Come On Seamus, Not Another Bloody Tasting...

Well....yes. I'll be honest, I've been buying too many great french press coffees to just not share them with you. And besides, it keeps the blog ticking over until I get some of the big stuff. Just to forewarn you all, as of tomorrow I'm in Florence, Italy. Hopefully I'll have Internet access while I'm there, in which case I'll post regularly about my adventures abroad with the parents. If not, I'll write it all down instead and post it when I get back, at regular intervals. I also hope to do a tamper comparison in the fairly near future (two Reg Barbers and a Bumper, hopefully), as well as a review of the Motta jugs (unrelated to a similar idea floating about on Coffee Forums). Just thought I'd let you know.

Anyway, on with the tasting. Today was a special one. For a change, it wasn't a light, bright coffee. It was a dark, french roast espresso blend with beans from Latin America, East Africa and Indonesia. It also happens to be the espresso blend I use at Coolaboola (the little kiosk where I work; Happy now Ru?), so I've got a fair old idea of what I'm looking for. I am, of course, talking about Union Hand Roasted's Revelation. Using this day in, day out, I know that it has a punchy red berry opening, leading to chocolate with a caramel finish. I know that as a cappuccino it enhances the berry, and diminishes the caramel. This time, however, espresso had nothing to do with it. This time, it would be a french press.

Now, I was more than a little excited, as was Dane. Even stood on the other side of the unit I could smell the intense chocolate aroma as he cut open the bag. Upon closer inspection (for want of a better word) the aroma of toasted caramel, and even a subtle hint of berry. As the coffee brewed away to itself the chocolate aroma intensified, to the point of making my mouth water in anticipation. On the tongue the taste evolved much as the aroma had. A subtle but defined berry opening which excited every part of the tongue, leading to an intense, full bodied chocolate as you swallow, leaving a caramel aftertaste, and a refreshing berry taste on the palette.

Overall, drinking this coffee as a french press really showed me the way that Revelation evolves in the mouth, moving from taste to taste in ways that are far too subtle as an espresso for my novice palette to truly understand at the moment. So this will not be my last cup of Revelation french press, and I look forward to getting back from Italy to try the espresso and the press pot beside each other.

Anyway, hope this alleviated your boredom a little, and I hope to have something a bit more original this time next week (along with pictures on my brand new Flickr account!). Until then I'll hand over the last word to the man, the myth, the legend, Intelligensia's own Geoff Watts:

"F*cking, speciality coffee will kick the asses of all the shitty coffees in the world"

Amen brother.
Seamus