{"id":2179,"date":"2016-07-19T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2179"},"modified":"2016-07-06T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-06T17:00:00","slug":"review-oak-cliff-coffee-roasters-hidden-city-espresso-dallas-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2179","title":{"rendered":"Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Hidden City Espresso (Dallas, Texas)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a confession to make. For quite a while, I was convinced that I didn’t like coffee\u00a0from Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters. OCCR is a Dallas-based roaster who has a sizable presence in the city, at both coffee shops and restaurants. I am all for supporting local businesses, but I had multiple experiences at local coffee shops ordering espresso and espresso-based drinks made with OCCR’s Hidden City Espresso Blend that resulted in drinks that tasted like cigarette ash. It happened often enough that I figured, “well, this must be how these beans taste, because what are the chances that 4 different baristas at 2\u00a0different\u00a0shops on different days could all be messing up?”<\/p>\n

Spoiler alert:<\/em> Apparently, the chances were good. I need to buy a lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I started to change my tune about OCCR when I was introduced to one of their single-origin coffees by a friend, and I discovered that I rather liked it brewed as pourover coffee.\u00a0I was really blown away by the Geisha coffee<\/a> I bought from them on Dallas Coffee Day last year. I like their Rosemont Crest Blend <\/a>and even have given it as a gift! However, I gave their Hidden City Espresso a wide berth until now. I am not an expert on espresso by any means, but I feel like I have decent enough technique and equipment now that I finally would be able to see for myself if what I had experienced from shops is true to the bean’s potential.<\/p>\n

Whole bean: Slightly burnt smelling to my nose. This made me nervous. However, the beans weren’t oily or overroasted; they definitely were still in “medium roast” territory.<\/p>\n

Espresso: The good news is, at no point did I pull a shot that tasted ashy or burnt. I was pretty happy about this! I got flavors of black currants, orange, spice, milk chocolate, and lilac in the various attempts. The bad news is, I never really feel like I figured this espresso out. I went through the whole bag feeling like I never quite hit upon the right parameters for espresso nirvana. I did start working with this blend a bit early – starting 4 days post-roast and ending 9 days post-roast. Perhaps I would have had different results if I waited longer.<\/p>\n

AeroPress: This was actually how I liked this coffee best. In the AeroPress, the coffee was nice and complex in flavor, with a toasty finish and a bit of citrusy zing and spicy punch to wake up the palate. I enjoyed this.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong>\u00a0The Hidden City Espresso has more complexity than I had realized. I might have to give this blend another try in the future, as I don’t feel like I have quite figured it out, but it’s much better than I thought. OCCR, I apologize for not giving your espresso a fair shake sooner.<\/p>\n

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

Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Hidden City Espresso<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a confession to make. For quite a while, I was convinced that I didn’t like coffee\u00a0from Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters. OCCR is a Dallas-based roaster who has a sizable presence in the city, at both coffee shops and restaurants. I am all for supporting local businesses, but I had multiple experiences at local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"I've had bad pulls of this bean at local shops, so I decided it was time to experiment at home to see if I could do better.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[158,157,8,3,154],"tags":[215,267,131,61,30,54,266,76,55],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tn_IMG_4732.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=91","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":0},"title":"Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters El Rio honey processed El Salvador (Dallas, Texas)","date":"March 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I like to support local businesses, and DFW has a number of local roasters I enjoy (and I do plan to cover them all in due time!). OCCR has a sizable presence here in Dallas; Davis Street Espresso (the shop next door to the OCCR roasting facility) is a popular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Central America"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/IMG_0776-e1430540441585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2696,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2696","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":1},"title":"Review: Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters Sunset Blend (Dallas, Texas)","date":"August 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Davis Street Espresso is the home cafe for Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters here in Dallas, but though I've gotten pretty familiar with OCCR over the past 2 years, I hadn't visited Davis Street Espresso until quite recently because 1) I just don't go out for espresso much and 2) I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tn_IMG_6718-e1499382545470.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5356,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5356","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":2},"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":2795,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2795","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":3},"title":"Review: Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters Barking Dog Espresso Blend (Dallas, Texas)","date":"November 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters is a Dallas-area roaster that's been on my radar for a while (since before the first Dallas Coffee Day in 2015), but I somehow had not gotten around to reviewing their beans until now. My local Whole Foods had fresh bags of this Barking Dog Espresso\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/tn_IMG-1188-e1510612981464.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2504,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2504","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":4},"title":"Review: Eiland Coffee Roasters Espresso X (Richardson, Texas)","date":"February 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\"How do you decide what coffee to buy?\" I wish I could say that I have a system for this, but I really don't! Coffee isn't my day job, so contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all day thinking about it or making plans for where to get my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/tn_IMG_5415-e1484610300501.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2894,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2894","url_meta":{"origin":2179,"position":5},"title":"The best of 2017","date":"December 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's always nice to look back at the end of the year and to take stock of all the great coffees I got to try throughout the last twelve months. 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