Paul Bassett Blend (Winning 2003 Word Barista Championship Replica Blend)

Blend: Paul Bassett Winning 2003 WBC Replica Blend
Roast type: Medium
Grinder: Mazzer Kony
Machine: Marzocco Linea
Overall: 8.8 / 10.0



PB Blend Review,

Paul Bassett has finally released his 2003 world championship replica blend for sale. I have purchased it from the paulbassett.com and have decided to review it in form of espresso. I bought a 500g bag on 12.12.06 and got it via express post the next day, incredible! The roast was really fresh only 4 days old and that was indeed overwhelming. Enough history lets get to the business end of espresso.

This is my very first review so I am going to break it up into sections so it is easy to follow.

First impression:

As soon as I opened the vacuum-sealed bag a very pleasant aroma hit my nose, A very distinct coco almost candy, fruit like aromas have quickly spread in my kitchen. The roast was toast brown in colour and the beans have just started to release the oils, which is ideal for a 4th day after roast coffee.

Dose:

After few extractions I have worked out that the best dose for this particular blend. I have worked out that by dosing just under the line in an 18 gram filter basket would give me the best results. The blend was designed to be full-bodied and very sweet.

Extraction:

The perfect extraction start was restricted for first few seconds and slowly becoming more liberal. (see video) On the video you will notice that I am pulling an approximately 20 second shot. My theory of extraction lies in colour change of this coffee, in this instance a 15 mil shot. It was very intense in flavours and rich in crema. I have diluted it in a form of a long black to pick out the fine sensory and enzymatic features of this beautiful blend.

Acidity:

The acidity was velvet like and was very delicately balanced. The velvet like acidity was more of a texture, this is due to the well-balanced blend and roast profile.

Body:

The espresso itself was really sweet due to the roasting style producing medium to full body shot. The sweetness of the body was reflected by choice of green beans that combined the blend and also the cooling time which most likely would have been under 4 minutes. By the looks of things the beans would have been packed immediately after the blending.

Sweetness.

Very sweet, achieved by green bean selection and roast profile

Sensory:

Very distinct coco, berry, toast and caramel smells. The berry however was the dominant sensory feature. I found that the blend itself was driving for sweet smells to than reflect similar enzymatic profiles into the cup.

Cup profile:

As expected coco and candy fruit were very dominant, as suggested by my sensory evaluation. The flavour really stood out. Fruit sweetness as well as caramelised sugars were very distinct as well as candy fruit and berry.

Finish:

Clean cup finish.

Overall

An outstandingly well balanced

Thanks for reading my detailed review I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed evaluating this blend. If you have any questions feel free to email me sqrl@internode.on.net

Kiril