“City to Full City: Juicy sweet oranges and plumb. Citric brightness of ruby red grapefruit. Bodied and bright with fruit sweetness.” -Sweet Marias
This was one of the first times that I didn’t rush to sample while it was too hot, so I didn’t injure myself this time. That said, there is a definite sweetness to the initial sips, a hint of orange, and the dark sugar plum in the finish. The body feels juicy, and the sweetness lasts through the finish, which is a little tea-like. The acidity is light, when compared to the dark sugar tones.
Still at a medium temperature, the dark sugar sweetness has increased, and the body definitely feels thicker, but it still has a juiciness to it. The sweetness is smoother, and it does have a cocoa undertone which lingers quite a bit after each sip. As the cup cooled down, the acidity was still light, but there were bright flashes of grapefruit, which was a little surprising at first. The finish definitely has a more acidity, with the grapefruit, but it balances well with the cocoa, and both still linger quite a bit.
Overall, this is a good first cup of coffee in the morning, especially with the sweetness, but the acidity definitely helps brighten the cup as well. To be honest, the grapefruit notes were a little surprising, as it was not evident at all until the cup had cooled a bit more. As for the roasting details, the roast was done in the Gene Cafe roaster, with a heat setting of 460 degrees, for 15.0 minutes, however this bean didn’t take nearly as long to reach first crack, so it was stopped at 14:00. First crack started approximately around 12:30 minutes and continued for about 1.0 minutes. Cooling was done in the Gene, down to 215 degrees, and then removed and cooled in a colander until room temperature. Due to the faster roasting time, another batch will be done with this bean targeted at a City+ roast, as I believe this current batch might have coasted into the Full City range.