I'm also having a lot of troubles with the Black Balsam blend. I'm using a Vario/Cremina combo and all I'm getting is sour nastiness, or reheated/old coffee taste. If I put it in a latte or cap it still tastes sour. I've tried all numbers of grind size (found that it needs a significantly tighter grind than all my other blends), temperature over shooting and under shooting , dosing from 12-16g. I spent an afternoon changing one variable at a time but still wasn't able to get a good shot. Roasted on 5/4 and currently all of the remaining beans are in the freezer. I'd say the roast looks to be City+/full city, lots of chaff still on the bean.

I've talked to Marshall and taken his advice but no luck. I also tried using a V60 to see what it is supposed to taste like, but I get the same sour dominance brewing at 200F. He says it's supposed to be sweet but I'm not getting any of that.

I'm starting to think I either got a bad batch, or that my equipment isn't up to the task. It is frustrating though, this is the only blend I've had troubles with. Currently I'm' drinking Redbird Espresso and I am getting perfect pulls every time. Anyone have any ideas?

I did try those things. Dosed down to 12g from 16, cranked the pstat up to 1.1 bar, and grinding fine enough to nearly choke the Cremina. Out of all of those I think the 12g dose helped the most but it's still not palatable.

The microwave trick sounds interesting. I'll have to give that a try.

buddalouie wrote:I'm also having a lot of troubles with the Black Balsam blend. I'm using a Vario/Cremina combo and all I'm getting is sour nastiness, or reheated/old coffee taste. If I put it in a latte or cap it still tastes sour. I've tried all numbers of grind size (found that it needs a significantly tighter grind than all my other blends), temperature over shooting and under shooting , dosing from 12-16g. I spent an afternoon changing one variable at a time but still wasn't able to get a good shot. Roasted on 5/4 and currently all of the remaining beans are in the freezer. I'd say the roast looks to be City+/full city, lots of chaff still on the bean.

I've talked to Marshall and taken his advice but no luck. I also tried using a V60 to see what it is supposed to taste like, but I get the same sour dominance brewing at 200F. He says it's supposed to be sweet but I'm not getting any of that.

I'm starting to think I either got a bad batch, or that my equipment isn't up to the task. It is frustrating though, this is the only blend I've had troubles with. Currently I'm' drinking Redbird Espresso and I am getting perfect pulls every time. Anyone have any ideas?

I had this problem as well after the coffee had rested.. I feel like I got my best shots within the first 24oz I took out of the 5lb bag.. the rest had a off sour taste that I couldn't eliminate.. It wasn't super noticeable though. Despite what I might have said earlier, I think this blend might be more tricky than I let on. Especially after using Red Bird for the last month. I am, however, excited to try Marshall's other offerings (heirloom and american).

caddderly wrote:I've tried between 16 and 18g, aiming for 25-30 seconds pours of 1:2 ratio. Weighing to 0.1g going in and measuring the weight of the pour as it comes into the cup, stopping the pour at the weight to give a 1:2 ratio. I've tried varying the preinfusion from 3-5 seconds. My standard is around 3 seconds.

My results have ranged from sour to super sour, to sharp and harsh. Haven't been able to get any chocolate notes or balanced shots yet. I initially tried it when it arrived at 3 days post roast, figured that might be my issue and tried again about 5 days post roast. I'll try again soon at about 8-9 days post roast.

For temperature, I do a 3 second flush if the Bosco has been idle, but no flush when doing back to back shots. Prior owner's scace meaurements and Pstat settings had this regimen hold a 200-201 F temp.

I'll keep playing with it, but in the meantime am reluctant to switch back until I run out of the Black Cat I have dialed in

Thanks!

This is exactly what i am experiencing with this blend....from sour to super sour and already wasted over pound to experiment. Never had such problem with blends from Paradise (espresso nuevo) Colorado coffee roasters (red wall) and few others. Just seemed that this batch wasn't roasted well