Brazil Guariroba (Alchemy Coffee)
Alchemy Coffee Roasters must have a hidden room and a book of spells, which they use to summon the daemons of coffee roasting, one being a distant cousin of Paddington the bear the other possibly Jack Sparrow. It could also be that the Guariroba estate in Brazil are very good at producing coffee that tastes like nothing other trade coffee suppliers can deliver and Alchemy are very good at turning that excellent product into quality roasted beans.
You may be wondering why I am writing about two different varietals. This is to show you how different coffee can be, even if it comes from the same estate so instead of one recipe, this time you are getting two.
Brazil Guariroba Anaerobic Espresso
Delicious dark chocolate/cocoa with marmalade. Balanced, but requires a lighter touch when tamping. If you press too hard at grind setting 2 it may take over 30s to extract. Do not decrease the dose, it doesn't help, try lighter tamping instead. Delicious chocolate aftertaste. spice present, but not dominant. If you want to get at that fabulous spice, try grind setting 1 with a 14 g dose. Rather acidic at grind setting 3. Would benefit from a 1.5 setting, alas, one is not available on this particular grinder.
Mixing with Milk
So you want your cappuccino to have a strong taste of marmalade? Go for grind setting 2.
Brazil Guariroba Arara Espresso
This time you are not going to get much satisfaction unless you set the grinder to 1. Any coarser setting seems to produce a sieve that water simply flows through without noticing coffee. But at 1 you are in for a treat and the promised notes of dark rum, cocoa, and pink grapefruit. Tamp hard.
It would be interesting to see if a grinder capable of producing finer output would be a better choice here, but what I was able to get at 1 was very good indeed.
Mixing with Milk
Go for grind setting 1, there is no other.
Where To Buy
Brazil Guariroba is available online.
EQUIPMENT
Coffee grinder: Sage (Breville) Smart Grinder Pro
Espresso machine: Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus