Ethiopian Sidamo and Medium / Medium Dark Roast. 20g, 1.4 turns in Jx Pro, 46.4g out and took a little longer at almost a minute. The group was set 93C and the brew was set at 99C. Took 18s for the first drop into the cup. This is too long. I thought the cup isn’t going to be good. It was so good, I drank straight as an espresso. Fruity citrus and lemon grass for me. It will definitely benefit from loosening the grind. This bag will be very good for brewing for sure, which is what I will do later today. https://imgur.com/a/vTgy8Be

@"LMSC"#p1024 The beans look well roasted for a medium dark roast….who was the roaster?

@"DavecUK"#p1035 Clumsy Goat. They stated both the Peru and this Ethiopian are medium roast. I did not think so. I reckoned the Peru was medium dark / dark. That bag was ok; I was never happy with that Peruvian Bag. This Ethiopian is very good and sweet. I was erring more on the medium dark; I didn’t think it’s a dark roast, looking at the dark yellow / light brown colours at the crevice of the beans; I thought they may have been taken out just before the second crack, not at the second. Obviously, I lack a roasting experience and still learning to differentiate the roasts. 😊 You won’t call it as a dark roast, would you ? Thx

> @"LMSC"#p1039 You won’t call it as a dark roast, would you ? Thx I would call that medium dark…it's about as dark as I like to go, normally I'm in the medium or medium light camps. as my personal preference and that of my roast sharers. That roast was nowhere near 2nd crack and I would guess it's about 30-50 seconds after first…not roasted too fast because I can't see any oil and no charred chaff lines, indicating the burners going off before 1st crack and the roast allowed to coast into it. My guess for what it's worth…anyway, they did a good job.

Crown and canvas - first light Brazilian and colombian blend. Bag states dark chocolate, hazelnut and red berry and I have to say it delivers! Espresso 16g in 32g out: really rich dark chocolate and hazelnut (think greene and blacks) and a gentle acidity to finish. Lovely mouthfeel and long lasting. As a flat white everything’s sweetened up and it really pushes the hazelnut flavour. Delicious. Off to make another 😉

@"Baldrick"#p1770 Hadn't heard of Crown and Canvas before. Having looked at their website and following your positive recommendation I think I will be giving them a try.

@"Dumnorix"#p1793 very popular roaster and some great coffees by all accounts. If you check our commercial directory, you will find some good and reliable companies to use. https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/52-commercial-members-list

@"DavecUK"#p1796 Many thanks for the link.

Origin Colombia Estate Café Granja La Esperanza Farm Potosi Varietal San Juan Process Natural Altitude 1,800-2,000 masl Harvest January - April I got it from my local shop. It's got a really nice sultana smooth taste. Currently brewing it in a Aeropress 1:15 and diluting up to around a 320g cup. Really enjoying it at cooler temps.

Crankhouse, Cordillera de Fuego, anaerobic natural Caturra & Catuai - Initially hesitant & bracing myself due to the pungent, farmyard aroma off the beans, but absolutely delivers in every aspect on the flavour in cup. Complex, good perception of sweetness. Delicious! Like a coffee equivalent to mulled wine. I'm not big fan of naturals, nor Cost a Ricans generally, but I love this. 13\.6g ground at 32 on Wilfa flat, V60 02 with can strainer, 40g every 40s (each pour taking about 13s), 1st 2 pours direct on to the coffee bed, last 3 via can strainer. Dry bed 3:15 for this brew.

Mikari AA (Washed) (Kenya) from Coffee by the Casuals - two ways. Moka Pot - really rich, lots of peach. Very smooth. Pre-boiled water and AP filter, but no 'bloom'. CCD - 18g + 300g - 32 on Niche. Still steeping, but based on brews this week, flavour is more balanced, not as in your face (as expected) - not much pineapple, but more acitidty alongside the peach.

What’s in your cup this morning ?

LMSC

Cuprajake I best just taking out of the packaging and then just sealing?

