{"id":2238,"date":"2016-09-20T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2016-09-12T14:26:05","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T19:26:05","slug":"review-james-coffee-company-night-owl-espresso-blend-san-diego-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2238","title":{"rendered":"Review: James Coffee Company Night Owl Espresso Blend (San Diego, California)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve considered getting a hand grinder for making coffee when I travel, but I have yet to do so because for me, part of the excitement of traveling is trying things I can’t get at home. In the case of coffee, this means trying local coffee shops and seeing what roasters they carry. On my recent trip to the San Diego area, Shutterbug and I found ourselves in Escondido on a Sunday morning and hopped on Yelp to find a coffee place that was open. One particular place, called Culture Craft Coffee and Espresso<\/a>, caught our eye. Interestingly, we discovered it is located inside of a Lexus auto dealership! Yelpers<\/a> gave us very detailed instructions on how to find the place, for which we were grateful (what floor to park on, what floor to take the elevator to, etc.).<\/p>\n

Once we were in, we were helped by a friendly man who seemed very happy to talk coffee with me once he saw me eyeing the bags of James Coffee Co. beans that were out on the counter. I ordered an Americano to go, as we had someplace to be shortly. What I wasn’t prepared for was the explosively sweet, comforting flavor that filled my mouth when I took my first (and second, and fourteenth!) sips from the cup. Oh my goodness. The cup was filled with the aroma and flavor of caramel and brown sugar. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn someone snuck a bit of toffee\u00a0into my cup. I don’t typically drink Americanos, but it definitely was the best Americano I’ve ever had!<\/p>\n

After arriving home the next\u00a0day, I called the coffee shop to ask what beans they had used in that magical Americano, and the person on the other end told me it was the Night Owl Blend from James Coffee Company. He didn’t seem fazed at all\u00a0when I said I had the best Americano of my life at their shop – made me wonder if it’s something they hear a lot? \ud83d\ude09 In any case, I made an order from James as soon as I was able.<\/p>\n

Whole bean: Rich, chocolaty, toasty aroma.<\/p>\n

Espresso: I wasn’t quite able to replicate the brown-sugary flavor I had at the shop, but my equipment\u00a0(Baratza Vario grinder + Quick Mill Silvano machine) created some delicious shots that were heavy on the chocolate, and were very tasty in their own right.<\/p>\n

Favorite parameters: 17 g in, 32 g out, 203 degrees F, 24 second pull. I wrote in my notes, VERY CHOCOLATY!<\/p>\n

With milk: This got a thumbs-up from Shutterbug. Chocolaty espresso + steamed milk = can’t go wrong.<\/p>\n

AeroPress: Smooth result in the cup. The flavor was not\u00a0particularly distinctive or interesting, but it was pleasant.<\/p>\n

French Press: Just for fun, I tried this in a press pot. Like the AeroPress, it was smooth, but rather bland brewed this way compared to how it tastes\u00a0as espresso.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/strong> This is a pretty terrific espresso if you enjoy chocolate\/caramel\/toffee flavors. It’s great straight or in a latte! I think these beans shine best when brewed as espresso; it’s perfectly pleasant though brewed in an AeroPress. This would be a great bean to use if you don’t own an espresso machine but would like to make a coffeehouse-style drink at home.<\/a><\/p>\n

From the roaster: Organic blend of rich heavy bodied coffee with dark notes of hazelnut and maple syrup.<\/p>\n

James Coffee Company Night Owl Espresso<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve considered getting a hand grinder for making coffee when I travel, but I have yet to do so because for me, part of the excitement of traveling is trying things I can’t get at home. In the case of coffee, this means trying local coffee shops and seeing what roasters they carry. On my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Brown sugar, how come you taste soooo good???","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[157,8,3,154],"tags":[108,26,18,31,119,25],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/tn_IMG_5058-e1471281286919.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2200,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2200","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"position":0},"title":"Review: Bird Rock Coffee Roasters Nebula Nectar Espresso Blend (San Diego, California)","date":"September 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tn_IMG_4875.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3228,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=3228","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"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":2446,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2446","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"position":2},"title":"The best of 2016","date":"December 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's that time again! I had fun recalling the last 12 months of coffee adventures, though I realized that my coffee consumption was down from this time last year. In 2015, I was generally aiming to write two bean reviews a week, but I found that schedule to be unsustainable;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advice"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tn_FullSizeRender-4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2352,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2352","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"position":3},"title":"Review: Batdorf and Bronson Dancing Goats Blend (Atlanta, Georgia)","date":"December 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I started this blog, I had asked my Facebook friends to recommend some coffees to try out, and one of those coffees mentioned was this one - Batdorf and Bronson's Dancing Goats Blend (thanks, Sara!). It took me close to two years to get around to trying it, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/tn_IMG_5547-e1476634859516.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5923,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5923","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"position":4},"title":"Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Black Cat Analog Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The first time I tried Intelligentsia's Black Cat Analog Espresso was in a coffee shop. I was in Northern California for work back in 2015 and had a beautifully pulled shot at Vero's Coffee Bar in San Jose. I enjoyed it so much, I use the photo of it that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG-7216-e1562605959648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2694,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2694","url_meta":{"origin":2238,"position":5},"title":"Review: Brown Coffee Co. Cottonwood Espresso (San Antonio, Texas)","date":"July 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I ordered this bag of the Brown Cottonwood Espresso at the same time that I ordered their Candy Factory. The Candy Factory was roasted May 24, but the Cottonwood must have been roasted to order because it was roasted May 30 (I ordered May 29). 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