Review of Verve Colombia Rio Paez

The feeling after consuming a huge piece of chocolate cake that you know you shouldn’t have but still decided to eat it anyway.

Product: Verve Colombia Rio Paez

Introduction

Bought it from 1951 Coffee Company on 10/13 because I wanted to try out something new. Here’s the delayed review of it.

Brewing Method

Inspired by WAC 2015 Winning Recipe

Aeropress, inverted method

Total brew time: 1:30, grind size: medium fine

18 g of coffee, 220 ml of water

1. Put ground coffee into Aeropress, gently shake to even the bed
2. Add 50 ml of water to bloom, start the timer
3. Gentle shake at the 15-second mark to saturate all grounds
4. Add the rest 170 ml of water at the 30-second mark
5. Stir at the 40-second mark
6. Put on the filter and flip at 1:10
7. Slow plunge for around 20 seconds

Review

Short note: I updated the grinder while I was brewing from this batch. So here’s a comparison between using the two grinders:

Using Javapresse Manual Grinder

First thing I noticed is the heavy, smokey, even tobacco-like aroma. This tobacco-like flavor is also present in the taste. The smokey note from the “dark” side combines with the fruity note from the “light” side creates the result of a cake-like feeling.  This taste reminds me more of the “traditional” coffee flavor, which kind of overpowers the sweetness. The aftertaste is very heavy, similar to the feeling after consuming a huge piece of chocolate cake that you know you shouldn’t have but still decided to eat it anyway.

Using Helor 101 with Conventional Burr

My first sip is much, much smoother. The two contrasting flavor I picked up before seems to perfectly blend together. The flavor now has the taste more similar to caramel and creams. When the fruity sweetness starts to disappear, the strong cream note stays in the mouth. As the description on the bag, “Orange, pear,” it does taste more like hard and citrus fruit. There is also a bit of green apple note present. The grinder does a marvelous job. The improvement is truly amazing.

Conclusion

I used to doubt the view that the grinder is one of the most important pieces of making better coffee. Now I don’t. The improvement the grinder update brought is beyond my expectation. The coffee itself is quite interesting. However, I do prefer the taste of Kenya Kathakwa more. I would give it an A.