Dedication to age

8^th September 2012

To trully determine why the flavour and aroma of a blend loses its dedication to marriage; I put five samples under the pump in the cupping room.

Roasts dated back to as early as the 4^th of August. The 29^th of August was the most recent of the samples. Bean development of each roast was relatively alike. In the cases of apparent tipping or underdevelopement, these taints were noted and expected upon the snorting, slurping and swishing commencement.

   Dry Aroma

4^th August – Rasberries and young rosemary.

9^th August – Hot dog bread!

11^th August – Cracked black pepper.

16^th August – Lamington chocolate.

29^th August – Cranberries and blossom.

Given the age variance, the blend still held the dark roast head high throughout for its flavour, acid and body qualities. The slurp of each sample unveiled the most distanced marriage relationship in the 4^th of August roast. A little harsh for the side palate and some undesirable salty. The 9^th and 11^th of August roasts were pleasant enough. Cups I certainly wouldn’t knock back to doing the honours of commencing my day. However, the flavours were a little dulled and no stand out acidity or high notes. The 16^th and 29^th of August roasts bore strong relationships within. Reflective of intimate mingling of gases and personalities of individual… beans in the valved bags over the one to two week period. Beautiful balance and spices prominent. The walnut and shiraz and their tanic beauty.

To complete the blend ageing test, I extracted three short blacks of the 4^th, 16^th and 29^th of August roasts. As discovered in the cupping room, the 16^{tth and 29th} of August  roasts were the top performers here. Our older contender, requiring a slightly courser grind setting, was sweet for the immediate tastebuds, but punched his way down. Not brutally, but not as tender as our winners. To conclude the experiment held, on an unthreateningly overcast morning in Robe – this particular blend proved is best young,  but will not dramatically dissapoint if taken when a little fragile in its age ridden marriage.