Hi, I have machine that doesnt quite make it up to ideal brewing temp. I have heard that lighter roasts work better with lower temps in general. Can anyone provide me with more specifics? What country of origin or name, specific grades of roast...I prefer to buy from a local place for now, cashuacoffee.com because its cheaper, fresh, and I can get it in store the day after roast. But, I havent tried a wide range of beans. Any recommendations?

You may want to try Illy Coffee whole bean in the can. I learned the hard way that it's brewed at a much lower temp then other coffee. I think it's 196 degree or lower. It's probably not the freshest coffee you can get.

You have it wrong. Darker roasts do better at lower brew temps. Light roasts become crashingly acidic. Pick beans that have a touch of oil on them, but are still middle brown, not black.

As a generalization, darker roasts do better at lower temps, as do coffees with very low acidity. Avoid coffees that have a ton of strong flavors, bright citrus notes, etc.

I agree, lighter roasts are much more sensitive to brew temperature in my experience, becoming very sour/acidic if the temp is too low.

Blue Bottle's Roman Espresso works like a charm at low temps, and doesn't work like a charm at all at high temps. Located here in San Francisco, so I know that's mail order and all. But this blend might work in your favor. It still has a narrow window for temperature you have to be in, like most coffees in my experience. Like, you have to be within a degree to really get it right.

But alas, lately this has been their most consistently roasted blend, and on my machine, I get great results with my PID set at 201 - 203, which translates to about 180 - 182 brew temp.

cheers!

workinghard wrote:Hi, I have machine that doesnt quite make it up to ideal brewing temp. I have heard that lighter roasts work better with lower temps in general. Can anyone provide me with more specifics? What country of origin or name, specific grades of roast...I prefer to buy from a local place for now, cashuacoffee.com because its cheaper, fresh, and I can get it in store the day after roast. But, I havent tried a wide range of beans. Any recommendations?

First, run a blank shot or two before you pull your shot.

A good espresso roast might take 2 days to a week to settle after roasting before it comes into its own. So while freshness is very important, there's a window. I'm in PA and have no trouble with coffees ordered from CA or WA or KS or MN if they're shipped USPS Priority, or from NC or NY if they're shipped UPS Ground.

You might try the Espresso Trio Pack from your neighbors at counterculturecoffee in NC. This will give you a broad-brush idea of how your machine does with roasts at different depths.

Well, I want to thank all of you for your input. My wife is going to kill me though, i spend so much time reading...but I have so much to learn.

I bought some beans, and made a spur of the moment decision I now regret. I didnt realize that Full French Roast was so dark..I wanted something darker...but not this dark. lol, ugh its not funny at all...oh well, would like to have tried something new, but now I have 2 lbs of the same roast that doesnt seem like it will work well for espresso.

According to sweet marias at this point the roast really dominates the natural flavors of the bean? Cant wait to burn through these then, and I think I am going to have to start ordering online after I try their Nicaragua, which had the most amazing smell and a much better looking roast. Never smelled anything so interesting in the coffee aisle before, wish i could return these now