A longtime favorite espresso blend intended solely for pump and piston type espresso extraction. This is a sweet but punchy little cup, and roasted fairly light it is a shock to the palette, but has great body and a smooth, sweet, stunning aftertaste. The joke behind the name: I imagine a fancy roaster charming a client in the cupping room, effusing about their "Master Roaster" and "Master Blender" and "Master Cupper", all in the trade for decades of course. Then I imagine the scene in their warehouse where hired apes rip open bags of green coffee and randomly hurl handfulls into the hopper for roasting. In other words, there's a lot of BS in the coffee trade, and blending is NOT really a noble art ...it's done to save cost and disguise coffee defects 80% of the time. The Irony? I have never worked so hard to develop a blend as this one, designed to cup well at a full range of "espresso" roasts, and developed as a pre-blend (all coffees roasted together to same degree of roast). Am I going to tell you exactly what is in it? No! I am feeling a bit snobby today! Espresso Monkey has become our signature blend for some reason or other, perhaps because it is a true standard that we have sought to maintain for so long, and that we put such nice coffees into it.

We blend this for body, balanced between high and low tones, chocolate roast flavors, and slightly rustic fruited accent notes. Those are our goals, that is the "spirit" behind the blend, and we check it to make sure it meets those targets. Our roast goal is in the beginning stages of 2nd crack ... we never "let it roll".

This is my favorite blend designed to endure the rigors of dark roasting, and produce excellent pungent tastes, attractive bittersweet/carbony flavors, and great body. Body is so important to a darker roast. Extended roasts incinerate body, and a thin cup of burned water IS NOT what French Roast coffee is about! You do not want to fully burn up all the sugars, you want some degree of bittersweet, overlayed on the carbony charcoal tones of the burned woody structure of the bean itself. You want something still voluminous, and something sharp that stings you a bit down the center of the tongue. Well, at least if you do want these things, then we share common ground, and you might like my blend. Please note that we made changes to improve the blend on 7/20/01. I have changed the percentages and added a new coffee that became available that really enhances the chocolatiness in the Vienna stage, and the pungency in the darker French stage

Once there was "Classic Italian," our espresso blend to set the benchmark for traditional European-style espresso. It was a blend based on quality Brazil coffees, with a touch of aromatic Central American coffee to add a grace note to the cup, and it had a small percentage of premium robusta in it for crema, mouthfeel, and to add traditional flavors found on the continent. But times change and tastes change. Espresso culture is much less Euro-centric, and for good reason. While Italy gave us espresso, the general quality of street-level espresso there can be exceptionally poor. Don't even talk about coffee in France. The big brands in Europe are largely run by multi-nationals who keep a close watch on price, and gleefully buy lower quality green coffee if they can save .01 Euro. The privates follow suit, in order to compete. Of course, there are the exceptions, but the darker roast styles, well into 2nd crack, to cover up the use of low quality green coffee ... well, that is NOT something to emulate. For Sweet Maria's, espresso has never been our dumping ground for coffees we can't sell, old lots, or ones with mild defect. It's been a program where we have dedicated much time, focus in cupping, and roast testing. With this in mind, we want to start over again, and offer New Classic, a somewhat silly name, an oxymoron, and overused ... but it says what I want it to say: Here is the new benchmark espresso with sweet-bittersweet balance, body, crema, and finesse, the core definition of the espresso beverage, and defines it in the established West Coast espresso style (clean, bright notes) without the burden of European espresso conventions. In other words, no robusta! No obsessive interest in crema! (You can produce buckets of crema in espresso and still have a very mediocre-tasting cup. What ... do you make espresso just to look at the beautiful crema? No dummy, you make it to drink it!) While this blend is designed primarily for a lighter roast, stopping the roast before 2nd crack, it also works well with a darker roast treatment. It does not have the extreme brightness that have been the trademark of some of our Espresso Workshop blends; it is a bit more restrained in it's overall demeanor. The cup has a balance between sweet and bittersweet flavors, moderate bright accent, soft traces of fruit, body and depth. The lighter roasts have a very sweet aromatic, fruited with plum and a hint of spice (cinnamon stick, cardamom). Darker roasts tend toward chocolate laced with dark fruit tones, in both aroma and cup flavor. Both have a firm, opaque body, with toasted almond roast notes as the espresso cools. In the aftertaste, peach tea flavor (and it light roasts a bit of jasmine tea) are evident. Of course, results vary with how the espresso machine and grinder are set up. We use 8.5 bars of pressure at the head, with 202 degrees water temperature (measured at the head) to start, dropping to about 198. At higher temperatures, it's a more aggressive espresso with a bittersweet edge and well-suited to milk drinks.

