“City to FC: Aroma is sweet and spiced with clean fruit notes. Brilliant acidity, juicy raspberry and caramelized sugar sweetness. SO Espress.” – Sweet Maria’s
Initial sips revealed a nice dark caramelized sugar sweetness, but there was a light acidity with the finish, which also lingered with something like dark chocolate. As the cup cools, the body feels juicy, and light fruit notes are evident, but they are overshadowed by the dark sugars. I did get a little acidity as well, but it was light, and could be from taking the roast closer to a Full City+, which brought out the darker sugars that I tend to like.
Still at a medium temperature, the acidity is starting to creep into the finish, but the dark chocolate flavor is still strong. There are occasional flashes of the fruit and juiciness as the acidity increases. The sweetness is still very smooth, and it does have a light caramel overtone, but there is a slight bitter flavor in the finish as well. As the cup cooled down, the juiciness and acidity are still evident, and the finish is less overpowering, but the sweetness is still well balanced. It reminds me of a small chocolate candy with a raspberry filling I had once, where the chocolate is enhanced by the light fruit flavor.
Overall, this is a great first cup of coffee in the morning, with it’s bold dark sugar flavors and balanced sweetness with the acidity, it is a palate pleaser, however I do believe the roast might have gone a little too long and shifted towards a darker roast. As for the roasting details, the roast was done in the Gene Cafe roaster, with a heat setting of 460 degrees, for 15.5 minutes. First crack started approximately around 13:30 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.