• Beans: Finca Terrerito (Honduras)
  • Roaster: Rise Up Coffee Roasters (Easton, MD)
  • Origin: Corquin, Copan Region, Honduras
  • Roast level: Medium
  • Roast date: 4/7/2026
  • Altitude: 1000m
  • Purchase date: 4/13/2026 from Rise Up in Easton, MD
  • Freeze date: 4/16/2026; thaw date: 4/30/2026
  • Quantity: 12oz
  • First cup: 5/3/2026; last cup:
• Pour-over with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 3
  • Water at 95°C
  • Size 2 V60
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses. Finishes around 03:10

This is the second of two bags of Honduras microlot beans that I bought at Rise Up last month. Rise Up’s web site does not mention this roast, but the farm has a web site, and the beans appear to be medium roasted. Based on my notes from the other bag (which I finished last week), I started these at grind 3 and 95°C. While there are definitely similarities between the two roasts, this one clearly tastes different — maybe a little less of an acidic “bite” to it, for want of a better description. All in all, a couple of pleasant cups so far.

5/12: This morning, I adjusted the grind from 3 to 3+2, as my last couple of cups tasted over-extracted. The brew finished at 03:00, and it was smoother and better balanced at the coarser grind. I have enough left for 7 more cups, so we’ll see if any further adjustments are needed.

• Beans: Tanzania Peaberry
  • Roaster: Amity Coffee Roasters (Greenwood, DE)
  • Origin: Tanzania
  • Roast level: Medium
  • Roast date: 4/7/2026
  • Process: Wet
  • Purchase date: 4/15/2026 from T. S. Smith Orchard Point Market in Bridgeville, DE
  • Quantity: 8oz
  • First cup: 4/28/2026; last cup: 5/11/2026
  • Tasting notes: Fruity/Winey
• Pour-over with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 2
  • Water at 95°C
  • Size 2 V60
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses. Finishes 03:10-03:15

We stopped at T. S. Smith on the way home from our quick getaway to Berlin (Maryland, not Germany), so (of course) I had to pick up a bag of Amity beans while we were there. I’ve had a few single-origin roasts from Amity, but to date, have yet to try the same roast twice, so this Tanzania Peaberry was new to me. I recently finished a bag from another roaster, so I brewed these using the same parameters, and the two taste quite similar. The mouthfeel is smooth, acidity is low, and I didn’t notice a ton of fruitiness — although if experience is any indicator, that will start to come out as the beans age. Since this is only a half-pound bag, I’ll probably alternate brewing it with something else, just so I don’t go through it too quickly.

5/11: I brewed the last few cups of this at a stronger ratio (21g/300g, or around 1:14.2) and liked it at this strength — a subsequent 1:15 cup seemed a little on the thin side, actually. Not much to add to earlier tasting notes. I always seem to have difficulty picking out fruit flavors in African coffees, and this one was no exception. Just out of curiosity, I ran a search, and the AI recommended: lower water temperature (90-93C), lower ratio (1:16-1:17), and “medium to fine, but not too fine” grind. That’s obviously very different from how I’ve been brewing it, and I might not even like it as much that way, but I might try it the next time I buy these (or similar) beans, just to see what happens.

• Roaster: Sun Bear Specialty Coffee Roasters (St. Petersburg, FL)
• Purchase date (both bags): 3/22/2026 from Sun Bear café inside Sans Market, St Petersburg, FL
• Both bags 12oz/340g
• Bag 1:
  • Origin: Ethiopia (Guji, Oromia); Farm: Mr. Girum Girma
  • Roast level: Light
  • Roast date: 3/16/2026
  • Process: Natural; Varietals: Heirloom, Ethiopian Varieties; Altitude: 1500-2000 MASL
  • First cup: 3/22 or 3/23/2026; last cup: 4/19/2026
  • Tasting notes: Pecan, jasmine, apricot
• Bag 2:
  • Origin: Peru (Cajamarca); Farm: Women Lima Coffee
  • Roast level: Light
  • Roast date: 3/17/2026
  • Process: Washed; Varietals: Catimor, Caturra, Bourbon, Typica; Altitude: 1600-1900 MASL
  • First cup: 3/23 or 3/24/2026; last cup: 4/19/2026
  • Tasting notes: Jasmine, nutmeg, lemon zest
• Pour-over with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 3 (Peru), 2 (Ethiopia)
  • Water at 100°C
  • Size 1 ceramic V60, preheated
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover, 50g bloom water and 60g pulses. Stir several times in lieu of swirling. Finishes around 03:00-03:15 (Peru) or 03:30 (Ethiopia)

I always try to buy some locally-roasted coffee when I’m out of town. There are a bunch of roasters in the greater Tampa/St Petersburg area, but most of the local, non-chain roasters didn’t have retail hours on weekends. Fortunately, I was able to find Sun Bear, which was only 20 minutes from my hotel in light traffic, and had a café inside a small zero-waste grocery store that was open Sundays. They specialize in single-origin light roasts.

