U.S. Roasters have made giant strides in the past five years when it comes to espresso blends. Schomer should be credited at least partially for that progress, by being perhaps the loudest public voice in favor of lighter roasts for Espresso. The San Francisco dark roast slowly gave way to lighter blends and brought more American roasters in line with what is commonly referred to today as Northern Italian roast. In essence, it is a full city roast, stopped at the first snaps of the 2nd crack. Illy calls this roast Normale.

The dark roasts haven't disappeared from the menu, but their percentage decreased and you now see mostly full city or lighter roasts as the predominant offerings in espresso blends. A particular extreme on that side of the spectrum is George Howell, who's light roasts for espresso may be challenging the idea that coffee should be roasted at all.

But beyond roast level; there has been a gradual emphasis on high quality beans, with the latest trend of including COE lots in an espresso blend.

So how do American blends fare in comparison with Italian espresso blends today? For the American consumer, unless you visit Italy, there is no way to know. All the Italian espresso blends sold in the U.S. by the likes of Lavazza, Illy, Segafredo & Miscela D'oro are at least 9 months old by the time they get to the consumer. We treat 2 week old beans as unsuitable for espresso, suffice it to say that regardless of Illy's claims, those coffees are for the birds.

Jim's mention of Sandalj Coffee got me curious. An Italian green bean distributor that offers 15(!) different espresso blends most of which are designed for straight shots. In Italy, a roaster cannot sell coffee & call it espresso unless it meets strict Italian Standards. Sandalj happens to be a major league player in that field, and I thought it would make a very good representative of the latest in Italian Espresso.

So off I went and sent them an email asking If they would send me some samples for evaluation. A week later, I received in the mail 3 different blends, straight from Trieste, fresh out of the roaster (4 days from roast). I sent one to Jim for his evaluation, and stared at the other two for maybe an hour. They were 200 gram samples of the following blends: Vivaldi, (100% Arabica) Caruso (100% Arabica) and Scarlatti (15% Robusta). Jim got the Vivaldi, and I went to work on the other two.

Caruso
Roast level: Full City

Medium to heavy body, sweet & elegant with overwhelming cocoa, and some citrus, pomegranate & earth notes. The earth is on the light side, resembling amber/caramel.

Scarlatti
Roast level: Full City

Full bodied & sweet with deep low notes & accents of molasses, marzipan & figs.

To Sandalj's credit, their description on paper of what to expect in the cup is right on target. Both blends poured very well with solid extraction that could be stretched into a 2 oz double without blonding. If I were to rate them according to my personal preference Caruso would be a half point higher in overall scoring. Two very good blends but none of them exceptional. I would not rank any of them in my top five commercial blends and that notion surprisingly disappointed me. Apparently I was secretly rooting for the Italians.

This is by no mean a statistical sample of Italian espresso. But I think it is accurate none the less. I'll be able to re-examine these conclusion later this year on a planned visit to Rome.

So what happened in the past five years? I think American roasters did to the Italians what wine makers from Australia, New Zealand, Chile & Napa did to the French. A quiet coup d'etat while they were sleeping.

I believe that the Italians will eventually catch on, and perhaps return to innovation in coffee. Sixty years of experience in roasting for espresso is no small feat, and Italians take espresso as part of their national identity. They have too much in stake.

One reads that Americans brew several degrees hotter than the Italians do. Would that apply to all regions in Italy? Are the Italians extracting at cooler temperatures across the entire roast-depth spectrum?
Regards
Timo

My coffee is arriving tomorrow, and I'll report then.

I last visited Italy three years ago. My impression at the cafes was that the espresso was to a very uniform high standard, but not to the very highest standard. I think Abe's comparison with French wine, while close, is not quite accurate. The French prided themselves on producing red wines that were heads and shoulders above everyone elses'. In Italy, espresso isn't "specialty coffee," but a generic product expertly prepared, spaghetti al olio, not risotto con tartuffi bianco. This is not a knock, I've been trying for years to make a good 'al olio,' which uses only inexpensive and simple ingredients, and I have a few more decades to go to get it perfect. To make shots as good as is normal at the good bars in Italy for $1 per cup is a high skill in selecting, roasting and preparing tight budget coffee.

