This past Saturday I visited my friend Fabrice at his place of business: Moschetti Espresso. He had roasted a bunch of coffee that day and he had some new, super fresh espresso to share with me. I don’t think you can get any fresher than just roasted coffee, and I was giddy with anticipation.
And so I went home with a pound of my favorite Moschetti Espresso Dolce, New Guinea Peaberry, and something he said would blow me away. That was his Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.
I took a whiff of it before I took off to fire up Miss Silvia, and I detected an interesting fruitiness that intrigued me. Now mind you this is today’s roast and it won’t be at it’s peak until two, three or four days later. But it already had a powerful hook that was pulling me in. Tasting a fresh roasted bean also made it very clear that THIS was a special coffee.
So I spent the next half hour grinding beans and pulling shots and tweaking my procedure until…. I got a BlueBerry Bomb. I couldn’t believe it and I think I actually shouted out, “BlueBerry!!!!”. I have heard about Blue Berry Bomb shots before, but I’d never experienced it. And I stop by Blue Bottle daily and though they almost always pull flawless shots, they’ve never, ever given me a BlueBerry Bomb.
This Shot was amazing. It blew me away. There was the initial Big Burst of Blue Berry and it was followed by a no less intense and earthy dark chocolate flavor with hints of cherry, and toffee.
The shots I pull tend to start out very syrupy and drip, drip, drip out the naked portafilter. And then the drips become a steady stream. And if I’ve done it right, the shot is done somewhere between 25 and 35 seconds. The espresso should be a rich brown with tiger stripes of lighter and darker patches. The aroma should be powerful and yet delightful, and there should be no more than one ounce of espresso that is topped with a dense layer of crema. Sometimes Moschetti espresso is so fresh that I have one ounce of one hundred percent crema. It’s amazing to have access to such amazing and fresh coffee.
This one ounce or less of coffee is called a Ristretto, or Restricted. It is super concentrated, and if done right is not bitter, rather it is dense, creamy / buttery in texture, and is sweet. I love to pour the whole shot in my mouth and swish it around so my tongue is coated from front to back and side to side and each and every tooth gets to taste the espresso ambrosia.
I can’t wait for tomorrow morning so I can have another shot or three before going to work. Sometimes I wish I had an Cafe or Espresso Cart set up for pulling shots like this all day long for folks. Of course I’d need a professional Super Jolly burr grinder, a three group espresso machine like a Conti and the best espresso beans I can find.
Moschetti has a new online store to buy coffee! Buy Fresh Coffee Now!.