RyanJE wrote:Chris, how was switching back to sweet blue? Was the frozen Sweet Blue easier to work?

Sweet Blue is fine, I normally freeze them in batches right after delivery. Black Balsam though cannot pull a good shot for the life of me, even if dialed tighter it'll start out nice then the stream goes blond quickly and wobbly like channeling etc. Can't be prep as its no different then what I do in general and no problems with Sweet Blue. Even in milk it just totally disappears thought pry b/c I can't get it to extract well.

Gave up, even on a friends K8 couldn't get any good pulls. Guess I fall into the half that never has/had good luck with Black Balsam lol. This is what pulls generally looked like and nothing is wrong with my prep work but I did try a bunch of different things and updosing and down dosing and dialing in etc at those changes, nada, have two other blends right now that pull perfectly so its def not me. And issues pulling on friends K8, only time ever had that happen before was with a bunch of various beans from Populace that were roasted far lighter and more like under-developed as others on here had same problems. So even on a K8 and Rocket Cellini V3 that pulls were basically same issue like the pic. Ground any finer on the Vario or K8 and stream would take forever to start then quickly blond and gush and spray everywhere, even if seriously down dosing. Gave up lol, threw the rest of the beans out.

Ironically, I am now having challenges pulling Bodka sweet blue!

We roast coffee for flavor, not flow characteristics. That said, we taste Black Balsam at 20g/40g/30sec on a GS/3 at 9bar with Gerber Pure water and grind on a K-30 Vario, which tends to sit steady at it's most middle setting (5). First drops are at 10sec or so. 20% extractions are the norm, so 10%TDS in the cup with a three way balance of chocolate, fruit, and nuts. YMMV.

Marshall, I just got my order of black balsam in the mail yesterday. I've only made2 cappuccinos so far, but they've been delicious. 21g in 40g out 32 seconds on my BDB @201f.

Pulling some of the best shots with Black Balsam on Cremina that I have ever tasted in the 5 years I have been using the lever machine. Naked pf shows no problems. Maybe the manual pull is helping to correct the problems that some have discussed in this thread. Very fine grind (HG-one) 15 grams in for 29 out with 12 second pre-infusion followed by a 30 second pull.

Glad to be in the group who love these beans as well as Marshall's service and great pricing.

I had the same experience with Black Balsam in that it seemed better to me when ground very fine and pulled longer. Is it lighter roasted blend?

It doesn't really say anywhere, and that kind of info helps newbies like myself know what they are working with. If nothing else for future reference.

It was more dark than I prefer. I wouldn't call it light or even medium. But, I'm a fan of lighter SO espresso and I'm not familiar with many of the darker blends.