Fixx Coffee... my experience.

llatsni

I mentioned in my Leva / Zaffiro thread that I bought my first bag of Fixx coffee the other day and was shocked at how (bad) it looked and tasted. It was so black and oily and tasted like pencils. Cracking a bean revealed visible carbonisation.

Well...

Slaphead07 saw it last night and thought it didn't look right at all, sooooo, this morning I dropped back into the Bald Barista and queried it. Buzz was shocked! He showed me a sample of what he was grinding and it was completely different: brown with only a hint of oilyness. He was very appreciative of my nerdyness and replaced the bag with a correctly roasted varietal. Will update on the hopefully improved taste later.

Slaphead07

llatsni wrote: »

I mentioned in my Leva / Zaffiro thread that I bought my first bag of Fixx coffee the other day and was shocked at how (bad) it looked and tasted. It was so black and oily and tasted like pencils. Cracking a bean revealed visible carbonisation.

Well...

Slaphead07 saw it last night and thought it didn't look right at all, sooooo, this morning I dropped back into the Bald Barista and queried it. Buzz was shocked! He showed me a sample of what he was grinding and it was completely different: brown with only a hint of oilyness. He was very appreciative of my nerdyness and replaced the bag with a correctly roasted varietal. Will update on the hopefully improved taste later.

Good stuff. It was far too dark and oily to be the usual FIXX blend (although it's been a while since I bought it) but that stuff you showed me was roasted about three times longerthan it should be - as you pointed out some beans were charcoal. It should have binned rather than sold. I'm glad Buzz took it seriously, I remember liking his FIXX blend before.

BTW your old Coffee Gaggia worked very well this morning. I'll be putting my La Pavoni on adverts any day now!

llatsni

Slaphead07 wrote: »

... BTW your old Coffee Gaggia worked very well this morning ...

Glad to hear it Maybe it'll last another 8 years!

llatsni

Eventually convinced myself to stop drinking the La Fany for at least one day and switched to the hopefully improved "Fixx" this morning.

Well, I might even go so far as to say it's a completely different coffee to what I had before, not just the correct roast. It's still dark, bold and packs a punch... but there's decent flavour there now; it makes quite a nice americano. It does seem sensitive though, as when I was dialing in the grind I noticed the flavour changed quite a bit. So, some deviation from the normal brew might yield better results. Happy now.

Slaphead07

llatsni wrote: »

, I might even go so far as to say it's a completely different coffee to what I had before....

Well that first bag was charcoal. I've always found FIXX a pretty reliable option. I bought a bag of "Sweet Espresso" from Nick in the Ranelagh Market (beside Superquinn), very nice it is too (just had a shot!). Quite an Italian profile. http://nickscoffeecompany.com/index.htm
It's good to have guys like Nick, Buzz and obviously Colin at 3FE http://www.thirdfloorespresso.com/ supplying decent coffee within walking distance.

bernie

I'm into my second 250g of Fixx Coffee and think it's as good as any of the high altitude Arabica beans I normally grind and use at home. I picked up a bag in Camden Street the last time I was at DIT.