YES: Crema: How I did it!

[johndoe]

This is a single post and I have read many many items here.

I finally figured out how to get Crema a nice swatch of it on each pull:

I went to a local roaster and bought a lb of coffee fresh roasted.

I ground that at lunch and pulled some shots, BINGO.

All the store bought and bulk bean was tasting like yuck.

Now I found it, fresh roasted beans and fresh burr grind, a nice hard tamp.

I use a used Aurora Simona older.

I had a devil of a time with this process, the coffee and age as well as grind were key to success.

Seems the humidity in the house plays a part as well.

Well for what it's worth. I have not used a bottomless portafilter, I only have one, but I did go to a local guy who has one and got some store training and he said the same thing, fresh beans fresh grind.

In addition, I got a lb of green Kenya and plan to try some home roasting to save time.

Fortunately the vendor is right up the street a block or so.

Try this if you doubt the age of coffee, stallness etc.

I was really doubting it at first...

In addition, Decaf does not produce the same crema regular does.

I know I am simplifying here, but I pulled about 50 shots over a month and about a lb of coffee.

How simple it is if you start off right.

I greatly appreciate the emails from those I have subscribed with and the site itself.

It saved me $ and time.

John.

[shadowfax]

It seems as though this might be best if you

rewrite in iambic pentameter

[timo888]

or hexameters .... Of beans and the man

bulk bean was tasting like yuck.

[Randy G.]

...I have read many many items here.
I finally figured out how to get Crema...on each pull:
I went to a local roaster and bought a lb of coffee fresh roasted.
Now I found it, fresh roasted beans and fresh burr grind, a nice hard tamp.
Try this if you doubt the age of coffee, stallness etc.
How simple it is if you start off right.
John.

Yes, it would seem obvious- as obvious as it is to everyone on this forum (presumably) [hopefully], and now to you, and that's a good thing. There is a lot more to espresso than just fresh beans, but all the rest is an exercise in futility without them.

From my very first pull I got crema back when Silvia arrived in late 2000. I had done lots of resecarc and started out, right from the first, roasting my own coffee. Like in most fine food preparation, quality ingredients are a must. Since espresso is coffee and water, it is very important to start out with quality coffee, and one of the key criterion of quality when it comes to coffee is freshness.

But it also does not take long to find out that the presence of crema does not indicate that the espresso is good, or even drinkable. I have had some nice, rich crema on top of espresso that would strip paint. I remember one pull that was so acidic, if the sink had not been close the floors would have gotten a rude surprise.

I struck out "a nice hard tamp" in your post to make a point that a statement like that could mean a lot of things- to some, a hard tamp is anything over 35 pounds, and I know a professional who tamps so hard that to him, a nice hard tamp is something that leaves dents in the counter top.

And although the accuracy of the following is debatable, a common quote is:
Green Coffee is good for 12 months
Roasted Coffee is good for 12 days
Ground Coffee is good for 12 minutes

[ppopp]

Be very very careful here. You're dangerously close to being bitten by the home roasting bug. There's no turning back after that. Visit the home roasting forum at your own risk.

[JimG]

There is a lot more to espresso than just fresh beans, but all the rest is an exercise in futility without them.

[vanboom]

Ground coffee stays fresh similarly to bread. If you leave it out in the open air it only takes a few minutes before it is stale. There are many ways to keep roasted beans fresh longer but imho those solutions are similar to how you would artificially lengthen the lifetime of a loaf of bread.

You can buy pretty fresh bread from a bakery, but if you don't watch out you might get bread that was left over from the previous day especially if you arrive in the morning thinking you are getting the morning's first bake. Similarly, you need to find a roaster that you can trust will give you the truth about when they roasted what they are selling.

If you want coffee consistently at its peak of "goodness", I think you should roast your own coffee. I have been roasting for about 7 years.

In my experience, coffee tastes great straight from the roaster but better on days 1, 2 and 3 after roasting. Somewhere around day 4 the coffee starts to stale and the taste goes downhill from day 4 to about day 7. After day 7, the choice between drinking day 7 coffee and roasting a new batch is easy - time to roast!

So I try to roast every 4 days becasue a new roast can sit for a day as I drink the previous day 5 roast but every once in a while I get off schedule and end up drinking day 0 coffee. (nothing wrong with that!)

Roast in a pattern long enough and your taste buds start to recognize that the store bought coffee you used to drink has the same characteristics of 12 day old stale coffee that you roasted yourself.

Imagine if the only bread accessible to us was 4 day old stale bread. We would quickly believe: "this is what bakery fresh bread tastes like" and only after baking some ourselves would we realize the gap between what you can expect from the store and what you can produce yourself.

If you are making espresso, I think you should roast your own or find a trustworty "baker" that can ensure you day 0-4 freshness.

don