Okay...

I'm trying to track down an espresso [bean] that produces an espresso that tastes like this: smooth, creamy, light and tastes very much like a warm scoop of Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. Just a nice, mild, smooth, not over powering, flavor. Coffee flavor, but not like a cup of coffee, almost more like a cup of melted ice cream.

I've tried a number of different beans recently and most of them always seem to have a very strong/sweet flavor. Not that that is bad, but what I'm looking for is something with a lot more coffee flavor, without the sweet/sour/coffee/espresso notes.

I'm going to call the one place where I had the espresso I'm seeking and see if they can point me in the direction of what beans they are using. The only thing I can remember about the espresso was that the crema was a very light tan color (almost an ivory color, as opposed to the normal medium brownish color of most crema). The crema was also very light and airy, as I recall. When I first was served the espresso, I thought it was going to be too thin and tasteless, but it actually had a very, very nice smooth light flavor to it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on beans that might match the flavor above? And something which doesn't have such a sweet/sugary "espresso" taste, but rather more of a smooth, mellow coffee ice cream sort of flavor?

Ray

Just in case you failed to obtain that flavor in your search endeavor, you can always try the real melted coffee flavoured ice cream if that's what you're looking for.


Sorry, I was kidding, just couldn't resist saying that. I personally have no such experience yet so I cant really help you in that.

RayJohns wrote:Okay...

I'm trying to track down an espresso [bean] that produces an espresso that tastes like this: smooth, creamy, light and tastes very much like a warm scoop of Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream.

I've had the Ecco espresso blend taste kind of like that brewed around 201 degrees at 18.5 grams for a 29 second pull.

hperry wrote:I've had the Ecco espresso blend taste kind of like that brewed around 201 degrees at 18.5 grams for a 29 second pull.

Thanks for the info. I have ecco here, but it's their dark and I was brewing at 190. Are you referring to their normal Ecco or the dark?

Ray

Not the dark, but rather the regular Espresso blend. I haven't tried it on one of my smaller levers - and it works better on the pump than on the commercial lever which brews at about 198. Obviously there are other things at play besides temperature with each machine you use.

lighter, thinner crema. weaker taste, with less acitiy and complexity of flavours. Sounds like the hallmarks of a good but stale blend of coffee. Maybe try some imported italian blends and add a bit of sugar. Should get you close to coffee flavoured ice cream in a cup.

And yes, I'm serious.

h3yn0w wrote:lighter, thinner crema. weaker taste, with less acitiy and complexity of flavours. Sounds like the hallmarks of a good but stale blend of coffee. Maybe try some imported italian blends and add a bit of sugar. Should get you close to coffee flavoured ice cream in a cup.

And yes, I'm serious.

Certainly a gross mischaracterization of what the OP said - and not even close to Ecco espresso. And the Lavazza's of the world would not fit your description.

hperry wrote:Certainly a gross mischaracterization of what the OP said - and not even close to Ecco espresso. And the Lavazza's of the world would not fit your description.

Never once said I was commenting on Ecco espresso, so I'm not sure why you bring that up.

Did I mischaracterize? Op uses words like "mild, not overpowering". I use the word "weak". It's all relative. The OP states he wants something "without the sweet/sour/coffee/espresso notes". In my opinion that equates to "less acidity and complexity of flavours". I could have said bland.

I stand by my suggestion. Older vacuum packed espresso blends are weaker (mild) and had a very one dimensional "coffee" flavour. With enough sugar these could taste like coffee flavoured ice cream, if that is realty what one wanted.

Have you tried pulling lungos? If the flavors are too strong increase your flow to dilute it. Not all coffees will respond favorably but based on your description, that would be where I would start.