Brewing these has been educational. The beans are roasted more lightly than anything else I’ve brewed in recent memory, and are quite dense. I opened the Ethiopia bag first. I like to grind most Ethiopian beans on the finer side (usually with good results), so I started these at Ode setting 2. The grounds took longer than 4 minutes to draw down, and the end result was not very good. There was a little bit of muted fruitiness, but it was dulled by a kind of wooden roasty flavor. I guess now I know what over-extracted light roast coffee tastes like. Yesterday, I backed the grind off to setting 5, which sped the draw-down up by around 30 seconds. It was kind of like taking a veil off: the cup was much brighter and flavor-forward.

Things went similarly with the Peru beans, except I started them at setting 3. The draw-down was a tiny bit faster (it finished at about 4 minutes on the nose), but the result was similar. Actually, initially, I would have been hard-pressed to tell which of these was which. Backing the grind off to setting 5 once again made a big difference, and really brought out the lemon zest flavor.

I may adjust the grind a little bit coarser still with one or both of these, because ideally, I think I’d like them to finish brewing by 03:30. But whatever the case, this has gotten me thinking more about how I approach brewing light roasts. That being said, most beans I’ve bought in the past that are sold as “light roasts”, have been roasted darker than these. Everything is subjective, I guess.

4/5: I think I’ve got the Peru beans dialed in at grind setting 5 with the size 2 plastic V60. With these settings, the brew has been finishing just past 03:30, and the cups have been pretty good. The Ethiopia beans have proven more challenging. I’ve gone all the way to grind 7, but the brew time has still been slow, and in spite of that, grind 6 and 7 have both tasted under-extracted. Today, on a whim, I tried grind 5 with my size 1 ceramic V60, and it finished brewing just past 03:00, which is a full minute faster than with plastic. The cup was under-extracted, but with the faster brew time, I should be able to grind the beans finer now. Next time, I think I’ll try grind 3 with ceramic, and see how that turns out.

4/9: I’m now brewing the Peru beans in the ceramic V60 with grind setting 3. The brew finishes at around 03:00 with ceramic, and the past two cups have been vibrant and fruity. For Ethiopia, grind 3 was an improvement, but still lacking something. Next up will be to try grind 2. Most African beans I’ve brewed have benefited from a fine grind and a draw-down time of about 03:30, so we’ll see if that turns out to be the magic sauce. I have enough beans left to brew 5 cups of each of these.

4/12: Grind 2 with the ceramic V60 has produced the best cups with the Ethiopia beans. I think I prefer the Peru beans, but both are good light roasts. Also, similar to what I’ve been doing recently with the Switch, after I’m finished pouring, I’ve been stirring several times instead of swirling. This is more for convenience than anything else; with a 300g pour, the size 1 cone ends up rather full, so it’s hard to swirl effectively without the water sloshing out. Also, the ceramic V60 gets too hot to comfortably pick up by the bottom of the cone, and the other options for holding it (rim, base, handle) are awkward. The only downside of stirring is that it’s harder to get a perfectly flat, level bed of grounds, which is best for consistent extraction. I’ll have to experiment a little bit with the technique to see what I can do about that.

4/19: I was never consistently able to get an even bed of grounds with stirring alone. Today, I used up the last of both bags, and with each cup, I stirred as usual, but then I followed up with a really quick swirl. Both times, the bed ended up mostly even, and both cups were among the best I’ve had of each bag.

• Beans: BirdSong (blend), 16oz
  • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
  • Origin: Americas
  • Roast level: Medium/dark (6/8)
  • Roast date: 3/2/2026
  • Purchase date: 3/15/2026 from Green Valley Marketplace in Elkridge, MD
    Freeze date (partial bag): 3/15/2026; thaw date: 4/2 or 4/3/2026
    First cup: 3/16/2026; Last cup: 5/8/2026
  • Quantity: 1 pound
  • Process: n/a (blend)
  • Tasting notes: none listed on bag
• V60 with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 4
  • Water at 95°C
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover with size 2 cone, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses – finishes 02:30-02:40
• AeroPress with JX grinder:
  • 18g coffee / 250g water (1:14)
  • JX: 16
  • Water at 95°C
  • Travel AeroPress Recipe with 45s bloom; steep until 02:45
• Switch with Ode grinder:
  • 22g coffee / 330g water or 20g/300g (1:15) — OK but maybe a little thin
  • 21g coffee / 300g water (1:14.3) — strong and full-bodied
  • Ode: 5
  • Water at 95°C
  • Close drain / pour to 66g and agitate / bloom until 0:45 / top up to 330g and swirl several times / steep until 03:15 / open drain; finishes at around 04:00
• Switch method #2 (best):
  • 22g coffee / 308g water (1:14)
  • Ode: 4
  • Water at 95°C
  • Close drain / pour to 66g and agitate / bloom until 0:45 / top up to 308g and stir several times / steep until 03:15 / open drain and swirl; finishes at around 04:00

