Organic Blue Moon Kintamani Highlands Bali – Cupping
Main cupping design
AreoPress with manual grinder 5 clicks vs 10 clicks
AreoPress works similar as Moka pot but the pressure builds up while we press down the piston, the finer of the coffee ground, the more extraction, but not like espresso, the AreoPress extraction pressure will not build up to 9 bars, and the wet to dry ratio is around 8 to 1. I will expect to the grind size should be similar to Moka to get a balanced cup
Areopress with different ground size
| Roast level | Medium to Dark |
| Dry weight | 0.6 oz |
| Wet weight | 5 oz |
| Water temperature | 89F |
| Comparison | Manual grinder 8 clicks vs 15 clicks |
| Expected difference | 5 clicks with espresso ground size might be too fine for Areopress to work with, it might end up with a sharp, bold and bitter taste. Blue moon bean from Bali seems not that dense compare with other beans in every level of roast, for most of brew method, need finer ground to get balanced cupping compare with other beans. so that might surprise the result |
| Goal of cupping | Understand how grind size impact the areopress brew cupping |
| Cupping summary |
| 8 clicks | 15 clicks | |
| Aroma | ||
| Look | ||
| Taste | ||
| Overall note |
| Date | Cupping design | Expectations | Cupping result |
| 05-30-2024 | EPR m to D moka 0.5 oz to 10oz wtd 10 hand grind 60F charge vs aroepress 0.5 oz to 10 oz wtd 10 clicks hand grind | Moka should toward sweetbitter and less taste of origin notes as high temperature extraction may overwhelm. | As expected, but both cupping are in it own method of balancing, both are full smooth body. Moka cupping is more bold with bitter and smoky , aroepress cupping is more spice and sweet. both with strong cedar, chocolate and buttery aroma, Moka cupping with a little more sharp and smoky. This bean is overall earthy more than other beans although this bean from Bali is the least earthy one, it is very noticeable when first switch from other beans, will get use to it while more cuppings have been done I personally do not favor earthy taste but it is also ok to have it in coffee as addon flavor note. overall this EPR M to D roast took too long on brown and development cycle which did end up flat feeling even in moka |
| 05-30-2024 | EPR MTD 03 oz espresso 5 grind size, wtd 1 oz vs 1.5 oz – final to 3 oz Cortado | 1.5 oz should be sharp and bitter due to the over extraction | as expected, 1 oz shot is sweet and a little bit fruity sour taste to me , but overall balance and smooth, 1.5 oz shot is bitter and sharp , still very smooth and bold body. Final to 3 oz Cortado from first top layer with milk taste very similar but at the end still back to the original espresso taste. |
| 06-02-2024 | EPR M pour over 0.6 oz to 10 oz , 12 clicks, 89F, clay filter vs metal filter | Clay filter cupping should be more bold and rich in flavor | Coffee penetrates through clay filter capillary wall which is way different from a metal filter with holes, regardless how small the holes and how dense they distributed on the filter, they works different as clay’s capillary penetration. I used three arounds pour over, the first around has almost the same brew time, but the second around , the clay filter need more time, and third around is almost double the time, I think the fine coffee ground runs through capillary wall of clay may clot and slow the penetration. the clay filter cupping looks clearer and darker, Aroma is almost the same for both cuppings, clay filter cupping did taste sharper but actually less bitter than metal filter one. I think the penetration method did build up a little bit more pressure which help to extract more flavor rather than wash the bitter at the end for metal filter. |
| 06-03-2024 | Taste each round of pour over from a 3 rounds pour over method, EPR M , 15 clicks , 89F, 0.6 oz to 10 oz | First round should be full origin notes, second round should be roast flavor and third round should dilute the overall bold body | 16.67 wtd is north side for me, specially with 15 clicks grind size, the first round is as expected , sweet , fruit sour , no biter at all, but also taste not like a regular coffee , more like a fruit tea , so if I want to taste the origin notes, this is perfect with any roast flavor overwhelming them. the second round did add a lot of roast flavor, more sweetbitter, to me this is perfect stage of taste origin plus roast notes. but the cupping still is sharp and bold. if you do milk over instead of black, this is the perfect for that. the third around washed bitterness and all earthy flavors into cupping, it did smooth out overall. |
| americano medium to dark 0.56oz size 5 Briellve double shot 2 oz vs 3 oz to 10 oz americano | 2 oz should be bold , but bitter in espresso but more balance in americano | as expected, 2 oz in espresso with more bold in all sour and sweetbitter, 3oz in espresso is more original cheery with less sour and bitter and with stronger aroma on sweetness and buttery ,americano in another hand more balanced in 2 oz. the 3oz one tasted flat as water diluted the just right extraction. preference, 2 oz expresso with more bold body for americano | |
| americano medium to dark 0.56oz size 5 Briellve double shot 2 oz vs 3 oz to 10 oz americano | 2 oz should be bold , but bitter in espresso but more balance in americano | as expected, 2 oz in espresso with more bold in all sour and sweetbitter, 3oz in espresso is more original cheery with less sour and bitter and with stronger aroma on sweetness and buttery ,americano in another hand more balanced in 2 oz. the 3oz one tasted flat as water diluted the just right extraction. preference, 2 oz expresso with more bold body for americano |