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Permalink Reply by Randy Harrell on April 29, 2010 at 1:03pm

I want some

Chase Mann said:

At my previous employer (coffee Roaster and Supplier Caffe Calabria) we had a branded custom "Calabria Blend" of various beans which we then blended after roasting and cooling. Not only is it a very nice, perky, medium-ish coffee blend used for drip coffee, but also a superb espresso blend. We roasted each individual origin to just before it fully caramelized so that the caramelizing would complete during the brewing process.

I have NEVER found a better espresso ... and I'm saying this without being employed by them anymore! I will go out of my way to get my espresso drinks from Calabria ... I once took two buses just to get some.

The taste is always like a sweet and slightly-tart dark-chocolate. yum. Yum. YUM!

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Permalink Reply by Brady on April 29, 2010 at 5:48pm

Perky.

Just so you know, I'm stealing that flavor descriptor.

Wait... you don't mean "tasting of percolator", right?

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Wray on April 30, 2010 at 7:02am

I call dibs on frisky.

-bry

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Permalink Reply by b smyth on April 30, 2010 at 8:23am

As much as I like simplicity and have tried to blend an espresso using a 1/3 method, there is no substitute to a well blended espresso... and that may have two beans in it or seventeen... it is all relative to the final product.

When I roasted Hairbender my goal was to make the beans as consistent as possible, but after experimenting with different roast levels, post-blending different roast levels, etc. I found that the most influential variables on taste was bean age and the barista's skill of extraction. At Stumptown the baristas are so talented that it made us roasters look good...

When I taste espresso in a shot I look for nose, level of acidity / saltiness, body / mouth-feel, cherry, then finish. I leave those sensations open to interpretation, because every shot -even from the same roast batch and espresso machine- will be different... you have to value each extraction on it's own merit.

I've tried to cup espresso batches in order to pick what I think would be a killer extraction but in my opinion it really isn't a very useful method. It lets you know if you are in the ballpark roast-wise, but since the extraction methods are so different it isn't very reliable.




Alex Stoffregen said:

Are you using hairbender? Your description of a 5 bean blend that varied in taste from day to day didn't sound like it was working for you. In my experience roasting, the more beans in a blend, the less clarity on flavor. Tom from sweet marias has written on the topic and says that he personally doesn't use more than 3 origins in a espresso blend, because it confuses the cup. There is simply too much going on, and there is variability as the coffee matures (Coffees develop different flavors as they mature after roasting, and with 5 coffees changing at different rates, it is hard to keep consistency, even if you are pulling perfect shots every time)
I'm not trying to bash your shops espresso, i'm just wondering if you find the variability in your cup to be a positive thing, or if you are looking for something more consistent.
Alex Stoffregen said:

I would see someone about getting a better house espresso...

Ricky Sutton said:

My house espresso is a quite dynamic 5 bean blend from almost every major growing region. This means that my shots can one day taste like cherry pie filling, and the next taste like beef gravy. Unfortunately, i cannot rely on standard mechanisms, like "sweetness" to dial the espresso in. If it's tasting like tomato soup & black pepper, there probably won't be much sweetness. The same goes for any other standard dialing in concepts.
Honestly, i just balance dose, volume & extraction time until i get something that doesn't have any defects. If nothing tastes bad then i'm good.

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