{"id":124,"date":"2015-03-22T15:46:48","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T20:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=124"},"modified":"2015-10-15T22:01:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T03:01:42","slug":"review-stumptown-hair-bender-espresso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=124","title":{"rendered":"Review: Stumptown Hair Bender espresso (Portland, Oregon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first experience with Stumptown beans came years ago during a trip to Portland, Oregon for an audition. Those who know me know that I have a habit of cutting out coffee\/caffeinated beverages for a couple of weeks prior to an important audition, so the first cup of coffee I have after the audition is\u00a0over is typically HEAVENLY. I imagine I look something like Michael Scott as I approach my first cup:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Coffee would totally look like\u00a0Jim Halpert if it was in human form, right?)<\/p>\n

Anyway, I took the MAX light rail to the nearest Stumptown location I could find at the earliest possible opportunity, and I chose to get a latte to go that day. As I’m drinking it, instead of getting feelings of YES, I had feelings of ????. Keep in mind that at the time, I mostly drank milk drinks and typically favored medium-dark roast coffee that had chocolate\/nut flavors. Stumptown was quite confusing for someone that wasn’t prepared for it – I kept sipping the latte trying to pinpoint what I was tasting. I kept thinking plum sauce, which is NOT what I was expecting. I didn’t like it, yet I kept drinking trying to figure out what I didn’t like about it. Before I knew it, my drink was gone and I was left even more confused! Was it “good”? What happened??<\/p>\n

I’ve only had Stumptown coffee a couple of times since that time 5-6 years ago, so when my friend Julee brought me a bag of Hair Bender, I was ready to experience it anew.<\/p>\n

Brew parameters: 199 degrees F, 19 g in a double basket, 30\u00a0sec shot.<\/p>\n

I was jumping up and down with anticipation because the aroma coming from the bag was so buttery and spicy and rich. As a straight espresso shot, I was floored. It had such a sweet, almost candied flavor to it, with a thick and ridiculously decadent crema. The finish was refreshing and had a little heat\/spice – the warmth at the back of my throat reminded me of brandy. So good! Complex and layered and rich but not cloying.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the same shot at 198F was unbalanced in flavor and at 200F was bitter to my taste. Perhaps this is a\u00a0fairly unforgiving blend that needs to have the temperature JUST RIGHT for espresso nirvana… or maybe I just lucked out.<\/p>\n

With milk: No\u00a0plum sauce this time!\u00a0I didn’t taste any discernible fruit flavors but overall the cup seemed “fruity” to me, compared to something like the Dunn Bros. which was more smoky. The milk muted the slight brashness of the brandy notes and made for a smooth, well-rounded cup.<\/p>\n

Summary: I love this espresso! It takes some patience but whooo is it good when you coax the flavors out.<\/p>\n

From the roaster: Tasting notes: Cherry, Toffee, Fudge<\/p>\n

Stumptown Coffee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first experience with Stumptown beans came years ago during a trip to Portland, Oregon for an audition. Those who know me know that I have a habit of cutting out coffee\/caffeinated beverages for a couple of weeks prior to an important audition, so the first cup of coffee I have after the audition is\u00a0over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[8,157,13,3,154],"tags":[67,66,98,195,54],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_0814-e1430540541304.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=4164","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":0},"title":"Review: Stumptown Coffee Roasters Holler Mountain (Portland, Oregon)","date":"September 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Since most of my coffee consumption happens at home, I am not super knowledgeable about the coffee shop scene in and around Dallas. If I do go out to a cafe, it's usually to buy beans for home use, and most of the cafes carry excellent local roasters like Cultivar,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG-3963-e1536277041446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2472,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2472","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":1},"title":"Review: Stumptown Coffee Roasters Sleigh Ride (Portland, Oregon)","date":"January 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost never buy \"holiday blends,\" but this bag was a nice surprise at a Whole Foods location in Phoenix during the Christmas holidays. Impressively, it was only 4 days off roast when I bought it! That's exceptionally fresh coffee for retail, especially considering that the nearest Stumptown roasting facility\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/tn_IMG_5318-e1484591937732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=133","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":2},"title":"Mini review: Stumptown Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon (Portland, Oregon)","date":"March 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Got a little sample of this lovely Guatemala Injerto from an equally lovely friend yesterday! I may choose to do a full review of these beans someday, as I definitely liked what I tasted (when brewed in a Chemex) and would be curious how it would taste in other applications.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Central America"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_0821-e1430540559668.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":121,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=121","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":3},"title":"Review: Dunn Bros. Espresso Blend (St. Paul, Minnesota)","date":"March 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dunn Bros. is another Dallas-area roaster\/coffee shop that I've been meaning to try for a while. These beans came to me courtesy of my friend Vilma (thank you!!). I haven't had a chance to visit the Dunn Bros. store in Addison yet, but I certainly will next time I'm in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_0803-e1430540532403.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5356","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":4},"title":"The best of 2018","date":"December 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I always come to the last few weeks of the year unsure about if I've had enough \"good\" coffee to fill up a top 10 list... until I skim over all of the reviews I've written over the past 50+ weeks. Then, I'm always like \"oh yeah!!!\" It's like looking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advice"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/IMG-5732-e1545445900354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2197,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2197","url_meta":{"origin":124,"position":5},"title":"Review: Caffe Vita East Timor Hatuhei (Seattle, Washington)","date":"August 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On my recent trip to New York City, I told myself that I needed to limit my coffee purchasing to just two bags of coffee, and they needed to both be roasters which were new to me. Birch Coffee's Emma Espresso was the first, and this bag from Caffe Vita\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Asia\/Pacific"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tn_IMG_4830.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5QIia-20","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1146,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/1146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}