Is Lavazza Super Cream supposed to be sour? - Page 2
- Chert
- Posts: 3537
- Joined: 16 years ago
I can offer an opinion. I've had Top Class which came across a bit mild.Anyone used Super Crema who can atest to it's flavor profile? My tongue and lips still taste so sour
When the Italians label a coffee "Super Crema" that signifies more robusta so alot of crema, with a bitter, peaty character, but not sour.
The UC Championships undoubtedly had a much more fruit forward, sweet profile compared to an Italian blend like Lavazza, so definitely comparing apples to oranges.
If you don't get crema, then the bag was unsealed before you received it. An Oct 2014 roast date should still produce what that coffee is about. I'm enjoying Danesi Classico roasted last year and it is good, producing crema and good flavor, not sour, Italian robusta containing blend.
Enjoy!
LMWDP #198
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- Posts: 801
- Joined: 9 years ago
Chert wrote:If you don't get crema, then the bag was unsealed before you received it. An Oct 2014 roast date should still produce what that coffee is about. I'm enjoying Danesi Classico roasted last year and it is good, producing crema and good flavor, not sour, Italian robusta containing blend.
Thank you, that helps. Yes, the UC Champ coffee was very "fruity" and sweet and silky. There is crema and it definitely wasn't opened prior, I just can't get past the sour. Going to be a long day of shot pulling tomorrow!
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There should be generic brewing info on the bag. Remember that the Italians like sugar( or good sugar substitute) in their espresso. This is something like how Americans like milk or cream in theirs.
- JmanEspresso
- Posts: 1462
- Joined: 15 years ago
Its not impossible to make decent espresso with the not fresh Italian blends...
2 month old Kimbo from Italy produces great espresso. I'm confused!
Personal opinions here, but Fresh coffee is always going to be better, and pretty much all the advice given on this website, pertains to fresh coffee. That means its a couple days from when it was roasted, and its basically useless for espresso around day 10-14. Of course certain exceptions apply, every now and then a particular bean likes to get weird and tastes best at day 20, but thats the exception. From the roast date, 2 weeks for espresso, and 3 for brewing. I dont mind stretching another week for brewing purposes.. its a much less violent environment than espresso.
Highly suggest Redbirds flagship blend as a newbie friendly blend. It is definitely not the most interesting blend in the world, but it tastes good, and you can vary the dose and temp pretty widely and still get nice results.
SeattleCoffeeGear is a fine retailer I guess, they're a contributor to this website, they have an extensive youtube channel, and my favorite thing about them, is they have more accessories and gadgets specifically for coffee than anywhere else. But.. and by their own admission, they're not after the precision and excellence we attempt to achieve here, and while in recent year(s) they use more fresh coffee in their videos and tastings(Veltons Coffee), you can also still see them using old stale coffee, and showing less than correct technique and information. Enjoy their videos, but dont take them as doctrine. And the reviews by customers on the website, should just be ignored most of the time.
2 month old Kimbo from Italy produces great espresso. I'm confused!
Personal opinions here, but Fresh coffee is always going to be better, and pretty much all the advice given on this website, pertains to fresh coffee. That means its a couple days from when it was roasted, and its basically useless for espresso around day 10-14. Of course certain exceptions apply, every now and then a particular bean likes to get weird and tastes best at day 20, but thats the exception. From the roast date, 2 weeks for espresso, and 3 for brewing. I dont mind stretching another week for brewing purposes.. its a much less violent environment than espresso.
Highly suggest Redbirds flagship blend as a newbie friendly blend. It is definitely not the most interesting blend in the world, but it tastes good, and you can vary the dose and temp pretty widely and still get nice results.
SeattleCoffeeGear is a fine retailer I guess, they're a contributor to this website, they have an extensive youtube channel, and my favorite thing about them, is they have more accessories and gadgets specifically for coffee than anywhere else. But.. and by their own admission, they're not after the precision and excellence we attempt to achieve here, and while in recent year(s) they use more fresh coffee in their videos and tastings(Veltons Coffee), you can also still see them using old stale coffee, and showing less than correct technique and information. Enjoy their videos, but dont take them as doctrine. And the reviews by customers on the website, should just be ignored most of the time.
