How do I make a sweet low acid blend?
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BenKeith
- Posts: 309
- Joined: 10 years ago
I've decided I might start trying to drink espresso and think I want to make my own espresso blend.
I started roasting my own beans from Sweet Maria's when I first got involved with this stuff about 13 years ago. I've always ordered their espresso blends and have tried most, as well as a lot of SO coffees. I use an iRoast II and generally prefer my beans roasted between city and full city in it. One of my favorite SO's is a Guatemalan Hue that I roast on a profile that's approx. 12 1/2 minutes and stop it at 427 degrees (thermocouple in chamber). The espresso blends, I generally roast to 436 - 442 degrees.
For reference sake, I get my 1st crack around 380, depending on the bean, some come in the 370's, some on into 380s and my second crack is usually around 444 degrees. Some beans may hit SC at 442 but most are one or two beans into it by 444. I generally prefer a profile that lets the beans rise slowly in the early and mid stages but when they hit approx. 422 degrees, I step it up to finish them off in the next minute or so.
Now, with all that, I'm thinking I might start trying to drink some espresso but would like a mild body, sweet, low acid blend, if one can get such a thing. I've tried the Guatemalan I use for coffee and it's does ok as a SO espresso but not great. What I'm hoping for is some of ya'll that have tons of experience can recommend some origins that will give me what I'm looking for without having to sample a pile of different one. I guess the first thing you might say is start by getting a drum roaster, but trying to avoid that is why I've slowed the roast in the iRII down so much.
My wife is a cappuccino drinker and I got into this for her, and sometimes I like a cup myself. I've never liked straight espresso, even though I have tasted untold numbers over the years. I do taste the ones I use for cappuccino's, just to make sure they are ok, even though when you add the milk and sugar, it kinda kills everything about their original profile. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, but since getting into the cappuccino stuff, and tasting who knows how many different coffees, I have gotten where I drink more coffee than I did. Until getting into this, I probably hadn't drank five cups of coffee in my life. I still don't drink black coffee and prefer Americano's with a little sugar in them over any other brewing method. When I don't care to warm up the espresso machine just for a cup, I will use my French press if I decide to have one. My wife's not as picky, she likes that stuff out of the Keurig (she even thinks Maxwell House Master Blend taste ok????). Plus I use a Bunn Thermal when making a pot for company.
I've been having problem with extractions on my espresso machine and have been fighting that thing for a couple of months. In doing so, I've sampled hundreds of shots from numbers of different beans trying to get the thing back to making a good shot. Well, I guess I've fried my taste buds because some of them were tasting ok and I could throw in about a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and they were close to being pretty darn good, so now I've decided to see if I can come up with one I like. I don't care for that heavy body (roast flavor) and I don't like a lot of acidic sting. Just something in between and sweet, like I just added my little bit of sugar to it.
I started roasting my own beans from Sweet Maria's when I first got involved with this stuff about 13 years ago. I've always ordered their espresso blends and have tried most, as well as a lot of SO coffees. I use an iRoast II and generally prefer my beans roasted between city and full city in it. One of my favorite SO's is a Guatemalan Hue that I roast on a profile that's approx. 12 1/2 minutes and stop it at 427 degrees (thermocouple in chamber). The espresso blends, I generally roast to 436 - 442 degrees.
For reference sake, I get my 1st crack around 380, depending on the bean, some come in the 370's, some on into 380s and my second crack is usually around 444 degrees. Some beans may hit SC at 442 but most are one or two beans into it by 444. I generally prefer a profile that lets the beans rise slowly in the early and mid stages but when they hit approx. 422 degrees, I step it up to finish them off in the next minute or so.
Now, with all that, I'm thinking I might start trying to drink some espresso but would like a mild body, sweet, low acid blend, if one can get such a thing. I've tried the Guatemalan I use for coffee and it's does ok as a SO espresso but not great. What I'm hoping for is some of ya'll that have tons of experience can recommend some origins that will give me what I'm looking for without having to sample a pile of different one. I guess the first thing you might say is start by getting a drum roaster, but trying to avoid that is why I've slowed the roast in the iRII down so much.
