This is my review of Carl Matthews’ roasts. The coffees were a washed Colombian Supremo as well as an El Salvadoran Honey Process.

Colombian Supremo – V60 02

Carl notes a total roast time of 13:45 on his Hottop, with a 16% weight loss and dropped 1:30 past first crack. He marked this a city roast. I would say based on drop time, bean surface, and colour, that this is probably closer to a full city roast depending on the speed of the roast at 1C.

I usually make V60s, and since this was the lightest of the two, I decided to give it a go. I ground 25g at 12 on my EK43. The whole beans had notes of bakers chocolate, walnut, and some spice that I could not pinpoint (maybe lightly of cinnamon I noted).

Ground, additional notes of cranberry and vanilla were present. I used 401g water at 195f, first blooming for a minute with 75g water, then two pulses to 200, 400. Complete brew time was 3:02. This is a slight adjustment from my normal grind size (10) and temp (200-205), due to this being a little darker than I usually have (not a bad thing at all!).

I was happy with how it turned out as I didn’t want to over-extract this coffee. In the cup it had the crisp, pear like acidity, with flavour of green apple and chocolate while it was hot. As it cooled, it had a very clear cane sugar sweetness, dried cranberry, with a little hickory aftertaste.

I have included the extraction data, which was 21% at 1.43 TDS. Overall, this was a very nice Colombian that was more complex than most I have had. The body was more subdued than most Colombians.

El Salvador Honey Process – Espresso

The Honey Process El Salvadoran had a total roast time of 14:30 with a 17% weight loss dropped 1:50 past first crack. The beans had small spotting of oils, and I would guess this is probably closer to full city+. Whole and ground beans smelled of toffee, dried cherry, and dark chocolate.

I was a little hesitant to use my EK for espresso (I hadn’t tried before), but surprisingly got a decent shot the first time. I ground 15.5g at 0.8 on the grinder and pulled a 34.0g shot for a 1:2.2 ratio in 26 seconds with an included 7 second pre-infusion on my Sage Barista Express.

Crema production was very good. I added 150g of hot water to have as an Americano. I got strong notes of cherry, but also had apple and caramel. This was a nice, crisp cup with no taste of roasting defects. If I had to try again, I would shoot for a lower ratio as I feel I over-extracted the shot a little.

I want to thank Carl for sending these to me! My only advice would be: if you are aiming for a lighter roast (which I think you were?), that I would drop earlier. The beans looked defect free with no visible tipping or charring and very even.