{"id":2200,"date":"2016-09-06T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2200"},"modified":"2016-08-30T08:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T13:34:39","slug":"review-bird-rock-coffee-roasters-nebula-nectar-espresso-blend-san-diego-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2200","title":{"rendered":"Review: Bird Rock Coffee Roasters Nebula Nectar Espresso Blend (San Diego, California)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a roaster I was pretty excited to check out (again). I had received a couple of bags of Bird Rock Coffee from my sister as a birthday present a few years back (pre-blog), and I remembered the coffee being delicious, so when I had the chance to visit San Diego recently, I made sure to stop and get a bag of beans from Bird Rock. In fact, it was the first stop I made after landing at the airport. Don’t judge me too hard, it was only 2.2 miles from the terminal!<\/p>\n

Whole bean: Sweet, syrupy scent. I wrote “melon??” in my notes – I was thinking honeydew but it was hard to pinpoint. Once I ground the beans, it smelled pretty strongly of graham crackers.<\/p>\n

Espresso: I feel like I didn’t get quite as much time to experiment with these espresso beans as I would have liked, simply because I had a lot of coffees to try. But, the espresso I pulled with these beans definitely lived up to the notes on the bag in that it was very, very complex. Ristretto shots came out with notes of s’mores, graham crackers, honey, and cantaloupe. Normale shots (how I ended up preferring this espresso) came out with loads of complexity and notes of mango. For anyone that’s had the Asian candy Hi-Chew, one particular shot tasted just like the mango flavored Hi-Chew.<\/p>\n

Favorite parameters: I don’t feel like I really\u00a0discovered\u00a0all the secrets of these beans, but for anyone wanting mango Hi-Chew espresso: 199 degrees F, 18 g in, 29 g out.<\/p>\n

AeroPress: Smooth, round flavors. Not quite chocolate – more like flat Coca-Cola, which actually was a bit more pleasant than it\u00a0sounds. Floral scent.<\/p>\n

With milk: I think I made one latte with these beans for Shutterbug, and he wasn’t super enthused. It was drinkable, but I imagine this particular espresso shines best when consumed without dairy. Adding milk to something that tastes like cola\/s’mores\/melon\/mango all rolled into one? Yeah, that sounds odd to me too.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong>: Very complex, multi-layered espresso that should be consumed straight or as an Americano. I would be interested in trying this bean again sometime as I don’t feel like I unlocked all of its potential, but I sure had fun trying!<\/p>\n

From the roaster: Maple, honeydew, rose, root beer<\/p>\n

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters Limited Edition Nebula Nectar Espresso Blend<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a roaster I was pretty excited to check out (again). I had received a couple of bags of Bird Rock Coffee from my sister as a birthday present a few years back (pre-blog), and I remembered the coffee being delicious, so when I had the chance to visit San Diego recently, I made sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2219,"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":[157,8,3,154],"tags":[273,86,100,72,70,135,80,271,167,272,218,23],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tn_IMG_4875.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3232,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3232","url_meta":{"origin":2200,"position":0},"title":"Review: Square Mile Coffee Roasters Ethiopia Mormora (London, England)","date":"August 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I believe I first heard of Square Mile Coffee Roasters back when I used to do a lot of browsing on the CoffeeGeek forums, to do research for notable roasters and to gather advice for what kind of grinder and espresso machine I should invest in. I don't have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG-3152-e1535580236961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3228,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3228","url_meta":{"origin":2200,"position":1},"title":"Review: Dark Horse Coffee Roasters No Problemo Espresso Blend (San Diego, California)","date":"July 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On the same trip when I bought the Dark Horse Odd Harmonics blend, I also picked up this bag of their No Problemo, which the barista told me is their espresso blend. As of summer 2018, this is a blend of beans from Guatemala, Brazil, and Colombia. Whole bean: Smells\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG-2697-e1532962603499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1097,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1097","url_meta":{"origin":2200,"position":2},"title":"Review: Chromatic Coffee Gamut Espresso (San Jose, California)","date":"August 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a new favorite espresso blend!!! With a name like Chromatic, this is clearly an espresso blend\u00a0after my own heart. This coffee company has been on my list of must-try roasters for some time now. 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I had to wait some months before I had time to order from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Africa"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tn_IMG_6542-e1496717642647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2504,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2504","url_meta":{"origin":2200,"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! 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