“City to Full City: Orange, tangerine, burned sugar, cacao, roasted barley, black tea, and stone fruit. Tartaric acidity with clean expressions of sweetness.” -Sweet Marias
The initial sips are sweet, but the burned sugar definitely is noticeable. It is not overly sweet, with the black tea finish, and there is little acidity to start. The mouthfeel is a medium body, but juicy. The finish lingers with the dark tea note, and hints of barley.
Still at a medium temperature, the stone fruit notes are more noticeable, adding to the sweetness. The cacao has shown up, and provides a nice balance with the sweetness. The mouthfeel is lighter, and juicy. The acidity comes in the finish, and it does have a tartaric sourness to it, but it’s more of a flash, not lingering too long. The bright acidity surprised me the first time, and even induced that sour lip pursing movement. After the bright flash of acidity, the finish also has lingering cacao and citrus notes, more orange sweetness than tangerines.
I really liked this roast, it has a great balance between the fruit sweetness and cacao bitterness. The acidity definitely surprised me, but it didn’t last through the whole cup. It started light while hot, and about medium temperature reached it’s climax. After that, it was still there, but more balanced. This is a great first cup of coffee in the morning. I enjoyed this one very much. As for the roasting details, the roast was done in the Gene Cafe roaster, with a heat setting of 460 degrees, for 15 minutes. First crack started approximately around 13:50 minutes and continued for about 1.5 minutes. Cooling was done in the Gene, down to 215 degrees, and then removed and cooled in a colander until room temperature.