I froze about 12oz of this immediately after buying it, and am currently working on brewing up the beans I didn’t freeze. The first V60 cup I brewed (Ode grind 4, 95°C water, 1:15) was good, but the subsequent cups left a lot to be desired. I’ve brewed one cup with the AeroPress thus far (this afternoon) and it was leaps and bounds better than the V60 cups, though 1:14 was a little on the strong side. As with a lot of Zeke’s beans, the water drains through the V60 very quickly, even at rather fine grinds, which seems to lead to under-extracted cups. I think this is partially due to the method Zeke’s uses to roast their beans, which removes a lot of the chaff and fine bits that tend to hold the water in the cone longer. The upshot of that is that immersion brewing tends to produce better-extracted cups than percolation. It might make sense to skip the V60 altogether and start off my next bag of Zeke’s with the Switch or AeroPress instead.

This is my second bag of the BirdSong blend, but I had not had it in about 2 years. It looks like I brewed that entire bag with the AeroPress, but I used a coarser grind, a much stronger ratio (I seemed to brew everything at 1:12 to 1:13 back then), and cooler water. I’m not sure why I felt like I had to make it so strong, as now, it seems plenty strong and roasty at 1:14. I may actually back most of my subsequent AP cups off to 1:15.

3/26: The Switch recipe above tasted pretty similar to yesterday’s AeroPress cup, so I think I’ll use it going forward for any more cups that I brew at home. That’s the last of the beans that I didn’t initially freeze.

4/4: Switch at 1:15 seemed a little thin after a few 1:14 AeroPress cups. This afternoon, I tried 300g/21g (1:14.3) and I think I prefer it at the stronger ratio. It’s quite different from the light roasts I’ve been brewing in the morning — if this was beer, it’d be kind of like going from a light fruited ale/lager to a porter or stout.

4/8: I’ve been happy with the cups I’ve been brewing with both Switch and AeroPress, but I think the AP cups are just a tiny bit better. Hard to put my finger on it, but I think the mouthfeel is slightly fuller/richer with the AeroPress. It may just be my imagination — I’d probably need to brew two cups side-by-side to be sure, which I’m not likely to do. I have enough beans to brew 3 or 4 more Switch cups at home, and 5 more AeroPress cups at work.

4/10: Lately, in lieu of swirling, I have been stirring my Switch cups several times in both directions after pouring. This seems to leave fewer grounds stuck to the side of the filter. Up to today, I had been using a cocktail stirrer roughly the size of an iced-tea spoon. However, it was a little too large to get down into the middle of the Switch cone, which was resulting in an uneven bed with a “hump” in the middle. Today, I found another stirrer with a very small spoon end, and it did a better job leaving an even bed of grounds. I also let the cup steep a little longer, until maybe 03:45, and it tasted pretty well-balanced and well-extracted, if a few degrees cooler.

4/17: My AeroPress cups are still consistently better than my Switch cups. It seems like I’m getting more even/uniform extraction with the AeroPress. I wonder if grinding finer for the Switch would help close the gap. It’s hard to compare the grind sizes, because I’m using the JX with the AeroPress and the Ode with the Switch, but it’s pretty safe to say that setting 5 on the Ode is coarser than setting 16 on the JX.

4/22: I have enough beans left to brew 3 more 250g AeroPress cups at 1:14, plus 2 more 300g Switch cups, also at 1:14. For the latter, I’m considering two tweaks: reducing the grind size from 5 to 4, and adding a brief swirl just after opening the drain, to level out the bed. Since most of the extraction ostensibly happens during the steep phase, I’m not sure if a level bed really makes much difference, but it can’t hurt to try. I’ve seen recipes online that try to combine immersion with percolation, e.g. brewing pour-over style with the drain closed for the first half and then opening it for the second half. After spending a year or so overthinking my AeroPress brews, I’ve learned to keep things simple, with great results. As such, I’ve shied away from trying to get too fancy with the Switch, but that said, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try it just once..

