Necessity is a mother...

of invention.

Thursday night of last week I realized that I was short on espresso and we had a catering gig on Saturday night. So, Bethany and I discussed options and roasting/blending my own was the most logical choice. Friday brought me to the roastery to prepare some Papua New Guinea, Mexican Chiapas, and Kenya AA for blending. Not the beans I would have chosen, but I work with what I've got. Later on that day, I started pulling and tasting straight shot after straight shot.

The Verdict

PNG was sweet with good body--I decided to use it as the base.
Kenya had a slightly smoky aroma when ground, but nice acidity and fruit when tasted. This was the other majority player, bringing in some punch and complexity.
Chiapas was overly smoky (not burnt) and somewhat flavorless as a straight shot. It would be the minority report for a little funkiness.

Tasting the three together was a good espresso, but awfully boring. Not to mention that the ground Chiapas smokiness overpowered all the other aromas and was a little bit sickening. I decided, in the end, to ditch it in favor of the acidic Guatemalan that I had roasted for drip earlier in the week.

The resulting espresso was a good straight shot and combined well with milk, although it made it "mild" (the words of many a tester-taster). It was sweet and balanced with a nice aftertaste--a good introduction into what espresso can be (that is, good tasting instead of bitter yuck). Since it was only a few hours til showtime, this blend was what we were going with.

The catering job had many folks new to the espresso scene and a few old hats. The old hats complimented me on the blend and the new folks were surprised by espresso. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned. We even decided to name the blend after the catering place (all our blends will be named for places around Beaver Falls): Espresso Blend 819, for 819 Lincoln Place, otherwise known in the Geneva community as "City House".

Maybe we'll have it in the store soon so others can give me pointers. Onward and upward!