So as my journey of sudden failures continues, I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for cheap (big-brand) beans that are easy to get a ‘typical’ flavour from, even if basic, to test without wasting lots of money ?
Quick recap on my problem: I was running N164 from Rave (dark roast) and enjoyed it, but encountered a ‘smoky’ aftertaste. I had only experienced this once before on some stale (45 day past roast) dark roast beans, and after research/discussion, decided that maybe I just don’t ‘appreciate’ dark roasts.
So today I start on a new Medium roast from Rave (N167) which is 12 days past roast, and I encounter two things:
- I have to grind far finer than the previous Mediums I enjoyed (N52, N7) although that’s not necessarily a problem, as all beans vary - just surprised me how much, but I’m new to this.
- I find a similar aftertaste - I say similar, because it’s less smoky and more bitter, but reminiscent of the previous problem
This leads me to the following possibilities:
- My machine/equipment, which looks clean, actually is tainting the flavours. I am ordering cleaning materials and will be testing this when they arrive.
- I’ve lost in the Rave Roast lottery and somehow the last 3 completely different bags have been so different from the previous 3 I had - highly unlikely but I guess possible ? I am trying different roasters just in case, and for more variety anyway, going forward.
- It’s just that some Medium roasts have similar finishes/notes. I am doubting this up-front, but can’t speak from experience.
- Something else. It could be that I just haven’t been able to properly extract some beans (despite every other aspect seeming fine - my palette is still new, so I may be completely missing things).
Therefore, along with any other advice, I decided it may be worth me trying some cheaper (so I don’t go broke) well-known (likely somewhat consistent) beans, that absolutely will not be ‘great’ but I can experiment and see if I can spot problems.
I could just go and pick up some Lavazza or something, but I figure there may be some solid recommendations as to which to prefer in this case.
In the meantime, I can drink my ‘odd’ beans in filter, as that tends to just make ‘boring’ coffee - at least with my current methods - so nothing actually goes to waste. I just miss espresso.