We’re incredibly grateful for our community – for the love, feedback, and positive reviews you share every day. A huge thank you to everyone who takes it to the next level, sharing your brewing thoughts and experiences with Standout Coffee.
Today, we want to highlight Erik, who recently picked up an xBloom machine and took a deep dive into brewing, extractions, and precision. With this machine and Erik’s exceptional knowledge, Papayo by José Giraldo truly came to life.
Erik’s level of expertise, paired with the xBloom Studio, demonstrates what’s possible when craftsmanship and technology meet: perfectly dialed-in brews that bring out every nuance of our coffee.
We love seeing how far our coffees can go, and Erik’s approach to this brewing session is something special. Sit back, relax and read the full story here.
Finetuning Papayo by José Giraldo from Standout Coffee on Xbloom Studio
I had made a pre-order of the Xbloom Studio prior the European release and at the time, they offered this competition coffee from Standout Coffee. Being based in Sweden I decided to call the roastery to hear if they had any tips or other recipes to try out.
Oskar Garberg responded immediately with enthusiasm and sent me their double bloom recipe to try out. He asked me to experiment with the double bloom recipe and come back If I had any input. It should be mentioned that this recipe is not what you get on the recipe card from Xbloom when you order this coffee.
A first comparison, “straight out of the box” of the recipes made it clear that Standout Coffees double bloom recipe was more acid forward with a lighter body than that Xbloom provided. Not that Xbloom’s presentation of the coffee didn’t do it justice – It was just another style with more body.
The recipe by Standout Coffee was already close to what kind of presentation I and my spouse like to experience – Acid forward with layers of nuances. The first parameter to tweak was to change the grind size. TDS-levels were around 1,25% at the current setting and we wanted to get a little heavier body and more perceived sweetness.
Being new to dialing in with the Xbloom, the first change was to go from a grind setting at 46 to 40, all other things being equal. The TDS jumped up to 1,33% which gave an average extraction yield of 20,97%.
However, we felt that we had pushed the coffee too hard when we could start to feel some astringency in the aftertaste. This was not to say that it was a bad cup of coffee, the “window” of good is usually very wide when it comes to high quality coffee.
We decided to coarsen the grind by two steps at a time and at a grind setting of 42 the TDS jumped up to 1,40% which meant an average extraction yield of 22,07%. It’s an interesting bump, but even so, there are many other things than grind size that can affect the extraction. We had too little coffee to further investigate if this bump remained. As always, we trust our taste buds more than the instrument and decided to coarsen the grind two more steps to a setting of 44.
We leveled out on a TDS of 1.30% which equal an average extraction yield of 20,2%. We both agreed on that this presentation of the coffee really made it shine. Acidity forward with complex layers of tropical fruits and a lovely, sweet finish that was lingering. Being a natural coffee, the flavor separation was amazing. The crisp acidities upfront and the perceived red fruit sweetness in the aftertaste leaving you with a watery sensation in the mouth, just longing for another sip.
To conclude upon the initial recipe - The finetuning we made, going from a grind size setting of 46 to 44, could well be within the adjustment that is needed when the coffee has rested for little more than a month. It also shows that small adjustments in grind size of a fundamentally good recipe might be all you need to do to go from a good cup to an outstanding one.
Brew conditions & Measurements
Brew water: Municipal water, Västerås Sweden filtered with BWT Bestmax Premium
Parameters measured after filtration (2024-08-30): GH = 49,1 ± 7,1 as CaCO3, KH = 29 ± 6,9 as CaCO3 (seasonal, larger variations can be present).
TDS measurements: ATAGO Coffee Refractometer PAL (BX/TDS) with a TDS accuracy of ± 0,15%
All measurement made with multiple unfiltered samples at 24,5 degrees Celsius. All measurements are relative to the brew water which calibrated as 0,0% TDS.
Calculations made with VST Coffeetool app. Moist and CO2 levels are only estimated.
Standard paper filter from Xbloom with Sibarist Booster 45 placed in the bottom of the Omni Dripper 2 to improve /create a more even flow through the coffee bed.
Coffee
Papayo by José Giraldo
Country: Colombia
Farm: Finca Las Marias
Region: Quindio
Variety: Papayo
Fermentation: Extended drying
Process: Natural
Roast date: 2024-10-16
Roasted by Standout Coffee
All photos are taken by Erik Persson!