This is a powerful blend of coffees from the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, from Yemen on one side, and Ethiopia on the other. I intended this blend for the exotic espresso shot or intense filter drip coffee. It's even better in a French Press, where the slightly gritty intensity suits to boldness of fruit, chocolate, exotic spice and earth notes. It incorporates three excellent natural Dry-Processed coffees from the most ancient arabica origins. Each contributes to a huge body, strong bittersweet chocolate roast-taste, and intense fruited aromatics. Since all are dry-processed and have nearly equivalent densities and moisture contents, this an acceptable pre-roast blend (as opposed to blending coffees after roasting them separately). None these coffees roast to a uniform color individually, which is part of their character and complexity in the cup. My purpose here is to offer a precisely blended coffee I love, and save you from buying the coffees separately. In fact the Yemeni, Sidamo, Harar and Yirga Cheffe coffees we use for our Moka Kadir are stocked just for the blend, which makes it hard (well, impossible) for you to recreate this though. But the blend idea here, using coffees from the same "family of taste" rather than greatly opposite or complimentary coffees marks a difference in blend rationale, as well as in result. Also, I feel the coffees need to be pre-blended and equalize moisture content with each other, something that works well in larger batches.

The dry fragrance has strong rustic sweetness, dried apricot, pear, licorice, pungent chocolate, charred sage. Aromatics include anise, dried black fig, fudge and dark caramel chocolate (think chocolate See's sucker!) The cup is the culmination of all the intense aromatics, and more. Dense, thick body adds to the sense of "brooding" cup character here. Lighter roasts (yes, lighter roasts work here too) have a caramel rustic sweetness, anise and lavender spice/herbal notes, syrupy body. It's the Full City roasts or darker where the beast is unleashed (uh, as they say), and tarry dark molasses sweetness, thick inky body, and pungent spice come together. Hints of chicory root, pepper and truffle accent a dominating bittersweet chocolate taste (a la Scharffen Berger 70% Cacao bar). Moka Kadir is a true dual-use blend, filter-drip (French Press) as well as espresso too. For espresso, let this coffee rest at least 48 hours ... I think it's best at 3+ days. Also consider that because this blend has dry processed, hand sorted coffees in it, it is not unusual for the result to have a varied color after roasting, some slightly lighter beans, some darker, and a range of sizes. And I hate to say it but we find the occasional small rock in this coffee. Be sure to cull through the green and the roasted carefully. The small bean size of Yemeni and other coffees here can be problem in some drum roasters, such as Behmors with the large grid drum (oldest models - all the new ones have small grid drums). But, with the coffee in the drum, you can shake the drum before roasting to remove the few super small beans than might be lurking in the mix.

I wanted an espresso blend that was potent, sharp, intense; but without excessive mustiness, fruitiness, or earthy flavors. But I wanted it also to be complex and hint at all of those tastes, and more! Here's the product of a lot of overly-caffeinated days of experimentation: the Liquid Amber Espresso Blend. It is named for the rich color and multitude of crema it produces. The blend was fairly complex to come up with ... after I found the general tastes I wanted, emerging from aroma and first sip through the very long aftertaste (if I don't cleanse my palate with water I will taste this coffee for 20+ minutes) I needed to play with the exact percentages. The specific blend, hey ... it is my secret! But I will tell you that the 5 coffees that really worked toward the flavor goal I imagined ended up surprising even me! I will say that there are Dry-processed, Wet-processed, and Monsooned coffees in here. I will also admit that there is a modicum of quality Robusta. And to keep this a mystery, the blend contains some coffees not on our list. Extracted in a properly functioning, clean espresso machine the blend produces a lot of crema, making the mouthfeel very thick and creamy. The sharp pungent bite to the blend is not bitter, and fades into a rich tobaccoy-milk chocolate aftertaste. If properly roasted (not scorched) the blend will not be ashy, something I really don't like in espresso. (With any espresso, if the aftertaste turns acrid and bitter after 3 minutes or so, clean the heck out of your machine.) In the Liquid Amber Blend there are hints of fruit, mushrooms, sweet smoke, caramel, and cream in the extended aftertaste. This blend works extremely well in milk drinks, meaning by that a true cappuccino (6-9 oz.) or machiatto. I make no claims for Latte ... is there any coffee that tastes potent mixed down 8:1 in a Slurpee-sized cup of milk? Please note: in 2005 I changed the type of Monsooned coffee. It is paler, sweeter, and is not a coffee we offer on our list. It's a special purchase for the blend to increase sweetness and reduce mustiness. -Tom Liquid Amber Note:If the coffee arrives and doesn't appear evenly blended, this is because of the vibration during loading and shipment. I can positively guarantee you that the blend was packed in the exact, correct proportion (we are extremely careful about this), but the difference in size/density of the Monsooned/non-Monsooned can make them separate a bit with vibration. Just give it a stir....

You might call this blend a classic Mokha Java because it is equally divided between Indonesia coffees and those from the Horn of Africa. That's explains part of the name I suppose. The Outro was something I kept thinking about when tasting this long, long finish on this blend. Chocolate-cocoa, rustic fruit notes, and this pleasant bittering quality just go on and on and on. Like the long "Outro" track on an album, this blend seems less about the Intro (aromatics) than the aftertaste. There is a twist; the dry process Ethiopia provides most of the rustic fruit, while berry and winey notes come from a small portion of a wet-process Yirga Cheffe coffee. The Indo is Sumatra Aceh Bukit, which is not a traditional wet-hulled coffee, but is dried further and hulled like a wet-process coffee woudl be. Confused? Well, all I am saying is the blend is as much a mix of different origins and cultivars as it is a mix of different post-harvest processes. This affects the resulting flavors greatly.