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- Posts: 801
- Joined: 9 years ago
Yeh that's what I've come to realize. Their prices on accessories was amazing. Half the price of Amazon and I'm happy to support them. But yeh stale bagged coffee no more.
I've been brewing small doses at high temp and it seems to work. At least for wife's sugar laden cappacionos.
But next I'll be back to fresh roast from a provn source. I'm roasting my own, but that's another huge variable
I've been brewing small doses at high temp and it seems to work. At least for wife's sugar laden cappacionos.
But next I'll be back to fresh roast from a provn source. I'm roasting my own, but that's another huge variable
- JmanEspresso
- Posts: 1462
- Joined: 15 years ago
ben8jam wrote:Yeh that's what I've come to realize. Their prices on accessories was amazing. Half the price of Amazon and I'm happy to support them. But yeh stale bagged coffee no more.
I've been brewing small doses at high temp and it seems to work. At least for wife's sugar laden cappacionos.
But next I'll be back to fresh roast from a provn source. I'm roasting my own, but that's another huge variable
True, but roasting coffee is as simple or as complex as you want to make it. I roasted for a year, with a heatgun, a spoon and a bowl, doing everything completely by sight smell and a timer. Once I got comfortable with how the setup I used, worked and what needed to be done to change what I wanted to change, I could consistently hit the roast level I wanted based on color, time, and crack(s). I did this for a year, even a little more than a year, before I got the Hottop. And while I feel the hottop was definitely worthwhile and an improvement, getting it and seeing what it was capable of, was also validation that the 100% seat of the pants roasting style of stirring a bowl of beans with a heat gun held over them, allowed me to achieve some very good roasts.
Im not a great roaster, Im alright. SO my only tip about roasting, is dont stop drinking brewed coffee. Clever, V60, Traditional Pourover, FP, Syphon, Aeropress, and everything else.. Roasting your own coffee will get easier, faster, if you try your coffee with different brewing methods and see how it tastes and changes. Even stuff you roast just for espresso, its worth trying brewed. Its a lot easier to brew perfectly(or close to), than it is to perfectly extract espresso, you might struggle with the espresso and think you have a bad roast or technique, when actually you're just struggling pulling the shot, and the coffee is actually really good. Id suggest it to any coffee drinker, but especially if you're roaster.. drink what you roast as many different ways that you can.
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- Posts: 801
- Joined: 9 years ago
I actually bought the newest batch of green beans to drip brew and eventually get a V60 (just didn't want to have to spend $50 on a gooseneck!). But then I lucked out with the espresso machine the same week the beans arrived, and now when I brew, it just tastes so watery in comparrison. I even tasted 6 of "the best" brewed coffees at the US Championships this past weekend, and I was just so underwhelmed compared to the espresso's I had afterwards at the event.
I just really enjoy roasting in my little popcorn popper. It's almost a hobby outside itself. Happy to give it away to friends. Roasting for espresso seems to be a whole other animal.
I just really enjoy roasting in my little popcorn popper. It's almost a hobby outside itself. Happy to give it away to friends. Roasting for espresso seems to be a whole other animal.
- oofnik
- Posts: 274
- Joined: 17 years ago
I alternate between espresso, Aeropress and press pot for my coffee, and use home roasted beans for all three. In my opinion there is nothing radically different about beans used in espresso preparation as compared with other brewing methods. The only generality I've found to be consistent is coffees with a "rounder" or more balanced flavor profile tend to do better in espresso than, for example, a blueberry explosion like the cup of Sidamo I just finished.ben8jam wrote:Roasting for espresso seems to be a whole other animal.
Anyway, re: your trouble with sour taste, Matt Perger wrote an article about extraction and how to judge it by taste that you may find helpful. You can put all the thermostats and thermocouples and pressure gauges and PIDs in the world on your machine, but at the end of the day the proof is in the taste. If you learn how to go by that along with how your machine reacts to your inputs, you will make quick progress. This I can tell you from experience.
Let me ask, from the pics in your other thread, there is a good amount of corrosion and scale in that machine. Maybe a descale would help?
I read that Kimbo thread with great interest and I certainly think it's possible to make good (read: drinkable) espresso with a traditional Italian blend roasted 2-3 months prior, ground fresh. I don't know how much of that Lavazza you have left but I would work with that before introducing more variables with home roasting. Espresso is hard enough as it is!