It has been a long time since I drank Black Cat. I am pretty nostalgic for it but now I only see it in the Safeway, and the roast date is this past January.

Ive got some Black Cat Classic right now, roasted on the 21st. Roast level wise, its on the lighter side of medium. Certainly not the lightest espresso Ive seen, but its definitely way lighter than say, Redbird, which I would a call a classic espresso roast level(barely any oil, if any at all, but a rich mahoghany color. Black Cat is light brown, beans are dry, split is still white.)

Im defintely struggling to get something that is wowing me out of this BC. My shots are not unpleasant or acrid, they're smooth, but,just lacking. Definitely lacking in the thickness and body that I look for in an espresso blend, but this is also the more normale style I ever pull shots. Im doing 20gr in/40-44grams out. Thats way higher than I usually do. But, BC tasted quite bad pulled ristretto, and Intelly reccomends like, 18in, to roughly 40out.

I find it just very underwhelming. Definitely not the blend from back in the day, thats for sure.

(The Burundi Karyenda however, is one of the best coffees Ive had so far in 2017. Absolutely amazing)

Jeff, I like what I'm getting at an 18g in (VST) and 26g out. I've definitely found Black Cat to be nice in this lower ratio range. Maybe it's just my preference. I noticed, just now that the blend has changed again.

Haven't had Black cat in a few months but I generally dose 18.5g in, 20-30g out with good results. I tend to grind fine and use a short preinfusion at 0.5bar, fast ramp and end with slow declining profile.

Spitz.me wrote:Jeff, I like what I'm getting at an 18g in (VST) and 26g out. I've definitely found Black Cat to be nice in this lower ratio range. Maybe it's just my preference. I noticed, just now that the blend has changed again.

Well, tmrw the blend will be 8 or 9 days old, probably still right in the prime window. I will give this a try. I dont normally use the VST baskets, but I will use them to try this out. Normally I use an "old school" Synesso ridgeless double, or a faema 14gr if Im dosing below 20gr. Havent been a particular huge fan of the precision style baskets. I have a bunch, suppose I could start using them again and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion!

What temp you running? Currently I think Im 199F, but Ive been moving it between that and 201F.