After much cajoling from Noll we took on some new espresso and coffee’s from [Caffè Fresco](http://www.doubleff.com/).
Tony Sciandra, the proprietor of [Caffè Fresco](http://www.doubleff.com/) makes a strong effort to educate those who buy his product. The general rules of thumb are posted on the site as well as in your purchase email he goes to a good length to make sure you understand how to use what you are purchasing.
>Fresco’s gentle roasting style ideally requires our espresso to have a min. of 5 days of rest after roast. Coffee, 3 days after roast. Day 8 is when the degassing completely subsides. For the sake of freshness it’s best to let the beans degas in their heat-sealed, one-way valved bags.
The Prime Flavor Window coincides with the rest and degassing. Our espresso begins to come into the window at day 5, and the optimum days are 7 through 14.
Your coffee has been roasted to a true Full City roast level. Therefore, for proper extraction use of a scale is suggested to measure the weight of the bean dosage. Suggest, 0.3 oz. of bean per 6 oz of water for coffee and 7 to 8 grams of bean for a single-shot of espresso.
This takes a lot of guess work out for new consumers and lets even those of us vetted to see roaster recommendations which help keep us in line. Tony lets you know the brew range as well to further create that perfect cup.
Enough common talk, what did we find. We started note taking on day 4, and finished the blend around day 12. I have to say this is one of the smoothest espresso’s I’ve had. Smooth is kind of hard to translate, was it the flavor, the body, the texture..what is smooth. Smoooth daddy-o. It was all of those things and more. It’s the most reocurring thought we had.
### Fragrance
* Caramel
* Mexican Hot Chocolate
### Aroma
* Roasty
* Clean
* Semi-Dry
* Wood…Birch maybe
* Sweet Cigar, mild
### Brightness / Acidity
* 3:5
* 2.5:5
* 4:5
* 3:5
### Taste
* Honey
* Clove
* Apple
* Cinnamon
* Toasted Almonds
* Ripe Banana
### Body
* Medium
* Comfortable
### Aftertaste
* Pastry
* Tart
* Mild Linger, then gone.
I would recommend this coffee to anyone from the beginner to a classic afficionado. As a shot it was refreshing and crisp turned into a cappuccino to latte it sweetens and near dessertifies (new word!). I found it never too heavy, never too bold. All things considered it’s just right, and it ages well too. I left one shot (beans) in the hopper and even at 20+ days it still retains much of it’s normal characteristics.
Here’s to quality purveyors of fine quality beans and practices. If you’re looking to try something new give [Caffè Fresco](http://www.doubleff.com/) some love.
-a