Hey quick question- hopefully!

I've recently been using lighter roast coffees and am finding I have to adjust my grind quite a bit finer. Is this to be expected?

My set-up is a Ascaso Dream espresso machine, with a Rocky doserless grinder.

Previously we typically used starbucks pike place roast, which gave me 25 second shots with nice crema, using grind settings between 9-10.5 on the rocky grinder.
We've recently been using aged sumatra or other lighter roasted but bold coffees, and the shots are pulling horribly with the grinder set in the same range. I had to adjust the grind all the way down to the 4.5-5 range on the rocky to get the shots back up to the 25 second range, and although the shots are pouring better, they still lack the crema I was getting previously.

I had new seals installed in the machine recently, the coffee is as fresh as can be had from starbucks, and I have not altered anything else in my daily coffee-making technique, which is consistent if nothing else.

Any ideas?

Blends and Single Origin coffees require a different grind, even if both are roasted to the same degree.

Thanks. That makes sense- I do change my grind regularly based on coffee freshness as well as weather, roast, blend etc.

The reason I ask though, I have never had to go below a setting of 8.5 on my rocky for any of the coffees I have tried. So having to skip down to 4.5 is a pretty drastic change!

with espresso blends I find lighter roasts require COARSER grinds. With very dark roasts there is a very fine line between a good flow and choking the machine.

Extremely light roasts (stopped in the first crack) cannot even be pulled as espresso. Cupping roasts ended at the tail of the first crack or just after require very fine grinds to pull.

I think the graph of grind setting versus roast level is convex, with a finer grind needed for very light and very dark roasts, and a coarser grind for medium roasts. (My inner economist is wondering if the roast that requires the coarsest grind level of all is the best one for a given coffee).

Thanks guys. So from your replies I am thinking that the roast/blend of coffee I am using is probably not the reason I've had to adjust my grind so dramatically (loss of crema is also puzzling)

Could be a freshness issue, or related to the temperature or pressure my machine is putting out.

Any thoughts?

F.M. wrote:.......................... the coffee is as fresh as can be had from starbucks, and I have not altered anything else in my daily coffee-making technique, which is consistent if nothing else.

Any ideas?

You live in Seattle, you have local access to some very good to excellent coffee roasters.... So why are you getting your beans from Starbucks? Start searching for the problem at the source.

Frost wrote:You live in Seattle, you have local access to some very good to excellent coffee roasters.... So why are you getting your beans from Starbucks? Start searching for the problem at the source.

I work for them (doing more computer-related stuff ) so I have access to free coffee as a benefit.

Regardless, I've been using their coffee (typically gold coast or Pike place) on this machine for quite some time and have not had this particular issue previously. As I mentioned, I suspected a stale pound at first (using gold coast) and got some fresh sumatra, same issue.

I agree, there are some excellent smaller local roasters!

Frost wrote:You live in Seattle, you have local access to some very good to excellent coffee roasters.... So why are you getting your beans from Starbucks? Start searching for the problem at the source.

For those who live in Seattle Starbucks offers fresh roasted coffee. It think it was part of their "back to coffee" re-imaging this past summer.

bgn wrote:For those who live in Seattle Starbucks offers fresh roasted coffee. It think it was part of their "back to coffee" re-imaging this past summer.

Yep, there is a "clover" store near my house which carries the black apron & small batch coffees, so thats usually what we get. Recently I've been using the aged sumatra and ethiopian nardos coffees, and except for the last two days I've been very happy with the coffee!

I'm starting to think something is wrong with my machine (Ascaso Dream), especially since really nothing else has changed in terms of technique etc. I had the seals & gauge replaced two weeks ago and everything was great up until sunday. I'm going to pull some shots tonight and see if I can figure out whats going on.

Happier times... (about two weeks ago)