• Beans: Ethiopia Sidamo Durato Bombe
  • Roaster: Gracefully Coffee Roasters (Baltimore, MD)
  • Origin: Bombe Kebele Village, Sidamo, Ethiopia
  • Roast level: Light
  • Roast date: 7/10/2025
  • Purchase date: 7/22/2025 from Gracefully curbside café
    Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
    First cup: 7/29/2025; Last cup: TBD
  • Milling process: natural; Drying process: raised beds; Elevation: 2050 to 2150 MASL; Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom;
  • Tasting notes: Blueberry, Strawberry, Watermelon
• Switch with Ode grinder (1 cup):
  • 22g coffee / 300g water (1:13.6)
  • Ode: 2
  • Water at 100°C
  • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 50-60g bloom and 60g pulses – keep drain closed until end of bloom – Finishes around 03:30

One of the cool things about buying beans from Gracefully is that the guy who sells them to you is the same guy who roasts them. While I was there, I asked if he had any brewing tips for these. The gist of what he told me was: brew them at around 1:13, bloom for 45 seconds, and shoot for a 3.5 to 4 minute total brew time. Based on that, I started these out at grind setting 2, which finishes right around 3:30. 1:13 is stronger than I’ve brewed anything in recent memory (dark roasts excluded) but I have to say that my first few cups have been pretty darned good. I’m working on perfecting my “swirling” technique to try to get as flat a bed of grounds as possible, which I think helps to produce more even and consistent extraction. The Switch helps with this, as it keeps the water in the cone during the bloom, which makes for more effective swirling. I’ve also been using slightly more bloom water lately (closer to 3x weight of the grounds, which is what I was doing a while back before cutting that down to 2x).

I really like this the way it is, but if I were to adjust anything, I may try grinding a little finer still. I’m curious if another 15-20 seconds of draw-down time will make any difference in the taste. I’ll also confess that 1:13 is a tad stronger than I’m used to nowadays, so I might just see what it’s like at 1:14 to 1:15. I wonder if a lower ratio would bring out a little more fruitiness.