My wife is a cappuccino drinker and I got into this for her, and sometimes I like a cup myself. I've never liked straight espresso, even though I have tasted untold numbers over the years. I do taste the ones I use for cappuccino's, just to make sure they are ok, even though when you add the milk and sugar, it kinda kills everything about their original profile. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, but since getting into the cappuccino stuff, and tasting who knows how many different coffees, I have gotten where I drink more coffee than I did. Until getting into this, I probably hadn't drank five cups of coffee in my life. I still don't drink black coffee and prefer Americano's with a little sugar in them over any other brewing method. When I don't care to warm up the espresso machine just for a cup, I will use my French press if I decide to have one. My wife's not as picky, she likes that stuff out of the Keurig (she even thinks Maxwell House Master Blend taste ok????). Plus I use a Bunn Thermal when making a pot for company.
I've been having problem with extractions on my espresso machine and have been fighting that thing for a couple of months. In doing so, I've sampled hundreds of shots from numbers of different beans trying to get the thing back to making a good shot. Well, I guess I've fried my taste buds because some of them were tasting ok and I could throw in about a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and they were close to being pretty darn good, so now I've decided to see if I can come up with one I like. I don't care for that heavy body (roast flavor) and I don't like a lot of acidic sting. Just something in between and sweet, like I just added my little bit of sugar to it.
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another_jim
- Team HB
- Posts: 13947
- Joined: 19 years ago
Look for "pulp natural" brazils and "honey process" centrals. These coffees have their skin stripped off and are dried for 24 hours with the mucilage on the bean (aka the coffee cherry pulp on the pit). This process tends to make the coffees very sweet, fruited, and low acid. Roast the coffees to a medium light roast using a low environmental temperatures (i.e. slowish roasts). Blend the centrals and brazils to get something you like.
Jim Schulman
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BenKeith (original poster)
- Posts: 309
- Joined: 10 years ago
Thanks,
With my last order I got two pounds each of the following with plans on experimenting:
Brazil Fazenda do Serrado PN Yellow Bourbon and it said it's pulp natural
Brazil Dry-Process Fazenda Furnas Lot 1
For Centrals I have the following: , which he doesn't describe any of his a "honey process"
Guatemala Antiqua Finca Cabrejo, a wet processed washed he describes as honey sweet
Guatemala Huehuetenango, another wet processed washed
Costa Rica Tarrazu Dota Providencia, which he no longer has listed so not sure of the processing.
Then I got one Nicaragua Dipilto - Finca El Recuerdo, which he describes as having a surprising vibrant acidity, a he dang sure ain't lying. That stuff is like sticking a lemon peel in your mouth.
I must have missed on the roast of the Guat Antiqua. This morning I tried some beans on a four day rest after roasting and they were not sweet and fairly acidic. These were done in approx. 12 minutes and stopped at 432 degrees. I tried 50 gram, 40 gram and 30 gram extractions in 25 seconds and they were all acidic.
With my last order I got two pounds each of the following with plans on experimenting:
Brazil Fazenda do Serrado PN Yellow Bourbon and it said it's pulp natural
Brazil Dry-Process Fazenda Furnas Lot 1
For Centrals I have the following: , which he doesn't describe any of his a "honey process"
Guatemala Antiqua Finca Cabrejo, a wet processed washed he describes as honey sweet
Guatemala Huehuetenango, another wet processed washed
Costa Rica Tarrazu Dota Providencia, which he no longer has listed so not sure of the processing.
Then I got one Nicaragua Dipilto - Finca El Recuerdo, which he describes as having a surprising vibrant acidity, a he dang sure ain't lying. That stuff is like sticking a lemon peel in your mouth.
I must have missed on the roast of the Guat Antiqua. This morning I tried some beans on a four day rest after roasting and they were not sweet and fairly acidic. These were done in approx. 12 minutes and stopped at 432 degrees. I tried 50 gram, 40 gram and 30 gram extractions in 25 seconds and they were all acidic.
