Good morning and welcome to today’s review! I’m checking out 49th Parallel’s Epic Espresso so grab your tiny cups and let’s drink!
Purchase Epic Espresso directly for $19.75/16oz (unsure if that’d CAD or USD on the website…)
49TH PARALLEL EPIC ESPRESSO
KC Coffee Geek readers know I am an espresso junkie and I’ve been drinking E for well over 20 years. One of my favorite things to do when I travel is try to hit some cafes and bring home some coffee if possible. Work took me to an education conference in Montreal, Canada at the end of June and my hotel was nicely positioned in the city to take advantage of my hobby. The weather in Montreal was near perfect for most of the time I was there. I arrived early on my travel day so I could take advantage of about 2/3 of a free day to explore and, as luck would have it, this was the day it POURED rain the whole time. I came somewhat prepared with my trusty Patagonia Torrentshell jacket, though, which is a packable, waterproof jacket perfect for travel, so I didn’t let the rain stop me. The conference and hotel was Le Centre Sheraton and I had mapped out visiting Melk bar á Cafe, Myriade at Dominion Square and Tunnel Espresso, all easy walking distance from my hotel.
I ended up going in some weird directions and I couldn’t have my phone out to navigate the unfamiliar city as it was just pouring rain, so I missed Melk until the next day (and, given that was right around the corner of my hotel, that was my most-visited, home base coffee place for the rest of my stay and I couldn’t have asked for better!) and headed in a roundabout way to Myriade. I arrived and it was really coming down the hardest at that time. I was confused, though, because the location I was seeing was a clothing store. I found a dry space and searched again and I had the address right. I circled the building, which takes up a city block, suffering more rain, and nothing. I went inside the building’s central hall, nothing. What the heck? Checked the address again. I could smell coffee, but I couldn’t see it. I didn’t want to go into a nice clothing store dripping water and out of place, so I milled around trying to figure out what to do and then I spotted the staircase in the clothing store and that’s when I saw a couple leave with to-go cups, so I took the gamble and headed in, making a beeline for the stairs. Et voila! There was Myriade! So, pro tip… the cafe is in the clothing store, just go downstairs! LOL
They were pulling thick, short, dark shots of Old School Espresso, which I’ve had before when a friend picked me up a bag on a trip to Canada, and that was PERFECT for my wet, slightly chilly disposition. Yum. I scored this bag of Epic Espresso, too, which is 49th Parallel’s lightest roast espresso and that changes with the seasons. Now that I’ve totally buried the headline anyway, 49th Parallel has a great reputation in North America and the world over for sourcing great coffees and roasting them well. 49th is commonly found all over Canada in specialty cafes and I found the best stock of it at Myriade, although if I remember correctly I think Melk had a limited stock, too, although, I could be wrong on that. Melk definitely had Detour and Monogram and 1-2 other brands if I remember correctly. In any case, 49th Parallel is based in Vancouver, British Colombia and has been carving a heck of a reputation for a long time.
49th Parallel’s website hits the coffee geek in me just right. Their page for each coffee has a ton of info and a downloadable “coffee card” with even more info. Epic Espresso is currently a coffee called Guatemala Poaquil, which is a Bourbon and Typica mix grown at 1500-2000masl. This coffee is grown by Luis Pedro Zelaya in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala, in the south-central part of the country. This is a region that is becoming quickly more popular with green buyers and for good reasons. This is a washed coffee.
For the equipment nerds, I am using a tuned Gaggia Classic with a few upgrades. I replaced the stock gasket with a silicone one, the shower screen is upgraded to an IMS precision screen and I replaced the stock aluminum shower screen holder with a brass one. I also use an aftermarket bottomless portafilter and a 20g Decent Espresso precision basket and matched precision Decent Espresso tamper which is calibrated to a 25lb press. I believe DE’s stuff has a diameter of 58.5mm if I’m not mistaken, so just a smidge wider than IMS’s and VST’s 58.4mm standards. I use an Orphan Espresso Pharos 2.0 grinder and after grinding I do a “WDT” stir, tap the portafilter to do a final distribution, groom the puck with an OCD style tool, then tamp. I use an Aeropress filter on top of the puck to minimize channeling and this works great.
The current Epic Espresso coffee card says to use 18g of coffee in the portafilter for a 37-39g yield in 28-32 seconds. I was settled into a routine of using 19g of coffee for a 35-38g yield in 26-30 seconds. My “review shot” was 19.2g in the portafilter, 38.1g out in 26 seconds. This yielded an espresso with a medium-heavy body and syrupy mouthfeel with a lot of interesting tasting notes I don’t often get from espresso. It’s a bright, but overall balanced cup and I was getting lemon candy acidity in the high notes with a fair amount of green tea notes, especially in the finish and aftertaste between sips. There were hints of roses, of all things, in there, too, which is something I rarely taste in an espresso. I can’t say how this coffee does with milk-based drinks as I never have milk around the house and don’t consume much dairy, but a company like 49th Parallel isn’t going to offer an espresso that hasn’t performed well in milkies, in my opinion, because that’s what most drinkers and cafes want, so I think it’s safe to assume this would work well in milk drinks. Another great espresso from my friends in Canada!
