I have a Panama Esmeralda Gesha (not award winning or anything but still). The roaster suggests that it works as an espresso but provided no advice and it's definitely a light roast.

Would I be best with a dose around 18 or would something smaller and finer be the best best. Would it also require a lower temperature than usual? I'm trying to do my best to let the coffee break through. So far my first few shots have been good but kind of bland (18g, 200f, 30g out, 25 seconds). I am not sure that I want to increase the dose to get rid of the blandness. Trying to determine a dose (and basket: VST 15 or 18, EPHQ 14) to put all my effort into . I am also not sure how to accentuate 'floral' notes and Jim's wonderful FAQs on taste don't really get into that.

thanks in advance (couldn't find much on gesha for espresso)

Not that it's very relevant to Geshas.. but when I use a lighter roasted coffee, I tend to go finer, and dose smaller. If the coffee is starting to stale, I'll up the dose. I tend to do 16 grams in a double basket with 28-32 out, you may find that longer shots are better, almost on the ristretto end... I tend to like light single origins like that anyways.

Thats exactly what the sous vide approach was for:) to increase solubility of light roasted coffee is what the was explained during the presentation to the judges. Never had any:(, but from what i have read i would treat it like gambling and set aside a predetermined amount to gamble away on a delicious shot, leaving a core supply for traditional coffee:)

I've just roasted up the last of my Esmerelda Geisha, as a sort of inauguration.

My plan was to try both the gentle heat, and a long pre-infusion. I'm finding for light roasted coffees that grinding finer and a super long pre-infusion (30s at 1 bar for me) works really well. I usually go with 16-17g in a 14g epn double basket.

I think grinding finer is the key to unlocking the flavor, and maybe heating the beans...or maybe both! You just need to somehow keep from getting over extracted.

So I pulled two shots this morning at 15.5g. One was about 100% and was very intense cherry and caramel. The other had a 26g yield and was very tame and just some subtle touches of the similar flavors. I read that 50% works for light roasts but not in this case so far.

I also did a clever and what did I get? A flowery tasting caramel.

I'm thinking about upping the dose to 16.5 and shooting for around 25g. Depends what I can get in the 15g vst. Might switch to the epnw 14g basket

I also want to pull a shot with my rok. I think it'll work well for this coffee.

Lightly roasted Geshas are still coffee beans. The suggested parameters are a starting point not holy writ. Once you've got a roast close enough to dialed in that it's not absolutely obnoxious, move it to its best advantage by following the same rules as you would for any other cultivar or roast finish.

More impact, higher dose. Can't dose higher because of the basket, tighter brew ratio (more towards ristretto). If you're dosing 18g, you should try pulling 25g (same pull time to the blonde point as you've been using) and see what you think.

Fruits and florals are "acids." It helps me to think of acids as acidy or acidish notes; but even more to think of them as multiple acidy notes as the components of a "lively coffee." Florals are aroma not taste, but they follow the same extraction rules as all acids -- just less so. More acids, move towards under extraction by manipulating grind, dose and temp. Grind coarser; Dose heavier; Temp cooler; Cut at a slightly darker blonde point; etc.

After everything is said and done, I think you're headed in the ristretto direction until you nail the shot. Don't try and creep up on it by making very subtle changes. Be bold. Overshoot and then dial back. You might even want to start at 1:1. Once you've establishes the right brew ratio, if you still aren't getting enough life, brew cooler.

And a Gesha caveat. Most Gesha's, especially Geshas which are roasted fairly fast, don't age very well. They lose a lot after little more than week, post roast.

Rich

thanks for the tips! I'm getting a pretty mellow espresso at 18/25 in 25 seconds at 199f. You weren't kidding with the accelerated aging (7 days post roast). I am getting early blonding on even the prettiest of pours. I think I need to drop the temp to 195f for these last few days (I assume hotter temps extract faster and thus would accelerate the blonding?)

brianl wrote:thanks for the tips! I'm getting a pretty mellow espresso at 18/25 in 25 seconds at 199f. You weren't kidding with the accelerated aging (7 days post roast). I am getting early blonding on even the prettiest of pours. I think I need to drop the temp to 195f for these last few days (I assume hotter temps extract faster and thus would accelerate the blonding?)

You might try this:
Sous Vide Espresso Extraction-WBC finalist Dawn Chan Kwun Ho

Peppersass wrote:You might want to try pulling a lungo shot with the Gesha. Dawn Chan Kwun Ho used a dose of 21g to produce 52g of beverage in 25 seconds. I've been wondering if the longer extraction and dilution factor also helped to tame the acidity.

I microwaved (800W, 30sec) 18.5g of lightly roasted Gesha and pulled a lungo shot (18g VST basket, 200F, ~24sec. It was surprisingly good.

9Sbeans wrote:I microwaved (800W, 30sec) 18.5g of lightly roasted Gesha and pulled a lungo shot (18g VST basket, 200F, ~24sec. It was surprisingly good.

I stuck mine on top of the cup heating tray for a few minutes covered until the beans felt a bit warm. Also seems to work. I'm sure there's an ideal amount of time/heat. But if I remember, I usually try to do this for light roasts now.

I think you could also use some hot water in a small bowl, with another cup with the beans in them like a double boiler to heat them up a bit.

My panama esmerelda gesha produces the best pour over coffee I have. I did a blind tast test with about 20 differenct brands and could easily pick the gesha every time.

When I make espresso, not so much. To me it doesnt taste any better than many other beans when ground finer and run through my Rocket R56 as an espresso. Even wierder, this years Gesha tastes better to me than last years esmerelda, until I add steamed milk, then I like last years better. Repeated this test blind 3x, same results each time.