Ok, here's the story. A lady comes in my shop and orders an espresso. Her accent told me she was from Italy. She gets her espresso and exclames, "You Americans like your espresso so strong!" I ask if it was over extracted or something and she explains that in her aria of northern Italy they roast their espressos very light. She grabs a bag of a Costa Rica that I had roasted very lightly (I had dumped it right as I hear the very first pops of second crack 435 or so?) and sais that the roast level she was looking for was lighter than that. So I had some samples and partial bags of Tanzanian peaberry and some Brazil Peaberry that we had decided not to reorder. I roasted them to just after first crack. Maybe 390 or so. I like it, but my business partner hates it pulled as an espresso. It's very sweet, tangy and a rather nice body.
So here are my questions: Has anyone else ever played with lighter espresso roasts? Has anyone ever been to a place (like Italy) where espresso is roasted lighter? Has anyone ever roasted anything like that? What roast level did you take it to? Just share your experience and let me know what you think.
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