Dogwood Coffee Co is a Twin Cities, third-wave coffee staple, and NEON is their espresso staple. An ever-evolving but always tasty blend, I've always enjoyed how easy to use, approachable, but still interesting NEON is. Much like the seasonal blends from Ritual Coffee Roasters, NEON maintains a good comfort backbone sure to hold up in milk and please traditionalists, while incorporating just enough fruit and acidity to keep me engaged with a straight shot. In it's current form:
Colombia El Meridiano, Caturra, Fully washed
Brazil, Passeio, Natural
I typically reach for the 14g Espresso Parts HQ Ridge-less Double basket for these blends and put it on traditionally pulled autopilot. I've been pulling shots at:
- 18.3 grams in : 30-36 grams out - this coffee does very well as both a ristretto and normale. It's not too bad as a higher yield shot to tame some of the acidity either, though I find it begins to lack body when pulled too far past 38 grams.
- 27-30 seconds
- @200F
There you have it, a pretty straight forward pull. This coffee is always great in milk as well, with a lot of creamy chocolate covered fruit notes.
This is my third different batch of NEON pulled on two different machines, and it's always been a solid choice to revisit anytime I'm passing through the Twin Cities. Dogwood is quirky, Minnesota-Hockey Player-Lumberjack-hip outfit and their locations are in pretty cool neighborhoods of the cities as well. They typically have a good selection of single origin coffees that favor the lighter end of the roast spectrum as well (more on that next week). As an added bonus, Dogwood's cafes usually have Rustica Bakery's cookies (and Rustica uses and sells Dogwood Coffee). If you have a chance to pickup Rustica's Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies, DO IT! I picked up this particular bag of NEON and sent my Mom some cookies with their free shipping for Mother's Day code. Be sure to follow them both on social media to take advantage of sales and free shipping.
I'm always on the lookout for where to order from next; if you have a roaster suggestion, feel free to send it my way! Until next week, win the weekend y'all.