4/24: “Switch method #2” above, which is based on what I wrote on 4/22, has produced two very good cups. Both were nicely extracted and just as good as my AeroPress cups. I suspect that the finer grind is the biggest difference-maker — 03:15 likely wasn’t long a enough steep time to fully extract everything at grind setting 5. That’s an advantage the Switch has over the French press: the paper filter allows for a finer grind, and hence, a faster brew time and a hotter cup. I’m aiming to get a good “baseline” Switch method dialed in, similar to what I’ve done with the AeroPress, and this seems like a step in the right direction.

5/6: I finally used up the last of this today. I froze it two weeks past roast date, and it’s now 5 weeks past the date I thawed it, which I guess makes it the equivalent of 7 weeks past roast date. I brewed most of it at the office, where I only go twice a week, so it took a while to go through the entire pound. This was very good AeroPress coffee. I recently bought a pound of Zeke’s Charm City Blend, and I’m planning on brewing most (or even all) of it at the office. I’m hoping it turns out as well as this. I expect it to last me well into the summer, so I froze it in smaller batches, to try to keep the beans fresh.

• Beans: Into the Light (blend)
  • Roaster: Brewing Good Coffee Company (Savage, MD)
  • Origins: Varies seasonally
  • Roast level: Light
  • Roast date: 2/3/2026
  • Purchase date: 2/19/2026 from BGCC in Savage Mill
  • First cup: Around 3/3/2026; last cup: 3/22/2026
  • Tasting notes: Ripe strawberry, brown sugar
• Switch with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 6
  • Water at 100°C
  • Rinse filter; close drain; pour to 60g, agitate, and steep until 0:45; top up to 300g and swirl; steep until 03:30; open drain
• AeroPress with Prismo and JX grinder:
  • 1 heaping AeroPress scoop of beans (about 17g)
  • JX: 20
  • Hotel room tap water heated 3 minutes in small microwave (pretty hot, but not quite at boil)
  • Metal and paper filters
  • Travel AeroPress Recipe

This is one of BGCC’s year-round house blends, so the specific beans used will vary seasonally. While this particular batch doesn’t knock my socks off, it’s a perfectly good cup of coffee, with light body and just a hint of acidity. I first tried it with the V60 and Ode grind setting 2 (rather fine), but did not care for how it turned out — it just seemed a little flat. The Switch recipe above brought out more body and flavor, and that’s how I’m going to continue brewing this at home. I suspect it would also make good French press coffee, and there’s a good chance I’ll be trying a few cups in the AeroPress as well.

3/17 (happy St. Patrick’s Day): The Switch has definitely been a winner with this blend. I’ve brewed several cups with it, and all have been nicely balanced with just the right amount of acidity. A few of the cups were 300g/20g, and a few were 360g/24g.

3/22: I have brewed 4 cups with the AeroPress so far. The first two, at JX grind setting 16, were on the bitter side, but setting 20 has turned out pretty good. I’ll brew one more cup tomorrow to finish up the bag.

• Beans: Indonesia (West Java)
  • Roaster: Brewing Good Coffee Company (Savage, MD)
  • Origin: Rawabogo, West Java, Indonesia
  • Roast level: Medium
  • Roast date: 2/3/2026
  • Process: Washed; Varietals: Catimor, Tim Tim, Typica; Altitude: 1350m
  • Purchase date: 2/19/2026 from BGCC in Savage Mill
  • First cup: 2/28/2026; last cup: 3/15/2026
  • Tasting notes: Full-bodied and vibrant, medium sweetness with mellow acidity, notes of chocolate, black grape, papaya, and toffee
• Pour-over with Ode grinder:
  • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
  • Ode: 4 → 3+2 → 4+1 → 5
  • Water at 99°C
  • Size 2 V60
  • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover, 60g bloom water and 60g pulses. Finishes around 02:55

From the bag: “This lot originates from a collection of 52 small farms in Rawabogo, a village in West Java known for its high-altitude coffee production and freshwater springs. Wet-hulling is the usual processing method in Indonesia, but this coffee is fully washed. The ripe cherries are pulped within 6 hours of harvest, dry-fermented for around 16 hours, thoroughly washed, then patio dried for 10-12 days, until the optimum moisture content is reached.”

This will likely be my morning cup for the next week or two. I brewed my first 3 or 4 cups at grind setting 4, and nudged it a tiny bit finer this morning. It’s definitely a full-bodied brew, with the chocolate/toffee notes outweighing any acidity/fruitiness. Most Indonesia coffees I’ve brewed seem to like a coarser grind than this one, and I’m wondering if it’s because of the washed vs wet-hulled processing. It will be interesting to see if I end up making any further adjustments as I work my way through the bag.

3/13: I’m finding myself nudging the grind coarser as the beans age. I probably should have paid more attention to my own notes (here, here, and here), and started these at grind 5 right out of the gate. One of these days, I’ll learn, but who knows how many more bags of Indonesian beans it will take to sink in. 🤣