Verve · Ethiopia · ★☆☆☆☆
Grind: #18 pour over (way too fine) · Water: 205°F
This is where my Ethiopian education began. Started at 18 grind because that's where I'd been with other coffees. Five minute pour time told me immediately that was wrong. Everything came out bitter and over-extracted.
These small Ethiopian beans throw off all my usual grind settings. I tried to adjust on the fly but couldn't find the sweet spot before the bag was done. Looking back, I needed to go much coarser-probably up to 24-26 range.
One star for my brew results. But I bet this coffee is excellent when you know what you're doing with it. This bag taught me that Ethiopian beans are their own category. Took me another year to really figure them out, but had to start somewhere.
Sometimes a one-star experience is the beginning of actually learning something.