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!

The Best Pull I've Ever Had

I picked up some Stumptown Hairbender espresso beans from 4 Barrel to try out in my machine today. I've had inconsistent results from other beans in my Rancilio Silvia machine and Acaso Innova grinder. Trieste beans have been the most consistent, but they're somewhat bitter. At least I can get crema out of them most every pull. Blue Bottle is OK, but I find that I have to constantly adjust the grind...and they too turn out bitter. Ritual beans haven't given me any luck.

The minute I pulled my first shots of the Hairbender today I knew I had something special. Without adjusting the grind at all, I had a very long pull of crema...from start until finish. It never even started blonding, even after 17 seconds or so. The first taste wasn't bitter at all, so I decided to make a cappucino. For the first time, I didn't even have to add sweetener to drink one of my own caps. Incredible :)

Next up: I've ordered a bottomless portafilter for my Silvia. I saw them in use at 4 Barrel, and have been wanting to try one. Can't wait for the UPS guy to show up...