Never split a shot like this before, but the shots of Blue Jaguar this morning were just slightly/annoyingly off. I'm doing the shots: ~%55-60 w/14.5g @ 199F. I was dosing higher but they were a little punchy. At 14.5g they mellowed out, but a slight annoying bitterness remained (despite grinder adjustments, which I try to avoid). When I cut a shot into thirds the results were surprising compared to what I have read (odd I've never tried this before). The first 3rd was sweet and concentrated, not sour at all, had a couple drops of crema in there, slight bitterness, but actually pleasant. The final third was, of course, watery and generic. The slight flavor present was totally balanced with no sours and no bitters. The only way this particular cut would have "spoiled" a shot, as so many claim, would be in body and intensity. The middle 3rd, however, was completely intense and bitter, not what I would associate with what I have read about center cut shots.

I haven't been real impressed with Blue Jaguar, frankly. I've had very good luck with Red Bird and also the sweet blue (especially for lattes). With my last order, I included some Blue Jaguar, but it just seems "off" to me. I'm not expert, but I was hoping for a little more.

Ray

Hi Bowie,

Nice split shot experiment, and you're getting close. The coffee's probably fine if you're able to get part of that shot to work well. I've enjoyed a bag of Blue Jaguar. The temperature's probably good too if the shot is starting out nice. Maybe you're overextracting, so by mid-shot you're getting unpleasant, bitter flavors. By the end of the shot, the overextraction has reached an extreme, so you've got dishwater. It's probably blonding and it's better to stop it short of that. From Jim Schulman's Espresso 101 Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

"If the coffee is too bitter, with too much 'bright bitter' flavors in lighter roasts, like toast, wood, or lemon peel, or 'dark bitter' flavors, in darker roasts, like blackcurrant, clove, tobacco, smoky pine sap, or peat, keep the dose the same and make the grind coarser. Make a faster flowing, more lungo shot. This will increase the acidity relative to the bitterness"

Jim adds: "Lots of patience when starting out"

I had done that same 3-way split of Blue Jaguar when I first tried that blend a couple of months ago - it's become part of my dialing-in process anytime I get a new coffee I haven't tried before.

I went back to my notes this morning after seeing your OP and my results were very different from yours. The "center cut" in my case was much more similar to the first third (as you have described it), less syrupy but plenty of the characteristic sweetness, and there was nothing I noted regarding any kind of sharp edges. I'm guessing I may have been grinding finer or maybe the M4 grinder I was using at that time produced more fines than your K10 and therefore extracted differently? It was a pretty standard 24-second pour to the caramel-blonde stage.

Sure wish I had some more so I could try it out again this morning - in more ways than one (I found it great as a nice change, though not as complex as Red Bird). I'm sure that Jeff Pentel has exercised his blend more than thoroughly, and hopefully he will notice this thread and jump in to provide some advice on its quirks and optimizing it's behavior.

Anvan wrote:I had done that same 3-way split of Blue Jaguar when I first tried that blend a couple of months ago - it's become part of my dialing-in process anytime I get a new coffee I haven't tried before.

Can you briefly explain your dialing in process using the 3-way split?
thanks

jasonmolinari wrote:Can you briefly explain your dialing in process using the 3-way split?
thanks

I thought I was letting her go blonde too much, hence the "slight annoying bitterness." As an alternative to making a bunch of shots and cutting them short at arbitrary intervals, I thought I would split her and see what happened. I was a bit surprised by the results. I've now gone down to 13.5gs @ ~%50 with just a touch finer grind and the shots are a little generic, yet balanced, and leave a lovely semi-sweet chocolate aftertaste.

bowie wrote:I thought I was letting her go blonde too much, hence the "slight annoying bitterness." As an alternative to making a bunch of shots and cutting them short at arbitrary intervals, I thought I would split her and see what happened. I was a bit surprised by the results. I've now gone down to 13.5gs @ ~%50 with just a touch finer grind and the shots are a little generic, yet balanced, and leave a lovely semi-sweet chocolate aftertaste.

Got it, thanks, but i was wondering how Anvan dialed in new blends using this method...

Jason, I'm sorry I lost track of this thread and did not notice your question until now.

I did not mean to suggest that I simply split a shot and that alone dialed it in. Instead, when dialing in a new coffee I learn something about the way the coffee extracts and it's behavior if I try a split sequence. For example, combining the results with the basic dose/grind interaction diagnosis, one can more quickly see when the extraction is taking place (early, late) and when the caramels or bitterness are primarily showing up, for example.

It's not a magic bullet, but can sure provide some useful clues to what's going on in the extraction. It helps to steer your dialing-in process in a productive direction with finer granularity than a long sequence of tasting whole shots and attempting to understand and deconstruct the complete shot all at once. (Really good cuppers and professionals may be able to do that, but this may one way they learned.)