First Brew with Mecca Beans

I have such good friends down under. After visiting them in 2006, they kind of turned me into a coffee snob. I went out and bought a nice Rancilio Silvia with an Innova grinder for my new kitchen, and I've been brewing for myself ever since. Here's my setup:


One of the places the Aussies introduced me to in Sydney was Mecca. It's a wonderful downtown cafe, and we spent a lot of time there when I was down under in '06:


We have the pleasure of hosting Big & Rachel in the Bay Area every year or two. And our friend Zee comes up every year. This year, I asked Big to send along some Mecca espresso beans. Zee showed up with 5 (!) bags of beans from various places, including two bags of their house espresso roast:




This was something of a special occasion, so I thoroughly brushed out my grinder and spent a bit of time fiddling with the grind. Once I got things dialed, the grounds flowed and tamped nicely:



From the first seconds after kicking off the brew, I knew this would be good. Crema from the start, smooth stuff throughout the pull, and I managed to shut things off just prior to blonding:


Wonderful shots, and I have a couple pounds of this stuff! Many thanks Big!