• 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
    First cup: 3/16/2026; Last cup:
  • 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

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 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 it seemed plenty strong and roasty at 1:14. I may actually back most of my subsequent AP cups off to 1:15.