Aromatically, this coffee has an unusual mix of sweetness with exotic notes of fruit roasted nuts. Cocoa and bittering chocolate dominates the wet aroma. The cup flavors are very complex, with both refined and rustic elements. Initially, floral hibiscus notes, melon, and blackberry strike the palate, a tropical fruit salad of flavors. Dried apricot emerges, along with winey fruit notes and grape skins in the finish. The aftertaste shows a more rustic side, with the dried fruits dominating, cocoa nibs, roasted almond, and a hint of leather. The cocoa-chocolate character intensifies in the long-lingering finish, as a pleasant semi-sweet bitterness. The flavors translate well with the dense mouthfeel of this espresso. We have done Workshop blends like this in the past (#8 comes to mind), but not lately, as the blends have tended toward the clean and acidic side of things. This has a brightness to it, but prefers a darker roast treatment which downplays the higher tones for tenor-to-bass flavors. I liked the Full City roast, but Full City+ with a few snaps of 2nd crack is where things start to really work. As with most espresso, it benefits from 48+ hours of rest after roasting.

We returned to our geologic name scheme with Espresso Workshop #20, Gneiss Shot. And given that there's a thick slab of India coffee forming the base of this blend, I went with Satpura Fold. It results in the Satpura range, the fold itself being caused by the ongoing compression of India and Eurasian tectonic plates. (Satpura is Sanskrit for Seven Mountains). It is a hilly elevated landscape with diverse flora and fauna, and home to the Bengal Tiger. Why geology? Well, I find the analogy with taste experience inspiring. It's more than simply thinking of strata, layers of flavors revealing themselves, but it's the interaction of discrete compounds to form the overall landscape we experience, and the complex ways those compounds interact. This blend is unique in that way, having remarkable altitude in the high tones of the cup, and unique spice and sweetness that tends toward the earthy end of the spectrum.

This blend is unique in aromatics and overall flavor profile. The dry fragrance has ample chocolate notes at Full City+ roast. (The blend works best roasted right to the verge of 2nd crack or a few snaps into it). The aroma from the espresso itself starts to suggests the complex cup flavors. There is a heady spice mix of cinnamon and allspice, with a touch of cardamom, along with a savory sweet/bittersweet scent, molasses, and cooked pear. The cup flavors have a bold brightness, with Muscovado sugar sweetness that tends toward the rustic. There is layers of chocolate with slightly winey fruit that invoke burgundy, a touch of cedar and blackberry. The mouthfeel is creamy and pronounced. In the long aftertaste I sensed dark cherry/blackberry (like a berry pie filling). While the chocolate bittersweet is reminiscent of classic continental espresso taste, the unique brightness and fruited notes break from espresso tradition. While we don't make a lot of milk drinks here, we found this does very well for macchiato and cappuccino.

With the monumental 20th lot-specific blend in our ongoing Espresso Workshop editions, I wanted to come full circle and "go geologic" in the naming once again. Gneiss (pronounced nice) is a compositional banded rock produced under high pressure, transforming either volcanic or sedimentary rock into a dense, layered form. Gneiss Shot is a tacky play on words, involving a blend of coffees from very different origins, heated and physically transformed in a coffee roaster, particle-ized(i.e. ground), pressed into a portafilter, and exposed to high temperature and pressure to produce a very nice espresso! I prefer a Full City roast, without any second crack, producing a fairly bright yet balanced shot. I tried a very light City+ roast (well, light for espresso) as well as Full City+ with a tad of 2nd crack and thought they were really nice as well so the blend works under a wide range of roasts. It's a very cleanly disappearing blend that is as much about the aftertaste as it is about the initial taste impression it makes.

Aromatically, this coffee has an unusual mix of sweet and savory qualities in the dried ground coffee. There is a hint of floral notes and sage, with dark honey and a little molasses too. The espresso itself has an interesting sweet nose to it, a blend of caramelized sugar and vanilla. The aromatics are straightforward and the cup flavors also have a very nice, sturdy, basic quality to them, with sweetness and brightness taking a direct run up the middle of the tongue. The acidity has tangerine character, citric but sweet, with chocolate liquor and caramelized sugar notes as top of Creme Brulee. Orange acidity comes through in the long finish, with an ongoing co-presence of sweet and bittersweet notes duking it out, leaving an impression of a nice semi-sweet chocolate bar. This complex sweetness, and it's relation to bittersweetness, is what reveals itself in layers throughout the aftertaste, and what makes this shot so compelling. It also gives some weight to nerdy name Gneiss Shot, stratification of taste flavors reveal themselves to your senses over time, compressed initially but something you tangible that you "pull apart" as it sits on the palate.