Yes! However, like @dfk41 , I always rest the bags for 2-3 weeks before vac packing. Mine is auto vac and seal. However, given the risk of beans getting crushed, I stop the vac (when I think it has sucked almost all the air out) and seal. I always double seal, just in case.

dfk41

Cuprajake as @LMSC said, depending on the roast level, the beans need to rest. With my medium plus beans that is about 3 weeks. Once sealed, if the beans release gas do not worry as CO2 is widely used in the food industry for preserving! If you cut your bags slightly larger than you need then you can always cut along the seal and re do them. I have recently switched over to buying pouches that I find easier to work with

Cuprajake

Ermmm

LMSC

MediumRoastSteam

MediumRoastSteam Personally, 22 seconds is way too fast. Try a 35s shot at a slightly higher ratio (say, 18g, 42g out) and with the group temp increased a little.

The second dial pour was way too slower. 🤣

18g, 41.2g liquid, 53s, 91.5 group and 97.5 brew. It was a bit sharper (unpleasant), which wasn’t there yesterday. A click coarser and at least 0.5C lower may be enough.

CoyoteOldMan

I had a horrible gusher as it was literally the last few beans from a bag (Coffee Compass Red Roast), so with a bit of chaff and a higher-than-usual dose (21 grams vs. my usual 18). It still tasted surprisingly good - it looked like a turbo shot when it came out, and a huge amount of crema (or possibly just air mixed in!)

In 3 months of having the Leva, I think I have thrown away about 3 shots. I’m not sure if that tells you more about how good the machine is at rescuing an incompetent barista, or how non-discriminating my palate is…

MediumRoastSteam

CoyoteOldMan (Coffee Compass Red Roast)

How do you like Coffee Compass? Have you tried others from them? Is it better than Illy?

DavecUK

MediumRoastSteam I have 4 bags, one was ok (meditarranian Mocha espresso blend). Darker than I would do, but drinkable and enjoyable.

The second Gusto Gold Espresso Blend was bitter and ashy, too dark for me.

The 3rd and 4th I haven’t opened yet. Cherry Cherry🍒 espresso blend and Sweet Bourbon Espresso Blend.

First impressions on 2 bags are; I think they could beneficially roast a few shades lighter.

dutchy101

DavecUK The 3rd and 4th I haven’t opened yet. Cherry Cherry🍒 espresso blend and Sweet Bourbon Espresso Blend.

Interested to hear your thoughts on these 2. Probably my favourite ones from Coffee Compass.

MediumRoastSteam

DavecUK - I’m well familiar with CoffeeCompass. They roast on the darker side, no questions there.

They used to be my go-to roaster many moons ago. I now prefer lighter stuff - a lot lighter in fact.

Nonetheless I think their coffee is well roasted, and I don’t dislike their coffee - apart from the really dark stuff!

I ant to know whether @CoyoteOldMan liked it, as I know he’s a fan of Illy. Me personally, I think CoffeeCompass roasts at the same level (colour wise) so would be interested to know how it compares in his perspective.

I’ve tried all the coffees from CC, expect the Mahogany or Ebony roasts! Way too dark for me!

CoyoteOldMan

MediumRoastSteam I got a selection… so far I’ve tried the Milano mocha, Mediterranean mocha, mahogany Jampit, mahogany Malabar and the Red Roast blend.

All more than decent; the best ones for my taste are the Jampit and the Malabar (probably the best one of the 5), although I have to confess that they are also probably the closest to the Illy flavour. Malabar edges ahead as it’s a touch sweeter, with not as much ‘burnt’ in the burnt caramel.

I’m definitely still liking “the dark side”, and full bodied, too - but I’m about to start Mocha Italia (AKA back in black) which may be too dark even for me.

Cherry Cherry and ‘About the Town’ blend still in the freezer…

In all, I’d say it’s the best roastery (for my taste) so far, and they’ve been very quick with dispatching the order, too. Thank you for the recommendation!

CoyoteOldMan

Mocha Italia… is odd. And oily. It looks like a torrefacto - black and very shiny.

