This week I’ll be slurping my way through 1.25kg of beans from Bay Beans, a roaster from Nelson Bay, NSW.
I’m a huge fan of independent and micro-roasters and, having chatted with James (aka Mr Bay Beans) on Twitter for a number of months, I was keen to discover what he was creating. Fellow deal-hunters may also recognise the name from OzBargain where James is something of a regular.
On Friday, a big fat Australia Post bag of beans arrived at work, with five different Bay Beans blends (say that 10 times quickly) inside. While none of the bags display a roasting date, it’s abundantly clear that they are very fresh. The bags are bulging from off-gassing and a gentle squeeze releases a delightful aroma from each of the one-way valves.
It was a lucky-dip as to which blend I started with and “Super Crema” is it. The blend is a medium-dark roast described by Bay Beans as follows:
“…Super Crema coffee beans produce a thick strong crema, medium body with a nutty aftertaste, a coffee bean blend using a base of the super crema coffee bean of the Indian monsoon Malabar…”
I dosed-out 16.52 grams from the Macap M4D grinder into a double basket, firmly tamped, and extracted 55ml in 25 seconds using a Vibiemme Domobar Junior HX. The crema was slightly mottled and lighter in colour than I was expecting, but…
…check out how much of it there was! 
Superb!
And the taste? Mild acidity, medium body and rich caramel/butter notes. The espresso is so sweet that even die-hard sugar fiends would probably leave the teaspoon on the saucer.
I enjoyed mine as a double espresso, but this would be a delightful blend from which to make milk-based drinks.
Can’t wait to get stuck into the other blends now. No, really, I couldn’t wait. I’ve just cleaned-out the grinder and about to load-up the “Mocha Prince”.
Likelihood of any sleep tonight? Slim. *Twitch*
