4 Letter Word · Colombia Sidra de Luz

Shot 1 on the Colombia Sidra de Luz — 37 seconds, 44.5g yield, balance 4. The numbers look decent on paper, but the flow notes tell a different story: a restricted start, sequential right-then-left drip onset at 13 seconds, intermittent flow recovery, and a late acceleration all point to channeling throughout. You also ran 7g over your Espresso target yield. The balanced taste is likely partly channeling averaging out — some over- and under-extracted paths masking each other.

Time is Slow at 37s and ratio is Normal at 2.37. Balance landed at 4 (Balanced), which is positive, but the flow description is inconsistent with a clean puck — sequential spout activation with intermittent flow and a late surge is a channeling signature. The adjusted dose was 18.7g (0.1g retention, negligible). Lag was 10g on this shot — consistent with the known Bambino + Sidra de Luz pattern to watch.

Sidra de Luz is a double-fermentation washed micro lot — 60 days total fermentation — with tasting notes of lime, caramel, and cotton candy. Sidra is genetically dense (Bourbon × Typica), so a coarser starting grind is appropriate. At day 12 with a recommended 10-day rest, you're just entering the peak window. The bright first impression you noted fits the described crisp malic acidity from the Typica genetics — worth confirming on a clean shot before drawing conclusions. No similar bean is perfectly matched in your history, but the Carlos Efrain Cortes (light washed, Colombia Nariño) dialed in at grind 26 — this bean is medium-light, not light, so 38 is plausibly in the right zone, but the process intensity of double fermentation may mean it extracts more easily than a standard washed.

First shot on a new bean with active channeling isn't data yet — it's a prep check. Get one clean shot with right-half WDT bias before drawing any grind conclusions on the Sidra.