Blackstar Coffee - Saturday, October 06, 2007 

Two brown paper bags arrived from Queensland on Thursday.

Unlike other more famous QLD brown paper bags that I remember mention of as I was growing up in Brissie, mine were actually filled with something useful - coffee beans.

The Rev, a fellow commentator on Hamo's Blog, arranged to send me a bag of "The People's Blend" and "Revolution Espresso" from Blackstar Coffee, a social enterprise that this year was made part of a Brisbane City Council social enterprise hub – an initiative to assist social enterprises in growth and sustainability.

Black Star coffee uses Free Trade Organic specialty coffees, roasted in small batches - an artisan roaster. Using a 50 year-old Probat they are fairly new on the Brisbane roasting scene but they are already making an impact - and great coffee too.... 

I tried each as a ristretto, an espresso and a flat white. It took me a few shots to adjust the pour from the Blue Horse I've been drinking this week, but after a couple of tries I had lovely thick russet ropes of espresso dripping into my cup. 

"The People's Blend" is reasonably bright (perhaps some PNG or Timor beans in the blend?) but is saved from being over acidic by the medium dark roast whuch has caramelised the sugars nicely to offset the acid in the beans. It was a very smooth taste with good mouthfeel and a clean finish. 

The pour was thick and ropey and the beans - about a week out from roasting, delivered a good rich crema. 

It cut very nicely through milk and there was a familiar flavour there reiniscent of some of the flavours from Capricorn Estate or even monsooned beans. 

"Revolution Espresso" I enjoyed the most - almost a classic espresso blend but roasted a little lighter than might be traditional. It was very balanced - not a lot of acidity but lots of warm toasty tones and a great chocolaty finish. This one was the best as a ristretto - and to my taste also the best through milk.  

I'm not entirely sure what beans are in this blend but I'd guess at an Ethiopian presence along with a South American (Columbian?) bean and some others - one day perhaps I will be able to just sniff in the direction of a bag of coffee and tell you which side of the tree from the upper ridge of the western edge of the plantation. . . 

Not likely however! 

Suffice to say I liked it a lot. 

On reflection I think that "The People's Blend" would be the better of the two in a plunger and I'll take it to work with me on Monday where I am sure my colleagues will enjoy both the coffee and the packaging.  

Speaking of which - this is pretty funky, I like the use of stamps, and maintaining a theme that is in keeping with the origins of coffee - usually from the developing world, and also reflecting the ethos of the roastery. 

Sometimes Fair Trade and Organic are not synonymous with quality, but in the case of Black Star Coffee they seem to have sourced some good quality coffees and they are roasting them well. Their choice of an older Probat roaster is a good one and the stability of the Probat delivers through these beans. 

If you live in Brisbane and you are not drinking Black Star then you may want to check it out - impressive stuff from an impressive business model.