2026-04-19 — Switch Hybrid style (last brew)

Last brew from this coffee lot.

• ~17 grams coffee, Comandante 27 clicks; 250 grams water
• Immersion with 150 grams for 2 minutes. Drawdown for ~30 seconds.
• Two pours of 50 grams each after, bringing total to 250g
• Final time: 4:30

Initial aroma:

• Fruity, acidic, sweet but not easily identifiable. Stronger than previous brews
• Initial taste: Like yesterday, higher extraction, acidity, slight hollowness.
• As it cools: stronger aftertaste, more wine like, hint of chocolate.

Mix of previous pours: more body, higher extraction, acidity, but lost some flavour notes.

2026-04-18 — Switch V60 (low temp bloom, multi-pour)

Tried something different

• 16.6 grams coffee, Comandante 27 clicks; 250 grams water
• Initial bloom: 50 grams of water at 85 degrees (50 seconds)
• Three pours (not 2) of ~65 grams each at 92 degrees till I reached 250 grams. Pouring when the previous bed was close to drained.
• Stopped at ~4:20, the bed was almost dry.

Tried this pouring method to:

• See if the low temp bloom retains some aroma notes
• If the extra pour bumps up the extraction

Notes:

• Initial aroma: Floral, but not much different than previous brews.
• Initial taste: high extraction, a bit more acidity. But also slightly hollow: the aftertaste is lacking.
• Medium hot: a bit sharper now. I'm getting some floral & citrus notes. The acidity is really nice.
• As it cools: Tea & Chocolate. Lingering aftertaste.

This was an interesting experiment! Ended up being really different than my typical brews.

2026-04-17 — Switch V60 Style (little stalled)

My standard Switch recipe, but a bit coarser.

• 16.6 grams coffee, Comandante 27 clicks; 250 grams water at 92 degrees.
• 40 second bloom (50g), 100g pours. Little agitation
• Stopped the brew at 3:40 with ~30g coffee still left to brew in the switch

Notes:

• I was paying attention to the bloom phase — there was a lot of aroma unlocked during the bloom that seems to get lost afterwards. Flowery, jasmine, etc. I may try a lower temp bloom next time (or the hybrid method where we start from immersion?).
• Initial aroma: floral, sweets, but not intense as during the bloom.
• Initial taste: Really sweet cup this time. More fruit forward than floral: but hard to pin down. Really good. Lingering sweetness.
• Medium hot: Juicier, a hint of acidity. Slightly less sweet, more tea/chocolate like.
• Cool: Lot more chocolate, great finish.

This coffee is really hard to pin down!

2026-04-16 — Switch Immersion style

Immersion brew today.

• 16.6 grams coffee, Comandante 28 clicks; 250 grams water at 95 degrees.
• Immersion for 4:15 minutes, then drawdown for 1 minute (total: 5:15 minutes)
• Uneven bed (I didn't agitate the immersion to avoid fines migration, so grounds may have settled unevenly initially)

Notes:

• Initial aroma: A bit less floral when it was just brewed. But the floral notes did come back as it cools to a drinkable temperature.
• Initial taste: Acidity is a bit muted. The mouthfeel is fuller. Aftertaste really sweet and floral. But the taste is also slightly 'rounded' out. Harder to tell individual notes apart.
• Medium hot: A bit hard to tell. Really tasty but hard to tease apart specific notes.
• Cool: Somehow a little acidity is back, but really subtle. Tea-like mostly though. Aftertaste is still sweet.

An interesting experiment, but I think I should go with pour-first methods for the rest of the brews. None of the brews have yet been the 'right' technique for this coffee.

2026-04-15 — Switch Hybrid style (stalled)

Today, did a hybrid brew that still stalled a bit.

• 16.6 grams coffee, Comandante 25 clicks; 250 grams water at 95 degrees. Cafec Abaca paper.
• 150g immersion, 100 grams pour.
• Immersion for 90 seconds, then turned on the switch. Flow rate started out strong but started to decline (grounds clogging up the paper?)
• Started the pour around 2:00. The flow out was really slow. Stopped at 4 minutes with still some 30-50 grams water left.

Notes:

• Wet aroma: I was able to pick up a hint of jasmine while the immersion was going on.
• Initial aroma: Jasmine, floral, tea. This brew brought out different notes than yesterday.
• Initial taste: Floral, chocolate, less bitter than yesterday. Really good!
• Medium hot: Tea, chocolate notes are stronger. Jasmine tea.
• As it cools: more chocolate, less floral.

This is a really excellent coffee but hard to brew! I will try a full immersion brew next.

2026-04-14 — Switch V60 style (stalled)

I just decided to open up the Substance Geisha Village Lot 35. Took it out of the freezer yesterday night and unpacked it today morning, and tried a brew.

• Switch used V60 style
• 16.6 grams coffee, Comandante 23 clicks; 250 grams water at 95 degrees. Cafec Abaca filter paper (my standard)
• Intended technique: 50-100-100

The pour was a disaster.

• Substance does really light roasts. Beans are dense.
• Even after 7 months of freezing, the beans were fresh enough thanks to the vacuum pack. They were degassing quite a lot in the bloom phase.
• The first pour surfaced a disaster: the pour was stalled, even the first pour was not brewing through. The flow rate had come to a standstill.
• I thought that maybe the filter is clogged or the coffee was too densely packed, so I tried to agitate it a bit with a spoon. Didn't help.
• I decided to pour in the rest of the water even though the first pour was only halfway through: hoping that additional water pressure would force it through. No luck
• The flow rate went to a standstill. I stopped the brew at 4 minutes, with ~60 grams still in the Switch.

I'm going to get 6 cups of this coffee (100g / 6). I'll try a hybrid & an immersion style next, and then see what to do for the remaining pours.

Notes:

• Dry aroma: hard to place. I get some floral notes, it's really pleasing but I couldn't articulate it well. This is a washed coffee, so subtle compared to naturals.
• Initial aroma: I'm getting chocolate & tea, plus some floral notes.
• Initial taste: it's slightly over extracted but still really pleasant! I think it's good I stopped the brew early. I may have salvaged what was possible. Slight bitter aftertaste unfortunately.
• Medium hot: more tea like, more chocolate. Smooth, and almost sweet, but some lingering bitterness at the end.
• As it cools: it's becoming more chocolatey. I think some of the floral notes are gone, but it's still a really pleasant cup.