{"id":391,"date":"2015-05-21T17:30:41","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T22:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=391"},"modified":"2015-10-15T21:57:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T02:57:51","slug":"review-red-bird-espresso-bozeman-mt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=391","title":{"rendered":"Review: Red Bird Espresso (Bozeman, Montana)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a tasting that\u00a0I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while. This is the espresso blend I mentioned previously that has a reputation for tasting like Snickers (peanut, chocolate, and caramel). I have ordered these beans several times previously and enjoyed them, but this will be my first time pulling the shots on a machine that will give me more control over variables like temperature, etc.<\/p>\n

First impressions: The USPS Priority box that these beans came in was releasing maddening smells of peanuts and chocolate and caramel. Now, to be honest, I have never cared for peanuts, and after a bad experience with a rotten peanut inside a Snickers bar when I was about 12, I have sworn off Snickers for life, but I was very much looking forward to seeing how these beans would taste in the cup. The beans are smaller than I see usually, and they are roasted to a “Northern Italian roast,” which looks on the dark side of medium. It has not been roasted long enough to make oil come to the surface of the beans, though.<\/p>\n

Favorite brew parameters: 16g\/double basket, 198 F, 25 sec pour<\/p>\n

I experimented with this blend between 6-15 days post roast. Day 6, the above brew parameter yielded a lively shot that tasted like cola and brandy. Very sweet! By day 10, the same parameters yielded a shot that was much more muted and rounded. Amazingly, this bean kept getting better with age. On day 15, I got the Snickers flavor! This blend does not taste fruity or spiky to me at all – it’s definitely more on the “comfort food” side of espresso with a nice sweet finish. Even the less-than-ideal pours from my experimentation had lots of wonderful rich, flecked, reddish-brown crema. These beans stood up VERY well in milk. I actually found my lattes that I made with this to be a bit more intense in coffee flavor that I am used to!<\/p>\n

AeroPress: Brewing this coffee in the AeroPress brought out the dark chocolate and roasted peanut flavors. I think this coffee is roasted dark enough that I more taste\u00a0the flavor of the roasting process vs. the flavor of the bean origin. I do taste a little acidity on the finish, but I can’t say I taste fruit flavors – just a little brightness.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong>: This is a very forgiving espresso blend which tastes delicious at a variety of parameters, and it’s got plenty of strength to stand up well in milk. Great for those looking for a more\u00a0chocolaty\/nutty flavor profile vs. fruity\/acidic. The price is also very reasonable – less than $13\/lb.!<\/p>\n

From the roaster:\u00a0Rich, balanced and aromatic, this espresso starts with a distinct hazelnut-chocolate aroma and progresses to sweet chocolate, toasted nut and caramel flavors in the cup, with subtle citric acidity. It finishes with a rich and lingering aftertaste. When used in other brewing methods, citrus and dried fruit notes add to the complexity and depth.<\/p>\n

Red Bird Espresso<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a tasting that\u00a0I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while. This is the espresso blend I mentioned previously that has a reputation for tasting like Snickers (peanut, chocolate, and caramel). I have ordered these beans several times previously and enjoyed them, but this will be my first time pulling the shots on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"One of the best bang-for-your-buck espressos out there, especially if you're into Snickers bars.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[158,157,8,3,154],"tags":[26,18,195,53,84],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0970-e1431289979244.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=389","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":0},"title":"Review: Red Bird Sumatra Permata Gayo (Bozeman, Montana)","date":"May 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I used to drink a fair amount of Sumatran coffee, before I started branching out to explore other flavors and lighter roasts. I haven't had a cup of Sumatra in at least a year (probably longer), so I thought\u00a0it might be nice to revisit it\u00a0with a new\u00a0roaster. Red Bird Coffee,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Asia\/Pacific"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_0969-e1431004191902.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1516","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":1},"title":"Review: Sterling Coffee Roasters Blendo Stupendo Espresso Blend (Portland, Oregon)","date":"October 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If you read my Sterling Coffee Roasters Kenya Gachatha AA review, you'll recall that I was a babbling neurotic mess at the coffee shop and the roaster himself took pity on me and gave me a bag for free, with the suggestion that if I liked what I tasted, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tn_IMG_1655.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1800,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1800","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":2},"title":"Review: Commonwealth Ontology Espresso (Denver, Colorado)","date":"February 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Along with Houndstooth Coffee, Oak Lawn Coffee is one of my go-to places in Dallas for picking up high-quality, FRESH coffee beans. 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Thankfully, I was in the area for work and was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/tn_IMG_3205.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2967,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=2967","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":3},"title":"Review: LAMILL Coffee Bliss Espresso (Alhambra, California)","date":"March 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"For anyone that read about my incredible water drama with LAMILL's Ethiopia Wote Konga beans, rest assured that for espresso tastings, I only use bottled water with a maximum of 3 grains hardness... this water has never seen a cremini mushroom. ;-) As I noted in my previous LAMILL review,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/tn_IMG-0873-e1517675602968.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6341,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=6341","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":4},"title":"Review: Simple Beans Guatemala Jovenes (La Jolla, California)","date":"August 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Chocolate lovers, you're gonna want to check this out! I will sometimes get asked by friends for help with finding a new coffee. For those people that really enjoy chocolaty, nutty, sweet black coffees, I usually think that grabbing a medium-roasted Guatemalan, Brazilian, or Mexican coffee is a good place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG-2245.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5844,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5844","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":5},"title":"Review: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Old School Espresso (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)","date":"July 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Of the seven bags of coffee I purchased during my time in Vancouver, I'd say this bag from 49th Parallel was the only one specifically marketed as espresso (the Matchstick Catalogue No. 39 was described as being fine for both espresso and coffee), so I was pretty excited to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG-6893-e1560373215585.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5QIia-6j","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391"}],"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=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1131,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/1131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}