OK. I've heard this technique discussed around here quite frequently, and to my knowledge (which, I admit is NOT all encompassing) I've not seen an eyebrow raised, or a question asked as to how "Designing" a blend for higher dosage is accomplished.
So I'm asking.

However, I won't ask why, 'cause that will surely stir up a hornets nest, and the usual debate concerning 14 grams versus 18-20 grams. Yawn.

IamSure as much as you are a IamAWriter that this would more likely be at home in the Coffees forum, but this is such a general question that asking it here is better than others.

So to do a high dose... A bean and a roast with a slower extraction would make sense. So something lighter roasted. But the bean itself would be the real question. And that I do not know.

So off to the roaster crew. What do we need?

CRCasey wrote:
So to do a high dose... A bean and a roast with a slower extraction would make sense. So something lighter roasted. But the bean itself would be the real question. And that I do not know.

I'm there as well, and am also in the dark as to blend composition, which I imagine would be a significant factor.
Maybe lower acidity varietals?
For instance, Klatch's excellent "Belle" espresso is (to my taste) on the low end of the acidity scale, and shows me lots of chocolate and dark fruit/cherry. Not a particularly light roast, however. I believe Heather/Mike suggest at least 18 gram loads?
Hopefully, "Malachi" (Chris Tacy), Jim, perhaps one of our professional roaster types will provide some information.

Last year I'd have said a low acid blend with plenty of Brazil is the ticket for higher dose shots; but that was before I tasted this years Black Cat. In this version, the Guatemalan contribution to the taste is major, and it is a highly acidic (for espresso) cherry bomb. Yet it tastes like swill at low doses, and works great at high doses (although it is the the most darned thing, some batches I've tried were easy, and others nigh impossible to dial in).

Kudos to Intelly for pushing the envelope on high dose, acidic blends, but I'm not sure there's enough experience out there to reduce it to a recipe. I was so taken by the taste that I'm using an SO Guatemala, the Agua Tibia, to match it in a less intense lower dose form. This is a cherry chocolate shot too, but works better at low to medium doses.

Last Sunday, I had some visitors and friends over, and we tried three low dose SO shots of mine, followed by high dose shots at Metropolis (Red Line), Intelly (BC), and Coffee Studio (also BC, but a mellower prep). All six shots were very distinct, but the high and low doses definitely were different genres. The high dose shots are more like oil paintings -- intense primary colors; while the lower dose shots are aquarelles -- lots of subtle gradations and transitions, but a lot more understated.

Two years ago I theorized that high dose shots were more under extracted than low dose ones and favored the highs and lows, and diminished the buffering middle flavors. I think this is only strongly true for smaller grinders. All six shots on Sunday were done on commercial conicals (Compak WBC for mine, Robur at the stores), and the high dose shots were not cartoonish, although they still were in primary colors. I'm beginning to think the switch to these "Titan Grinders" as we call them at HB, has changed some of the rules when it comes to which coffees are high dose and which low.

So my very tentative advice now, if you are using one of the Titans, is to still use some mellow Brazil in high dose blends, but not to be scared anymore of acidity, especially of the dark fruit variety. Florals and light fruit, for instance of Ethiopians, may still be more suitable at lower doses.

As usual, great stuff Jim, and again always backed up by actual trial and error.
I'm wondering how high and low dosages apply to machines like my Cremina.
I do mostly singles (Elektra basket), and have tried 14 gram up to the lip doses, and 11 gram doses, leaving about 2-3mm from the lip. More clarity with the lower dose, but a higher % of uneven pours.
Back on topic, I'm still wanting to hear from a roaster who is willing to "spill the beans"...sorry
as to WHAT goes into their recipe to produce what they consider a blend tuned to higher dosage. That would include the varietals chosen, and the specific roasting profiles.
Not that I wish to reproduce that, I'm just curious.
Jim, your response was totally satisfactory from the standpoint of respective shots based on dosage, and the resultant taste profiles. I'm just wanting to know the whys and wherefores.
Interestingly, I've always shied away from SO's like Guats for espresso, thinking they'd blow my head off.
I will try roasting SO a few of mine. Just into 2nd, then quickly stopped and cooled?

