I'm getting a lever espresso machine and roast my own coffee. So will be doing a lot of SO espresso to start.

Reiss has posted (if my memory serves me correctly) that roasted coffee should rest two weeks before being used in a Londinium I.
I Would like some feedback from those who roast and brew with a lever as to how long it should wait.
Does a fresh coffee bloom under pressure wreak havoc with Lever espresso shots ... just wondering?
Trying to figure it out ahead of time. Would it be a disaster to pull a shot a day after roasting?

Big learning curve ahead of me with dialing everything in as I'm new to espresso and don't want this to be the overlooked factor that messes me up.

Thanks for any info you can give me on this. Not sure I could wait 2 weeks

Steve

Reiss recommends his coffee be rested for two weeks after roast . Having enjoyed lots of his espresso, through a londinium lever . I would agree it suits his beans .
If you are roasting yourself ,then depends on what you are roasting . Different roasters will provide you with appropriate rest times . Different beans will have different peak times .
I personally wouldn't pull any bean a day after roasting for espresso

I think my current coffee is four days old. Resting is done to develop taste, so its variable by coffees. You can pull right after roasting, but it tastes gassy for a few days.

I wouldn't recommend pulling a shot with a lever machine a day after roasting. The bean is still very reactive as it degasses. Introducing hot water under pressure will cause it to expand against your brew screen, leading to frequent cleaning. Not too bad with a machine you can backflush, but with a lever, I'd avoid it.

Commercial roasters will recommend the best rest times for their coffees. It was mentioned in another thread that 3-4 days is probably a reasonable place to start (I tried to look for the thread but couldn't find it - sorry).

John's advice on not pulling super fresh coffee on levers sounds practical but I do suggest you try it at least once to know what that gassiness tastes like. Since you are home roasting that is part of the learning too IMO. From my experience newly roasted coffee is fluffier so i recommend down-dosing 1g if you do try it! There is a certain pungency to the grounds and the gassiness is tangible in the cup.

I home roast too and find that 1-2 days rest for brewed and 3-4 days for espresso works for me so far.

Thanks everyone for your response.
I searched for info but was unable to find it, so your answers were really helpful.
Will play with it but try to rest it for a few days and figure out the sweet spot.

Steve

If you search some of the old posts by karlschneider you'll find some detailed descriptions of the aging process of the various SO's he used with his Elektra and Cremia. We miss him around here these days...

If you have to pull a shot the day after or even worse the same day you roasted your coffee, you can grind your shot about fifteen minutes before pulling it to let it outgass a bit more. It's not ideal to use coffee this fresh, and I feel that the coffee actually develops a bit after roasting, that things are more complex then just staling and aging, but sometimes you don't have a choice.

If you worry about pre-grinding your coffee, Charles Babinski at G&B coffee in Los Angeles pre-grinds the coffee used for espresso.

victoriacoffees wrote:I wouldn't recommend pulling a shot with a lever machine a day after roasting. The bean is still very reactive as it degasses. Introducing hot water under pressure will cause it to expand against your brew screen, leading to frequent cleaning. Not too bad with a machine you can backflush, but with a lever, I'd avoid it.

I just pop my dispersion screen off every couple days, depending on usage, and wipe the piston and screen out. Easier than a backflush, IMO.

zammie wrote:Commercial roasters will recommend the best rest times for their coffees. It was mentioned in another thread that 3-4 days is probably a reasonable place to start (I tried to look for the thread but couldn't find it - sorry).

John's advice on not pulling super fresh coffee on levers sounds practical but I do suggest you try it at least once to know what that gassiness tastes like. Since you are home roasting that is part of the learning too IMO. From my experience newly roasted coffee is fluffier so i recommend down-dosing 1g if you do try it! There is a certain pungency to the grounds and the gassiness is tangible in the cup.

I home roast too and find that 1-2 days rest for brewed and 3-4 days for espresso works for me so far.

My own experience home roasting and pulling shots on my La Pavoni agree with the above statements.