I think Sandalj is one of the Italian players who has awoken to the possibilities presented by espresso being specialty coffee to the rest of the world. I think this is why they are interested in our reactions to their offerings. It's a true shame that Illy seems to be leaning towards the luxury brand name style of marketing, which has little to do with quality (it's almost criminal what happened to Lindt chocolate since they got bought out by a luxury brand conglomerate). I hope Sandalj chooses another path.

timo888 wrote:One reads that Americans brew several degrees hotter than the Italians do. Would that apply to all regions in Italy? Are the Italians extracting at cooler temperatures across the entire roast-depth spectrum?
Regards
Timo

I believe that that is a misconception. The Italians measure the temperature as it exits the puck, Americans measure it before it hits the puck. In essence they are the same.

Abe Carmeli wrote:So what happened in the past five years? I think American roasters did to the Italians what wine makers from Australia, New Zealand, Chile & Napa did to the French. A quiet coup d'etat while they were sleeping.

Abe, this is a statement!
I can only confirm that my friends in Germany order from US roasters time to time because they cannot just find similar quality roasted beans in Europe.

So here's the long delayed Vivaldi story, as told in a series of email from me to Abe:

Email 1:

Hi Abe,

The Vivaldi was at a light cupping roast, barely out of the
first crack. Even at a 98C ultra-ristretto, I didn't get
anything except lemon-soaked toast. I'll cup it tomorrow, and
report.


Email 2

Hi Abe,

I cupped it twice today. At demitasse strength its still
undrinkably raw. But at regular cupping strength, it's a delight
- mollases, cinnamon, and a lot of berry-citrus fruitiness, with
just a tiny touch of tarry mud in the background. Given the
price they charge, this is a very high grade blend. I had a
Terroir Mamuto next to it, a 92 to 93 point auction Kenya, and
it was damned close, except for the tarry hint, maybe 1.5 less.

Body and Acidity scores around 8, Aroma at 9, finish at 8.5 and
taste 8, add 50, so around 91.5.

You should nudge them for some green, so you can roast it to a
proper espresso level. I think this blend could easily compete
with the best US ones at about 2/3rds the cost. But it's tough
to tell at just this cupping roast.

Email 3

Hi Abe,

An amazing addendum. I just tried it at 95C, normale single, LM
basket, 6.75 grams, really fine grind.

Brilliant, like the cup, although more honey than molasses and a
licorice finish. I usually do singles with 9 grams. They may be totally
different animals at 6 to 7.

I think this coffee may indicate that there are serious differences
in barista technique between Italy and the WBC circuit.

So THIS was the source of the dosing style thread on that other forum.

Pretty interesting.

Jasonian wrote:So THIS was the source of the dosing style thread on that other forum.

Pretty interesting.

you said it.

if i remember correctly, italians also run fairly high pressures, up around 11bar, right? wonder if this, added to the combo, will change things even more..


BTW, Abe, any info one if we can order beans from Sandalj? I remember them (sancaffe, really) having a large market share in a lot of italian cafes. good stuff. on the southern front (sicily), Torrisi is the big player.

LeoZ wrote:you said it.

if i remember correctly, italians also run fairly high pressures, up around 11bar, right? wonder if this, added to the combo, will change things even more..

.

I don't know that they do. The Italian espresso standard actually talks about 9 + - 2 bars. I doubt that 11 is the norm. It is true that home machine pumps are often preset to 11 bars by the manufacturer, but I don't think it is the standard in coffee shops.

BTW, Abe, any info one if we can order beans from Sandalj? I remember them (sancaffe, really) having a large market share in a lot of italian cafes. good stuff. on the southern front (sicily), Torrisi is the big player.

You wont get beans from Sandalj directly, but I hope that one of the local green bean importers will make those available. I forwarded my contact at Sandalj to Jim who I believe introduced the idea to a few potential greenies.

They haven't heard back. Apparently, Sandalj's current interest is in selling lots to big even for them. Maybe this will change.