After working about 3 months with my Bosco Sorrento, I really noticed how this machine truly shines when I make more of the traditional Italian doubles in the 15-16 gram range. What are everyone's favorite coffee roasters and blends in this range? Here are two coffee blends that I found really shine in this range:

CCC Rustico and Red Bird blue Jaguar.

Any more suggestions? I want to place an order sometime soon. Thanks

Have enjoyed 16.5G Sweet Marias # 24 El Competitor and their # 25 blend Los Alecos this past year in the Cremina. Have been blending the blends.
El Competitor for the chocolate and Alecos for the sweetness and floral notes.

CCC Rustico is good also but doesn't have the range for my taste. With Rustico I blend with Alecos and a few grams of Yemenis. About 10 Rustico/4 and 2.6 gram ratio.
Really like Yemeni Sharasi and Harazi for mini blending.

The Yemen Mocha Harazi from Roastmasters is a killer. Taken just to the edge of second crack Which is FC.

Most of my espresso is with a few ounces of milk. With the above it is strictly straight shots.

Jordan, are you asking about coffees that perform well in a commercial spring lever group like your Bosco, or spring levers in general? If the former, I have no experience, but if the latter...Linea Caffe's baseline espresso blend is fantastic on both my Comocafe and Faemina. In fairness, that blend is amazing on my direct levers too...if you haven't tried any of George Howell's stuff - Terroir Coffee - you absolutely should. They have half a dozen SO espressos on offer at any given time and all are worth checking out (and they do a pretty broad variety of roast profiles). They have a few espresso blends that are always excellent, too.

I guess I am looking for coffees that taste great using smaller doses. I will definitely check out some of George Howells coffee. Any suggestions which of his to try first?

The largest dose I ever use on my Elektra MCAL is 14.5 grams, so if it works for me, there is a good chance you'll like it as well. Some good stuff to try might include:

Here in Florida, my favorite roaster is Panther Coffee, in Miami. Check out their East Coast Espresso blend to start with.

My two favorite roasters in the Southeast are Bodka Coffee in Alabama (try the Main Squeeze blend, or the SO Guatemelan Huehuetenango, a melange roast) and Mountain Air Roasting, in NC (the Black Balsam blend is a fantastic example of a Nordic approach to espresso roasting).

Father afield, check out Linea Coffee's Linea Blend, or Compass Coffee's Delirium Blend.

From what is currently on offer from George Howell, I've tried and enjoyed the Montecarlos Caturra from El Salvador; the Tarrazu from Costa Rica; and the Deri Kochoha from Ethiopia.

I use my own blend and not a commercial one, but for interests sake I blend Sth American, Central American, African and Indo beans and i have had nothing but compliments for the coffees pulled from my Izzo Pompeii. I also dose at 15g

24% -Sth American
20% - Central American
32% - African
24% - Indo

Its a blend that was developed by another Australian roaster, but I find it suits the Izzo very well.

I really like that idea but have a couple questions.
1. Do they all roast at the same time? Guess that depends on choices from those zones.
2. What is Sth? If its south, I was confused why you spelled out central.
3. Can you specify which beans from those areas you prefer?
4. Also do you do the 30lb tamp or a finer grind with a Light Italian tamp?
Thanks

GG wrote:I really like that idea but have a couple questions.
1. Do they all roast at the same time? Guess that depends on choices from those zones.

I use a KKTO roaster and I pre blend, so yes they roast together.

2. What is Sth? If its south, I was confused why you spelled out central.

I use South American and Central American. I find they do have different flavour profiles and the 2 distinct regions both bring something to the table (or cup!)

3. Can you specify which beans from those areas you prefer?

Currently I am using a Guatemala Huehuetenango as the central american bean and am enjoying that as a SO, I dont really prefer as such - i find that my supplyer always has an interesting range of beans from each region and I enjoy using them all.

4. Also do you do the 30lb tamp or a finer grind with a Light Italian tamp?
Thanks

Not sure! I dont think my tamp would be 30lb, but its just the rythym I have developed in my process. The big spring levers seem pretty forgiving of tamp pressure, i just dial my HG One in for the 15g I use and pull away! Not sure how light a "light italian tamp" is, but i am guessing i am somewhere inbetween the two points.

Thanks for you reply. I'm looking to get a one pound roaster soon considering the US sample roaster. Ill do some sweet Marie's even looking at larger bag purchases to try your your espresso blend!
In editing! I checked out the KK roasting.. I have recently picked up 2 of those hot top cookers at the flee market and received a ebay pop corn whirley today so as to try my hand at this. Just watched a video on the KK roasting. I'll have to explore this more. Thanks twice now!