If you like bright refreshing coffee, the Qualita Oro is for you, but with a caveat if you brew espresso style.
I was looking for a light/medium roast coffee that might still have a little of its origin flavor.( **) When I saw the description for floral and fruity in a light/medium roast, I could not resist.
When I opened the package…and pay attention here, because the nose really knows, the Qualita Oro had a full rich aroma, without harshness that bites your nose (astringency) and without smokey aroma that you can almost taste (burned). The beans were the color of milk chocolate, and had a slightly scraggly rough surface with a little bit of striations. Based on that, I think this roast is City+ (**).
When I brewed this coffee espresso style, which tends to accentuate brightness in coffee, I found it had a little too much brightness. This is where blending came to the rescue!
Based on the excellent description of the Oro coffee, I guessed it might need to be balanced out by a darker roasted coffee with a neutral flavor. For that I chose the Perfetto espresso coffee because it was described as having “chocolate” flavor, but not other flavors or spices. Based on the excellent description of the Perfetto, it sounded like an ideal base for blending with the Oro.
I mixed the two (Qualita Oro, Perfetto) in equal parts, brewed espresso style and it was amazing. The super thirst-quenching brightness was balanced with a delicious light chocolate midtone free of any smokey flavor. It was amazing how these two coffees in a 50/50 blend complemented each other to make the blend better than the sum of its parts.
This is just one experiment based on my tastes and on brewing espresso style. The ratios will be different based on the brewing method and fineness of grind.
I highly recommend blending Qualita Oro + Perfetto in 1:1 ratio for espresso style brewing.
** ROAST v ORIGIN
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Just a final note on coffee roast style vs origin flavor. They do not refer to the same thing! Most common misconception is that French roast is a flavor. It is not! It refers to the degree of roasting.
Roast styles, or degree of roasting, range from super light “Cinnamon,” to the first pyrolysis crack during roasting called “City,” to the second pyrolysis crack during roasting called “Full City,” and beyond where shiny oil is clearly on the bean surface called “Vienna,” to even darker shiny oily beans with little divots breaking off the bean surfaces and all origin flavor obliterated by the roast called “French,” and then to nearly charcoaled beans with only the roast flavor of burn called “Italian.”
Origin flavors emanate from the bean itself, a result of where it is grown (latitude and longitude, terroir) and how it is processed (wet or dry). Flavors such as blueberry of a Harrar coffee, spice of a Columbian coffee, peanut of a Brazilian coffee, refreshing brightness and full body of a Guatemalan coffee, and perfect balance of a Panama coffee, should all be detectable with the right degree of roast, probably no more than Full City+.
100% Arabica
