JmanEspresso wrote:I see a bunch of good blends listed, pretty much all of which I also like, but not neccesarily what I would say is the easiest to dial in and get good results from, especially from a newbies standpoint. And yes, for the most part, Id stick with blends, at least for now.

Personally, the easy-peasy blends, the ones which you can vary wildly what you're doing and still get a good shot, honestly with these, you dont even need to pull out the scale and weigh the shot, you can go by volume and time and your eyes, and still hit the mark. Pretty much all of these are gonna be chocolate/bass note heavy, classic espresso blends. Probably all gonna be roasted around the Full City/FullCity+ range, the classic northern italian roast. Rich mahogany sheen to the beans, no visible oils, with possible sparse drops of oil appearing as the beans age.

Redbird Espresso. Piece o cake. And you can get good results with whatever dose you like. Ive been everywhere from 16grams to 23grams. Its all gravy. Personally, I think the Brazil Sweet Blue is even easier, and tastes better. And I dont believe its a single origin in the true sense, I BELIEVE its a brazil blend, all from daterra farms, as opposed to a single varietal brazil. I could be wrong. Either way, both of these are cake.

Klatch House Espresso. A classic 5 bean blend, and a flavor profile that is harder and harder to find these days. Chocolate, Caramel, little fruit, little spice.

Batdorf&Bronson Dancing Goats. Another one that is just easy to dial in and tastes excellent.

And then lastly, I would have said Vivace Dolce.. but honestly, Dolce is pretty finicky with temperature. You really gotta hit that 203.5 mark, as close as you can to get the amazingness out of this blend. It is extremely rewarding when you get it right though. Instead I will say..

Scarlet City Roasters- Warp Drive. Scarlet Citys roaster has their roots from both Vivace Cafe, as well as Ecco Cafe/Cafe Linea. As such, this coffee is freaking amazing, and definitely reminiscent of Vivaces Dolce, as well as the now gone Ecco Cafe Espresso. It is more forgiving than Dolce, but if its possible, its even richer. Absolutely amazing coffee. The Lightspeed is a bit different, but still in the same genre of classic espresso.. really excellent as well. Ill just add, I freaking LOVE these blends. LOVE them. I absolutely loved Dolce when I first tried it, and even though its been gone for a few years, I still miss the coffee from Ecco Cafe. Scarlet City's two espresso blends hit the exact nail Im looking for, right on the head. I like all kinds of coffee, bright and snappy, to rich and heavy, and every order I make is different, rarely drinking the same stuff two weeks in a row.. But if you made me pick a favorite, it would be Scarlet City for me. Warp drive ever so slightly more than Lightspeed.


All of these blends are really easy to dial in and get going, and all of them are good for a large window of time within the freshness span of roughly 2 weeks. I generally open them when I get them at like, 3 days, and dive right in. OF course they do all peak, usually somewhere around day 6 to 10, but they're very good from the start, until they drop off around the 2 weekish mark. Feel free to find your own recipes with these of course, but, as a personal suggestion, blends like these tend to do the best, IMO, with a high dose and a slow flow. In old school terms I would have said, 20-22grams, 1.25-1.5oz in 30-35(even 40)seconds. Shot volume being measured, crema and all, the moment you turn off the shot. BUUUUUUUTT, people frown on that now, soooo.. 20-22grams in, probably 27-32grams out. Adjust to taste. I hope you find something you like!

Peppersass wrote: The Gran Macela Carmo is a blend of coffees from Brazil. Kafatek uses this blend to test its Monolith grinders and includes a bag with each new grinder. I that take as a strong endorsement from someone who knows espresso.

TomC wrote:Did he switch to GMC for the bench tests too? I know he includes it with the orders, but he was using Vivace originally wasn't he?

• Vivace Dolce Espresso ( I tried this after seeing a video from Denis pouring over a piece of brown sugar). So far, this one is my favorite.
• Red Bird Brazil Sweet Blue
• Zaza's (local Cuban restaurant that sell their espresso blend beans). The cuban colada taste amazing with this bean.
• Nossa Familia Full Cycle - This was a recommendation from here along with the Caffe Lusso... I need to spend more time to dial this in and see if I can get something as good as everyone describes... my skills are not there yet
• Caffe Lusso Gran Miscela Carmo - everyone here raves about this one... I have not been able to get something as good as the other ones above.
• Lavazza Super Crema Espresso - first one I bought that got me a decent shot... wife loves it with milk. I no longer make this for me. Finishing what we have in my wife's lattes and will not be buying again. Not because I don't like it, just that I prefer the top three on this list for now.
• Klatch WBC - yeah, could not figure out why... not something that I can say wow me...
• Counter Culture La Golondrina (not my cup of tea... really, to me, it tasted like tea... wife loved it)
• Koffe Kult Dark Roast - very dissapointed with this one... tasted just like that first test I did with the Starbucks French roast... gave it to my father-in-law to use in the Delonghi