Showdown is over!
I was thinking that the two would perform similarly and boy was I wrong. The flavor profile is quite different.
Setup:
Baratza Precisio setup just a bit coarser than for drip.
Pino pro
90+ Ethiopian Tchembe N2 5 days rest. city++
First up is the Espro. This a nice and sturdy piece of equipment, like most items from Espro. Stainless steel polished outside with a matte finish inside, solid handle, pressed logo in the cap. It isn't something I would be afraid to keep on the counter.
I set the Pino for 203F and prepped 28 grams of coffee and about .4 liters of water. 70g/l
I dropped in the coffee and added water and stirred it to settle the bloom. Inserting the plunger showed off the tight precision fit of the Espro. The grounds stop here!
Four minutes later I pushed the plunger down slowly, reminding me of an aeropress type patience because the filter is quite strict. Pouring into the cup exposed a wonderful aroma of chocolate richness. I love the way it pours! The handle, balance and spout just show off how well thought out it is.
The taste was like nothing else! It blows away the Technivorm and takes on a perfect americano from the Vivaldi. This rates up in the top 4 cups I have had this year.
A wonderful deep chocolate with a perfect amount of coffee bitter, medium acidity and bassy/deep fruit notes. It made me smile thinking that I have another 12 lbs of the Tchembe. It was sad though that I missed out on the kickstarter offering from Espro. I wanted a second cup but it only makes one:(
Well, I guess I have to use the Cafe Solo now. It is by far the sexier of the two. The polished accents combined with the glass and neoprene make for an attractive piece of equipment. The quality of the different components is very nice and seemed just a bit better finished compared to the espro.
I again set the Pino for 203F and prepared 63g of coffee and about .92l of water. 68.5g/l I pulled out the aeropress funnel to avoid any mess and dropped the coffee in. I added the water and stirred to reduce the bloom. I waited 4 minutes and poured the first cup. The stopped stayed in place and I rotated as I poured to keep the water flowing. The fancy stopper worked perfectly and the unit was easy to hold onto because the neoprene jacket.
The cup was a bit more mild when compared to the Espro. I got similar chocolate notes but it was missing some of the deep fruit I was experiencing. It was a bit lighter and cleaner tasting but didn't really hit the spot for me. It would be close between it and the Technivorm with the Cafe Solo just edging it out in flavor. The cup had allot more grounds at the bottom and some larger ones on the surface. I am not sure where they came from but it took a bit away from the experience.
Cleanup time:
The espro was pretty easy to clean up and I was able to dump a majority of the grinds into my coffee compost. A bigger espro might allow me to get a bit more out and make cleaning just a bit easier. Overall, it is just about as easy as the Technivorm to clean up and wouldn't be an issue during the morning when I am typically pressed for time.
The cafe solo stays quite warm with the jacket on and I recommend taking it off to help it cool once you are finished brewing. I almost felt naughty unzipping the jacket and exposing the glass till I saw the used grounds inside. It looks like a mess and they are hard to remove unless you just rinse the grounds down the drain. A bottle brush is a necessity and plan on taking your time cleaning it up. I can see using this when having company over or during a weekend but not during the week.
Winner: Espro
It produces a cup with the characteristics I like and cleans up easier.
Theories as to why one performed better than the other. The Espro and the Cafe solo may expose the grounds to the water the same but the pressing of the grounds may extract more from them and expose the flavors.