So, premise: I had a couple of hours this afternoon, so I decided to clean the grinder. Once it was open, I also decided I may as well install the new burrs (Ceado Opalglide). Between the geometry, the coating and the newness… my previous range of reference for espresso grind was 7 - 9, with Turkish somewhere between 2 - 4. I re-set the zero point, and started at 11, thinking it would be close. It came out ‘liquid’ - finer than a very fine Turkish and totally clumpy. The first grind I thought I could pull was at 24, and it nearly choked the machine. 45 grams from 18 grams, in 40 seconds excluding PI (quick!)

Very very black, and while not undrinkable (with some sugar!) it was not good, but it had notes of various things: burnt caramel, liquorice/aniseed and - strangely - something herby/floral. A Fernet Branca of a coffee. Will try again tonight, with an even lower temperature (86) and a less tight grind. Can’t say I wasn’t warned:

It is very intense in the cup with a profoundly strong character. Very dark, very rich, very roasty - not for the faint-hearted!

TomR

CoyoteOldMan

re mocha italia

it is odd, but seeing as you and I have similar tastes, I advise trying a very fine grind (on my niche I am 17-20 for the mahogany roasts and 7-10 for the Mocha Italia) an 1:1 ratio with a slow extraction - for me it then loses a lot of the bitter / burnt / strong roast flavours and is smooth dark chocalate with an interesting aftertaste. At 2:1 with faster flow I find it way too roasty and almost nauseating.

I suspect you would like their Rancheros or the King of the Mountains Brazil blend

I am interested to hear what you make of Cherry Cherry - have not tried it yet myself

TomR

CoyoteOldMan

also - the CC decaf Sucker Punch is one of my favourite espressos decaf or otherwise, and has a surprisingly long shelf life once opened

LMSC

Don Pancho again!

CoyoteOldMan

TomR Thanks for the recommendations, Tom - next time I order I’ll try them; I just got 3 × 500 bags of Malabar, Hill and Valley and Sweet Bourbon from Compass today. If I get another assortment pack with Mocha Italia, I’ll try your suggestion; the main difference is that I kept pulling well after the 1:1 (the grind was quite fine), but I can see how that might work.

Cherry Cherry - finished the ‘taster’ yesterday. Much lighter (in roast and flavour type) than the mahoganies. I wouldn’t say that it tasted of cherries, but it did have a definite fruit taste; more like peach or nectarine than cherry (still Prunus genus!). Very sweet - no bitterness at all and a very pleasant cup by itself or even with milk, as the fruit flavour is sweet and not acidic. Only ‘complaint’ is that it’s fairly light bodied and not very syrupy - or at least I couldn’t get it to brew that way - perhaps I should have gone finer grind and colder? (18 grams into 45 in ₃₅ seconds including a good 10 of preinfusion, 94/100 °C)

mathof2

Volcano Fullstream Espresso

I had it this morning with milk and in the afternoon as straight espresso. It has a very big flavour, chocolate and citrus. With milk, it seems a refined version of north Italian espresso. As straight espresso, it is white sugar sweet, which surprised me so much I forgot to observe the taste notes.

CoyoteOldMan

mathof2 white sugar sweet, which surprised me so much I forgot to observe the taste notes.

😮 It does sound unusual! I may try it once we’ve run through a few of the bags waiting now!

LMSC

Opened Blackcat’s Brazil. I was surprised it was quite darker than expected.

MediumRoastSteam

LMSC - my feedback to you: worry less about what the beans look like or the extraction looks like and focus on how it tastes like in the cup.

If roasters wanted to tell you exactly what the beans look like for each batch, they would put pictures of he roast on their website. But they don’t: instead, they try to convey the information descriptively using tasting notes.

ken0062

LMSC Had the Blackat’s Brazil resting for 7 days now, dying to start on them for espresso / flat white as running low how long do you think i should give them.

In the meantime really enjoying the Black Cat “Nicaragua - Santa Luz Estate ’Blueberry Candy” as a V60

MediumRoastSteam

Road Rash with a hipster twist: I placed a wet cut out to shape aeropress paper at the bottom of the basket. it’s a much cleaner taste, which I quite enjoyed it.

One interesting aspect is that it seems to give me a slightly stronger kick than without it. I have no means of measuring it, but my head seems to give me consistent feedback every time I try it.

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