On my recent trip to San Diego, I was wandering through the Little Italy Farmers’ Market when I spotted a sign outside of the Frost Me Cafe and Bakery, proudly displaying the Ritual Coffee logo. I may have squealed a little bit… I quite like the beans I’ve tried from Ritual (their Day Drinker Espresso was one of my favorites from 2017), but they charge just enough for shipping that I haven’t ordered from their online store yet. Luckily for me, the shop had multiple varieties of coffee available, and they were all pretty fresh.
Whole bean: This had a super satisfying scent: dark chocolate, plum, and gingerbread. Sweet and spicy!
V60: A toasty and delicious mix of flavors and scents of almond, plum, and salted caramel.
AeroPress: Tasted just like chocolate-covered almonds when consumed straight. With a little extra water added, it brought out more of the nut flavor.
Chemex: After the really promising results of the first two methods, I think I was expecting a bit more from this, but the resulting brew (at a 3:50 extraction) tasted a bit watered-down, and not nearly as flavorful as the previous cups.
French press: Same as the Chemex – the flavor just wasn’t as rich as I wanted.
Summary: Really delicious when brewed in a Hario V60 (I particularly liked the flavors of plum and salted caramel), and in an AeroPress (for its chocolate and almond notes).
From the roaster: Blueberry, dark chocolate, molasses
Review conducted 8 days post-roast.