El Retiro Honey Pacamara

January 13, 2026

Dose: 20 grams
Ratio: 1:17
Grind: Significantly Finer than Neutral
Brew Time: 3:10
TDS: 1.33%
Extraction: 19.56%

Sensory Description:

A well-dialed cup of El Retiro boasts a lot of sweetness, similar to dried fruits and breakfast pastries, like a cinnamon raisin bread. You can expect a mild but pleasant acidity similar to red apples and craisins on the front end. The sweetness reminds me of milk chocolate, brown sugar, cherry cola, and candied apples, and the texture is both round and creamy. The aftertaste is reminiscent of tootsie rolls, leaving a mild chocolate and subtle citrus flavor lingering on the palate.

Dial Notes:

This coffee tasted best when ground significantly finer than our neutral grind setting. Whatever your standard grind setting is at home, I would recommend going quite a bit finer when brewing your first cup of El Retiro.

Under-extraction on this coffee came across as a little thin and weak, not maximizing the sweetness and texture that sets this coffee apart. There was a noticeable green grape / apple acidity, but a lack of complexity beyond that, as it didn’t have the abundance of sweetness to round out the flavor profile. The finish was also quite quick, and didn’t linger. In this instance, I would recommend grinding a little finer for the next brew.

Over-extraction was pretty typical from a sensory perspective. The coffee’s acidity and sweetness were overpowered by more bitter compounds resulting in cups that were comparatively flat and dull. Most of the fruit-like sweetness from a well-dialed cup was missing and replaced with more chocolate/cocoa powder notes with a slight toasted bread flavor. If this is the case, I would recommend a coarser grind moving forward.