Hey Rob,

While I dont have the knowledge or information to back up my statements as Jim does, I can offer this..

When I want to make a blend geared for the triple basket, generally 20-25gr shots, I keep the majority of the blend a Brazilian(MAYBE a bolivian, depending)... Pretty much most of the vareitals work besides a few bourbon varietals.. Currently my two faves are Brazil Cerrado DP and Brazil Ipanema Tree-dried. I go a minimum of 40% and a max of 70%. Then I throw in some DP/Pulp nat. Ethiopian and maybe some Sumatra, or some Yemen. Basically what I try to do is dominate the blend with DP beans and Pulp Nat. If I want a washed bean in there, I keep the percentage low.. Id say 30% Max.. But I generally do about 15-20%, but roast is separately, and lighter.. something like City++... No snaps of 2C at all.. and then blend that with the slightly darker roasted base.

Here Is a blend I liked a lot, is pretty easy, and the components trade well with other like beans. Not to mention its tasty!

50%-Brazil Ipanema
30%-Ethiopian Birbissa <you could probably use any DP Ethiopian here, but Id skip the washed Ethiopians... IMV prob would work well also>
20%-Sumatra Lintong-Dolok Sangul

That was my most recent home-roast that I pulled almost exclusively out of my triple baskets.. using both the Synesso 18gr and the LM 21gr. I pre-blended them into a gallon zip-lock and let them sit together for 4-5 days, and then roasted them in my popper. Four 3/4cup batches, drop beans in at 250, 2 1/2mins from start of 1C to start of 2C, kill the roast at 475F/few snaps into second. Broke into the blend at 5days PR. My Therm isnt the best, so take the temps with a grain of salt. Because the blend is half brazil, I wouldnt take the roast to a rolling second.. That brazil in particular does not do well at dark roasts, which is why I like it a lot.. Im not a dark roast fan.

Another blend I did goes like this...

60%- Brazil Cerrado DP
25%- Yemen Sana'ani
------------------------
15%- Washed Costa Rican(this is what my notes say... Im ashamed I didnt write the actual varietal)

Roast the brazil and Yemen to FullCity. This was a little while back before I had a bean probe, but my notes say that there was only a few snaps of 2C and then insta-cooled. Then take the CR to a city++, which to me, is no 2C in the roaster at all, MAYBE you hear a snap or two of 2C in the cooling bed right as you dump it. Let the brazil/yemen cool separately from the CR and I let them rest alone for a day, then for 4 more days blended together. I broke into it 6days PR, and I thought it was pretty tasty. This brazil can go a little darker then the Ipanema, but since I roasted it with the Sana'ani, I kept it at Fullcity, to keep the fruit of the Yemen.

IMAWriter wrote:I will try roasting SO a few of mine. Just into 2nd, then quickly stopped and cooled?

Yeah. I stop my low dose SOs just ahead of the the first pops of the 2nd. If it's sour or undeveloped, I prefer to slow down the roast finish rather than take it darker.

IMAWriter wrote:...That would include the varietals chosen, and the specific roasting profiles.
Not that I wish to reproduce that, I'm just curious.

Our SOMA blend is designed to be a high-dose, high-temperature blend from the get-go.
Recipe are on the the bag:

10% Nimac Kapeh (2008, Atitlan, Guatemala)
15% Kiandu (2008, Nyeri, Kenya)
75% Cardenas (2008, Atitlan, Guatemala)

All components are roasted deep but only the Cardenas are taken into 2nd. All are +/-30 sec from 2nd.
Recommended brew is at 201.5°F, 19g dose, 26-28sec pull at 1.25oz to 1.75oz. 10~12 days rest at temperature controlled environment is also recommended.

coffee_monkey wrote:Our SOMA blend is designed to be a high-dose, high-temperature blend from the get-go.
Recipe are on the the bag:
[snipped]

Wow, Ben. Sounds potent. Wait 10 days, hmmmmmm?
I'd be hard put to do that.
Thanks for the input.

I have been brewing belle coffee with loser doses (16 grams) with a higher temperature with excellent results. It seems to me that the concept of overdosing was maybe created with the idea to make the consumer use more coffee? Just a thought and not to shake another hornets nest lol.