This is yet another coffee from an epic trade with my Instagram pal, Bryan Schiele (who, if you like photography and coffee, you absolutely MUST be following!). The only downside to this coffee is that I only had 50 grams to sample, but man, what a great coffee! It’s not listed on Sunergos’s website any longer, but keep your eyes peeled for this one. I know I’m going to!
As an FYI the date on the bag Bryan vacuum-packed my sample into was either 1/12 or 1/15, and I assumed that was the roast date from his original package. I have no idea if 4-5 weeks off-roast affected this coffee and in what way but this coffee tasted awesome, so I don’t care! 🙂
The big trend in coffee is, of course, the high notes. But not this coffee. It’s gloriously bass-y. If this coffee were a musician it’d be Les Claypool, Flea, Cliff Burton and every Jamaican dub bass player all rolled into one! It’s heavy, it’s deep, it’s layered and it’s so, soooo, good.
The aroma coming off the beans struck me initially as being very raisin-esque, but that morphed into sugar… then brown sugar… then caramelized sugar… then I settled on a deep molasses aroma. This carried over in the aroma of the ground beans, too, and it was super-inviting. If there’s this much sweetness and power in the aroma of the beans, then there’s a lot of promise for the cup. Even the wet aroma coming off the Gino dripper was redolent of dark molasses.
The first sip landed like a sledgehammer on my palate and I was instantly in love with this coffee! This cup had HUGE mouthfeel and a serious depth. It was like syrup coating my tongue and while the deep notes of the coffee, the sweetness and sugars, were at the forefront there was still a bit of acidity to the sides of my tongue that gave it a balance, although the perception of acidity was low.
For as sweet as this coffee tasted I wouldn’t describe it as cloying. There were hints of dark cherry pie filling but still that hint of raisin in there, too. I caught a layer of ashiness, which I know isn’t necessarily an appetizing descriptor, but it was certainly there and lent a nice bitterness to offset the coffee’s inherent sweetness, too.
I spent my last 19 grams of this coffee as espresso. My shot pulled a few seconds too quick but the molasses and sweetness were there. The body was a little thin for my taste but it was good. It didn’t knock me out like the pourover did, though, and who knows if Sunergos would even recommend this coffee as espresso? It’s always worth a shot (hardy har har)!
I can’t say enough good about this coffee. I am completely impressed by this first taste of a Sunergos coffee.
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