Hi all,

Recently got some Baroida Tairora from CC.

My first initial impression of the coffee as espresso was ok,
but it felt like I was drinking Marmite.

I managed one decent result doing a finer grind/smaller dose shot,
but then my scale broke down.

Seeing Jims adjustment guide, it seems I went for the "aggresive" adjustment,
but there is nothing specific to savory.

While I wait for another scale in the mail, just wanted to see if anyone
else had some other ideas like brew ratio suggestions, etc.

Thanks

Marmite??? You mean it tasted like fermented coffee beans or something?
I know what umami tastes like, but I can't say I've ever tasted that from espresso shots... I'm puzzled.

(I've got visions of Japanese natto dried, ground and shots pulled to extract "umami espresso"... Not that I'd want to drink it, but it could be an interesting experiment. )

Then again my tongue is telling me you might be sensing a "sour" pull with the richness of the espresso beans filling in the "background". The crossover might bring out sensations of umami, and depending on how clean my palate is I might even sense more salinity with that mix.

Try grinding and filling the basket level, doing a tamp and see what happens. Sometimes dialing in just like the cafe's has it's benefits. No measuring, just grind, sweep, tamp and pull.

I don't know the coffee, but in general, you sometimes get an excess of salty/savory (along with bitter) in a ristretto. Try a fine grind and a low enough dose to get a fast flowing shot. Without a working scale; you'll be wasting coffee.

Above all, whenever you have problems with the shot, brew the coffee. It's kind of useful to know whether the coffee is drinkable before going through gyrations to make it into an espresso.

Thanks Jim and Dan,

DanoM wrote:Marmite??? You mean it tasted like fermented coffee beans or something?
I know what umami tastes like, but I can't say I've ever tasted that from espresso shots... I'm puzzled.

Marmite is the other Vegemite. If you've never had either, I guess you could say
it was like drinking a beef bullion cube with a bit of water. I could still taste other
components, but the savory just jumped at me with this one.

Vegemite?? Eeewwww. If you have never had it before, get a couple packets of yeast from the store. Add just enough water to turn it into a paste with the consistency of peanut butter, dump a bunch of salt in it and spread it on some toast. That is vegemite, brewers yeast, salt and spread it on toast like jam.

cannonfodder wrote:Vegemite?? Eeewwww.

I got used to the taste of these spreads when I worked in Australia
some years back.

I preferred Marmite over Vegemite, cos it had less of a bite to it.
(Hopefully these comments wont cause an international incident)

As far as the coffee goes, I could taste other flavors, but this
savory was just too strong.

Im not into brewing much, but Ill give it a try with this one to see
if its better...

Appa,

From your profile it appears you are using an HX machine. What is your flushing routine and what coffee and flavor profile have you liked using your current routine and setup?

John

Sorry John,
Haven't checked in a while.

The Bezzera is an "HX dragon". So usually a 3-5
second flush time followed quickly with the pull does the trick.

The cherry cola, berry shots are usually my favorite, but I have
been getting better at taming acidity.

At this point, Im gonna let the coffee age a bit more. I had to put in the freezer
right after purchase, as we were leaving town.

Thanks

To help tame high acidity, lower your dose and increase your temperature. That will extract more of the bitters note in most coffees and balance the bright acidity.