Blends & Temperature

[k7qz]

A question for you home roasters (and others as well!):

Dan and I were "talking" recently about the temperatures that various blends of espresso prefer being pulled at. The reference was that Cafe Fresco recommends a temp of 198-200F for their Ambrosia. If I may quote you here Dan, you mentioned:

> the general rule (is) that lighter roasts like it hotter (otherwise they tend to be sour).

This got me wondering what machine temperatures (or pressures in Bar) you all use for your various roasts? Lighter roasts vs. medium-dark roast? Have you found that varietal compositions make a significant difference? I thought it would be fun to "compare notes" along these lines realizing of course there is going to be some machine to machine difference.

-Mike

[malachi]

The simple "light roast/hot temp" and "dark roast/low temp" model has some major flaws/problems.

There are beans that are best at specific temps.
There are beans that, at certain roasts, are best at specific temps.
There are blends that are best at specific temps.

All the above are entirely dependent upon:
- your taste preferences,
- your desired flavour profile for the coffee,
- your machine,
- your dose,
- your barista style.


Some examples of the above would include:

- Monsooned Malabar has a "taint" flavour to my palate. This flavour is minimized when brewed at very high temps.
- Even though the Hairbender is a lighter roast, I prefer it at a low temp in part because I like to up-dose the coffee due to it being nearly all washed coffees.
- While Andrew Barnett prefers his Ecco Reserve espresso at a higher temp - he uses a triple basket to get the profile he desires where as I prefer it at a "midpoint" temp, slightly updosed in a double basket.

[another_jim]

If you have a bean or blend you know nothing about, by all means pick a temp suitable to the roast color. If you know about the acidity and sweetness of the blend, use that info for your first shots. If you have a lot of highgrown, high acid coffees, you may want to start with a high temperature ristretto which will sweeten and mute the high end. The same advice for a low acid, low grown, dp would be very bad, yielding an intensely bitter, overextracted shot. For these, it's best to start cool and long.

But Chris is right about needing to experiment. A new coffee should be investigated at several temperatures and extraction ranges (ristretto to normale) to find the "sweet spot." If the taste has some complexity, there may be several sweet spots that accentuate one aspect or the other. If pressure weren't such a pita to change on most machines, I'd investigate that too.

[malachi]

Can't wait for the day where we have digital pressure control...

[CaffeFresco]

Dan and I were "talking" recently about the temperatures that various blends of espresso prefer being pulled at. The reference was that Caffe Fresco recommends a temp of 198-200F for their Ambrosia. If I may quote you here Dan, you mentioned:


-Mike

Hi Mike, just a quick note before i bury my head into my world of roast&post. The temp range for the Ambrosia Espresso Blend is 199-201, and for our Daterra Reserve Espresso it's 198-200 degrees. And yes, some do like it hotter! More later, TonyS

[k7qz]

Hi Mike, just a quick note before i bury my head into my world of roast&post. The temp range for the Ambrosia Espresso Blend is 199-201, and for our Daterra Reserve Espresso it's 198-200 degrees. And yes, some do like it hotter! More later, TonyS

Thanks Tony, I'll make a note in my logbook regarding these roasts. I may have misread the suggested temp's printed on the bags.

Appreciate the correction!

Mike

[KarlSchneider]

The simple "light roast/hot temp" and "dark roast/low temp" model has some major flaws/problems.

There are beans that are best at specific temps.
There are beans that, at certain roasts, are best at specific temps.
There are blends that are best at specific temps.

All the above are entirely dependent upon:
- your taste preferences,
- your desired flavour profile for the coffee,
- your machine,
- your dose,
- your barista style.

I also note in my own roasts fascinating, dramatic changes over the first 6 days (and less change thereafter). The changes influence malachi's first, second and fourth factors (at least).