lancealot wrote:Working with the Inverno right now. Best shot has been 18:36 in 27 sec, 203.

I had the grind finer before, resulting in a 36 second pour and the result was some harsh flavors, I can't describe them but they were harsh and sharp. Not bitter or sour. Maybe it was astringency but it was not drying like astringency in tea. With the 36 second pour, this negative quality was present whether I pulled it at 198, 200 or 203. I loosened up the grind and pulled it at 198 and it wasn't right yet. Bumping the temp to 203 got rid of the harshness, resulting in the best shot I've had so far.

I find the flavors to be intermingled and indistinct. That is neither bad not good. The flavor is punchy. I am going to keep playing with loosening the grind to see what happens.

How many days post roast? When I I had it last Fall the Inverno was all dark chocolate. A friend that had some last month said it was more milk chocolate then dark.

8 days off roast. I didn't want to get ahead of myself and describe flavors without more dial in but since you opened the door

I was going to write: dark chocolate with a hint of walnut (no tannins though). Chocolate cake finish, making me think of milk chocolate but not quite.


Edit: I didn't get to play with the temperature on this like I had hoped. My wife needed four shots for her traveling americano this morning and I needed 1 for a cap and 2 for my traveling americano. By the time that was all over, I was out of Inverno. Tasty americanos, @ 25 seconds and 203, though they were a little on the bitter. Unless something else comes along and grabs my attention, I think I will get another bag, prob 2 or 5 lbs next time and really get to know it.

On to the Estate...

JohnB. wrote:When you get to the Inverno & Autunno blends bump up your shot temp. I found them both best at a 203*F shot temp.

Thanks, John!

I had the last of my Estate bag yesterday. I got my best shots with 16:24 in 28-30 secs. I was a bit skeptical about pulling this shot too slow, but I found that 28-30 secs produced better results than 23-25 secs, keeping the brew ratio at 1:1.5. My impression is that it tames/balances the roastiness by increasing the sweetness in the shot. I quite enjoyed it as a sweetened and unsweetened cortado. By mere chance, I also found that this coffee complements really nicely with barista-style oat milk.

I had my first shot of Autunno this morning. I pulled it at 18:36 in 28 secs, taking the recommendation to bump up the shot temp. At these parameters, it felt a bit blah. I probably need to go finer to get the most out of it, but I wonder if I should also go for a shorter shot (maybe 1:1.5). Any suggestions? (unfortunately, though the Gaggia can pull a mean shot, I've got no preinfusion or precise temp control)

Chris, thanks for sharing your results playing with the Inverno blend. I'll go for that one after I ran through my bag of Autunno.

Quirquincho wrote:I had my first shot of Autunno this morning. I pulled it at 18:36 in 28 secs, taking the recommendation to bump up the shot temp. At these parameters, it felt a bit blah. I probably need to go finer to get the most out of it, but I wonder if I should also go for a shorter shot (maybe 1:1.5). Any suggestions? (unfortunately, though the Gaggia can pull a mean shot, I've got no preinfusion or precise temp control)

Did you let it age 7-8 days prior to freezing it? With the Robusta in this blend it needs that time & a real 203*-204*F shot temp to get the best out of this blend. Because of the robusta I kept my dose in the 14g-16g range. Yields peaked around 30g or less. Can't help with time as my Speedster shots run 45 seconds plus & my Bosco shots are in the same range. My Autunno shots were anything but blah. Should be a nice fruity element in the finish. Thick creamy shots with some chocolate/caramel/nuts leading up to the fruit/berry finish.

JohnB. wrote: Did you let it age 7-8 days prior to freezing it? With the Robusta in this blend it needs that time & a real 203*-204*F shot temp to get the best out of this blend. Because of the robusta I kept my dose in the 14g-16g range. Yields peaked around 30g or less. Can't help with time as my Speedster shots run 45 seconds plus & my Bosco shots are in the same range. My Autunno shots were anything but blah. Should be a nice fruity element in the finish. Thick creamy shots with some chocolate/caramel/nuts leading up to the fruit/berry finish.

Thanks, JohnB! Yes, I let them rest 7 days before I put them in the freezer. Given the positive stuff I have seen about the Autunno and Inverno blends, I figured the "blah" was much more due to my brewing parameters than the coffee itself. I don't really like to sink any shots unless I am waaaay off the mark, so my dialing process generally takes a couple of days.

I pulled a second shot this afternoon staying close to your parameters, lowering my dose and going finer. At 16g:30g in 41 secs, this was a totally different shot with a really nice cherry finish and thick crema. With my setup, I suspect that a bit of a shorter shot yield or time might result in a bit more balanced cup, but this most recent shot was much closer to what I expected from this coffee. I'll keep playing around.

Does anyone know the compositions of these blends? I believe I have heard mention of robusta in some of them but I can't find that information on the roaster's website or the bags that I have. I'm interested in the origin of the components.

The Autunno definitely has Robusta in the blend. If you want specific info I'd contact David at Buon Giorno. He's good about answering questions.

Reading this thread got me thinking I havent ordered any BG coffee in quite a while. Couldn't find my brewing notes, so I contacted David @ BG after I ordered some Primavera, Inverno & Autunno. He suggested this for my Spaziale Dream:

" For a start, I would use a 16 - 17g puck with a 2oz shot around 25 - 27 second pull time with a 5 second infusion. Water temperature as close to 200 deg as possible. This is a good starting place for all those 3 coffees."

It's a good starting point & worked well for the Primavera blend which I didn't really care for. Try it & then bump the temp up 2*-3*F for the Autunno & Inverno and see what you think.

JohnB. wrote:The Autunno definitely has Robusta in the blend. If you want specific info I'd contact David at Buon Giorno. He's good about answering questions.

Dave told me that of their current offerings, only Autunno has any Robusta. He did not offer specifics on the composition of their blends. My palate tells me that the proportion of Robusta in Autunno is not very high. Maybe 10-15%?