a blend for espresso that was appealing to all customers and came up with the following mixture of beans.
From the Huehuetenango region in Guatemala comes the SHB from the Miravalle farm. The Huehuetenango region is known for its beautiful coffees of high quality. The next part of the blend comes from Popayan, Colombia. This area is one of the most respected regional origins in Colombia and Do Hyung Soo decided to bring in the Caturra, Typica and Castillo varieties into the Blend.
5 Brewing Blend: Opening the package.
Just as with the Ethiopia Chelba and Aricha, this coffee comes in a plastic cylindrical container that can be closed off with an airtight lid. The container has a plastic seal inside that keeps the coffee fresh, the dark colour of the plastic container keeps out the sunlight and thus prevents the coffee from ageing too fast. The package is stylish and has a black label. On the label is some information about the origin, variety and process of the coffee.
The beans are all roasted at once and so have the same medium roast colour. There are no defects in the blend and the scent that comes off is wonderful.
A hint of floral notes and caramel is apparent when you open the package. Although Mr. Soo told me that this was a omni roast, I decided to review this coffee as a blend for espresso.
5 Brewing Blend: The tasting.
I have reviewed this coffee on my Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R and the Fiorenzato F64 Evo grinder. I started with 16 grams but soon made my way up to 19 grams of coffee. I found that the mixture of flavours came out best when using a little more coffee than the usual 18 grams.
When I ground the coffee, the room fills up with aroma’s of toffee, chocolate and a nutty aspect to it. The thing that surprised me most was the lingering sugar sweet molten caramel aroma of this blend. Lovely!
The coffee started brewing and the thick stream of beige colours flowed into my cup. After a nice 27 seconds I got the 38 grams of brew and started smelling the espresso. Again the aroma’s of toffee and milky chocolate were there and this time the floral notes were more distinct. I can now get the aroma of the white orange blossom clearly on the nose.
I take a sip and get the orange/tangerine sourness that turns sweet when I slurp in oxygen and swirl the coffee round in my mouth. As I swallow the first sip I get flavours of caramel and toffee which take over from the blossom. There is a faint cocoa dryness forming in the back of my mouth and I can clearly detect a bright acidity. The thick, buttery and silky mouthfeel is great gives that little extra to the caramel aftertaste of the espresso. This is just great!
On the cappuccino this is also a very nice coffee. The sugary sweetness of the caramel and toffee go great with the frothed milk. The blossom is quite gone but I did not really miss it at all!
5 Brewing Blend: The verdict.
This espresso blend is great. It is sweet and yet has a good contrast with the floral notes. The chocolate, caramel and toffee flavours are so well blended that the savouring the scent alone would be enough for me. It is the buttery, silky and thick mouthfeel in combination with the aftertaste that make this blend so good. Are you looking for an Espresso blend to drink as it is, or for your latte based coffee? This is definitely an option you should consider.
Once again, expertly roasted Mr. Do Hyung Soo.