{"id":2077,"date":"2016-05-27T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2077"},"modified":"2016-05-26T22:29:41","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T03:29:41","slug":"review-novo-coffee-roasters-ethiopia-guji-denver-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2077","title":{"rendered":"Review: Novo Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Guji (Denver, Colorado)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent a lovely 24 hours in Denver recently, and picking\u00a0up some coffee was high on my priority list. I’ve tried coffee from a number of Denver-based roasters before (Huckleberry<\/a>, Corvus<\/a>, Commonwealth<\/a>, Boxcar<\/a>), so I was excited to see what I could get my hands on in person. As fate would have it though, I arrived in town on a Sunday afternoon and by the time I was able to hunt for some coffee shops, many of them were closing for the day. My first stop was to Huckleberry, but the location I visited was closed early that day for a staff-only event. \ud83d\ude41 I next visited a different coffee shop (don’t remember the name), but I left because they didn’t put roast dates on the bags. Third time ended up being the charm though, because I was able to find a Novo Coffee location that was open.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving, I was immediately greeted by the staff and a friendly barista named Josh offered to chat if I had any questions about the beans I was looking at. Well, that was probably a mistake on his part because we ended up talking non-stop for the next 20 minutes at least about coffee, music, perfect pitch, more coffee… Sorry for talking your ear off, dude. I do love how excited baristas get talking about their house roaster, though! It’s a good sign that the beans are crafted with pride. My original plan was to buy one bag of coffee at Novo and perhaps one other bag at a different shop, but Josh talked me into buying three bags. Novo, you might want to look into giving this man a raise!<\/p>\n

All three of the bags I bought were roasted around the same time, but I opted to start with this Ethiopia Guji because Josh seemed particularly excited about it. I just had a Guji\/Sidama from Chromatic Coffee<\/a> recently, so I was curious about if this would taste markedly different.<\/p>\n

Spoiler alert:<\/em> Yep, it sure does!<\/p>\n

Whole bean: The beans smelled a lot like strawberry jam, and once I ground them up, milk chocolate aromas emerged.<\/p>\n

V60: On my first try making this, I ended up with a 2:45 extraction time, and it was not nearly enough time. The resulting brew had a smooth aroma but tasted watered down. I was so disappointed!! However, once I tightened up the grind to result in a 3:45 extraction (which is on the long side for me with the V60), the coffee tasted a lot more flavorful, with a nice sweet milk chocolate flavor and a bit of Strawberry\u00a0Quik\u00a0character. It really wasn’t what I would call fruity, though.<\/p>\n

AeroPress: Fruity\/berry + chocolate flavor. It was a bit acidic on the finish with a bright lemony taste. I didn’t add any water to this concentrate, though, because I enjoyed the little bit of zing that came with the acidity.<\/p>\n

Chemex: This brew smelled GREAT but tasted like disappointment. Bland. It brewed for 4:05 but based on my experience with the V60, maybe you’d need to brew it longer to get any flavor out?<\/p>\n

French press: This method seemed to result in the best flavor of the four methods; the brew was a little thick with a chocolaty flavor. I wished for more fruit flavor though, as I like there to be a bit more dimension in my coffee vs. just chocolate notes.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong>: I was expecting this to be a pretty bright, lively cup based on my recent Guji experience, but I actually found it to be rather bland when brewed with my standard parameters. Perhaps it had something to do with the change in altitude? I didn’t have any coffee at the shop so I can’t say if it tasted any different there, but if you do buy this, I would recommend using a french press and perhaps try brewing it for longer than 4 minutes if that is your standard (as it is mine). It seemed to be more successful in my opinion in the immersion methods vs. the pourover ones.<\/p>\n

From the roaster: Pineapple, milk chocolate, strawberry, cream<\/p>\n

This coffee is not currently available online.<\/p>\n

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

I spent a lovely 24 hours in Denver recently, and picking\u00a0up some coffee was high on my priority list. I’ve tried coffee from a number of Denver-based roasters before (Huckleberry, Corvus, Commonwealth, Boxcar), so I was excited to see what I could get my hands on in person. As fate would have it though, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"This coffee takes some coaxing to get the flavors out, but once you do, you'll be rewarded with coffee that tastes like milk chocolate and strawberry jam.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,159,3,154],"tags":[147,33,61,51,76,172],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tn_IMG_4402.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=832","url_meta":{"origin":2077,"position":0},"title":"Review: Huckleberry Roasters Phantom Limb Blend (Denver, Colorado)","date":"July 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The next three reviews are thanks to\u00a0my lovely friend Alison, who surprised me in the best possible way by sending me a box full of coffee to try! 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There was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tn_IMG_1750.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2897,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2897","url_meta":{"origin":2077,"position":2},"title":"Review: Heart Coffee Roasters Kenya Gachuiro AB (Portland, Oregon)","date":"January 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Oak Lawn Coffee\u00a0isn't super close to my home (around 30 miles) but I count myself lucky that I'm in that part of Dallas often enough that when I feel like treating myself to beans from Heart Coffee Roasters, I can just pop into the shop and grab a fresh bag.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/tn_IMG-0380-e1514923881982.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2899,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2899","url_meta":{"origin":2077,"position":3},"title":"Review: Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters Colombia Huila Timana (Denver, Colorado)","date":"January 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I first came across Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters while in San Clemente, California last October. While there, I visited a local coffee shop called Bear Coast Coffee that was right near the beach. I was honestly just looking for any coffee at all (I wasn't being picky) so stumbling across\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chemex"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/tn_IMG-0450-e1514927346577.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3222,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3222","url_meta":{"origin":2077,"position":4},"title":"Review: Dark Horse Coffee Roasters Odd Harmonics Blend (San Diego, California)","date":"July 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I stopped into the Normal Heights location of Dark Horse Coffee Roasters on a recent weekend visit to San Diego. All of the bags on the shelves were very fresh, but this particular bag called out to me because I liked the art... I don't tend to buy a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG-2696-e1531754122831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2202","url_meta":{"origin":2077,"position":5},"title":"Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Kossa Geshe (Dallas, Texas)","date":"November 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought this bag from a Central Market location on the spur of the moment, on the eve of having a friend over for a coffee cupping. I always like throwing in a natural-process Ethiopian into a coffee cupping for its\u00a0pronounced berry sweetness, and this bag sure didn't disappoint. 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