Sightglass - Ethiopia Guji - Aeropress

Jay's brother's girlfriend decided to trek down to San Francisco. An ardent supporter of our coffee snobbery, and our blog (she gave us some start up funds, in the form of a $5 bill), she generously sought out some good coffee for us while she was down there, which turned out to be Sightglass, which has turned out consistently solid coffee in our past reviews. Not only that, but the roast date was also Jay's mother's birthday, so we figured we were in for a treat! Thanks, Tori!

It had a good amount of bloom, as you can see below.

Tasting notes: Super-bright tangy citrus, grapefruit tones, while amazingly light body and juicy, rounding out with some black current fruit on the end. Further cooling reveals chocolate, candy tones and more sweetness. Real enjoyable and not too rich, as can occur with some African or Indonesian coffees.

Jay's rating: 8.5
Brent's rating: 8

Sight Glass, El Salvador Finca Santa Leticia, Valdivieso Family- "Standard" Aeropress

This one was procured by Brent via our standard Milstead & Co. , Errr.. Sorry, it was at Broadcast. He chose an El Salvador Finca Santa Leticia, Valdivieso Family, from San Francisco's Sight Glass, our second venture into their coffees. We had tasted some in early June, compared to Seattle's own Kuma, and it was deemed slightly superior, although not a standout. Let's see how their roasting, with a Centroamerican Coffee fares today.

We have been leaning heavily on one aeropress method, the inverted one, and I decided to switch it up today. Thus I followed a "standard" aeropress method, as found on the world aeropress championship website by first place winning Shuichi Sasaki (recipes) in 2014. This method is in the upright or standard position, first "blooming" the coffee with a small amount of water, stirring, and then adding more water and pressing very slowly. We really need to get a scale and a temperature gauge here, I had the water just off boil, rather than at the suggested 78 degree temperature.

There wasn't much bloom this time, which was surprising as the coffee was only roasted 7 days ago.

Notes:
Brent: Toasted nutty-ness -  very pleasant.  The aeropress treated this quite suitably.
Jay: Immediately has a bright tone to it, floral, hybiscus-y. The flavor then rounds out to a hazelnut, or light chocolate tone with a touch of smoke for a finish. Has a nice, light body, and citrus crisp notes. Again, solid (could drink all day) choice.


Jay's rating: 8
Brent's rating: 8.5

Colombia v. Guatemala, or Sight Glass v. Kuma, Inverted Aeropress

Preparation for the World Cup? We wish Guatemala would be in this time around. So, let's just call it the spirit of the game. Today, we try the San Francisco based Sight Glass to our classic Kuma in Seattle. As these are both Latin American Coffees, we are probably going to get a close flavor profile, and the roasts don't look too different. I will say I found two quaker beans in the Kuma, but plucked them to not spoil the treat (shoutout to Brendon who introduced me to the concept and term).

The crema looks pretty close:
here is Kuma:

here's the Sight Glass:

Tasting notes: the Sight Glass El Meridiano, Tolima from Colombia came off slightly less fruity, but a lighter body, with elements of spices such as nutmeg . The Kuma Guatemala Hunapu came off much more cherry-like tone, with a crisp bite of tang. I think both Brent and I are feeling more into the subtleties within the Sight Glass, whereas the Guatamala's boldness would be best for those who like hibiscus tea, or something citric as such. 

Notes: 

Sight Glass El Meridiano, Tolima

Brent's Rating : 8

Jay's Rating:8

Kuma Guatemala Hunapu

Brent's Rating : 8

Jay's Rating: 7

Current Ranking: TBD