The hunt for best Italian roasted coffee beans - Page 30

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
superr
Posts: 8
Joined: 4 years ago

#291: Post by superr »

Thanks for the tips in this thread on Cartapani Cinquestelle! I bought a kilo a few months ago, portioned it off and vacuum sealed most of it because I didn't like it as much as other beans I was enjoying at the time. I adjusted to 1:1.3 and 1:1.5 and found the espresso really does come alive as a ristretto. Will order another bag of this stuff soon.

Goldfinger
Posts: 8
Joined: 2 years ago

#292: Post by Goldfinger »

I too found this thread immensely useful. Unfortunately, here in the UK most of the blends brought up in the discussion could not be secured without paying substantial amounts in delivery charges which I wasn't prepared to do. But, luckily for me, on amazon UK I was able to get wonderful Lavazza Gold Selection, that someone kindly recommended. Compared to locally roasted alternatives, at £16 per kilo it's quite cheap. Excellent coffee that's impossible to fault if you like chocolatey coffee, which I do. There're lots of Italian family owned shops round London where one might find other espresso brands to buy. I'm curious what I'll find once I shake off my laziness and start looking around. Until I hit upon something better than it, Lavazza GS will remain my home default coffee. I adjusted my grinder to it and now to accommodate other coffees in my rotation I simply adjust by dose.

jpender
Posts: 3860
Joined: 11 years ago

#293: Post by jpender »

A friend and I went in halves on some of the Saka Caffè blends that have recently become more easily available in the U.S. Unlike the Cartapani that I bought last year which was about nine months old and ultimately ended up in the compost bin, the Saka was five weeks post roast and has been wonderful. It was even less expensive. Good stuff, very creamy, very chocolatey. And pretty buzzy with all the Robusta. We'll both be buying more in the future for sure. Those lucky Italians!

Goldfinger
Posts: 8
Joined: 2 years ago

#294: Post by Goldfinger »

I was in town today and I came accross a newly opened Lavazza cafe/coffee shop. It looked too swanky for my liking (on Regent's Street of all places!) but I was too intrigued by such concept to just pass by it and not check out the little bags of coffee that I spotted displayed on a shelf at the far back of the room. I left having bought two of them, each containing mere 125g of coffee beans. They are not something I'd ever seen before (if you're googling it type in Lavazza 1895). I've just tried Pororoca and I must say I'm very impressed. Colour wise it looks like a medium roast, definitely not dark, so I ground it accordingly (a bit finer than a standard Italian blend would call for). It turned out it required coarser grind because what came out was circa 8 seconds overdue. Nevertheless, the taste was extremely well balanced with some dark chocolate being present but not loads of it, like in a typical style Italian. It's a single origin Brasilian Catuai btw. I can't wait for the morning to pull another proper one. I'll report on the other bag when I try it. Highly recommended.

https://www.1895bylavazza.com/en_IT/col ... oroca.html





cskorton
Posts: 209
Joined: 6 years ago

#295: Post by cskorton »

Hi All,

I've had the pleasure of sharing a couple new bags with others on here so thought I'd share my thoughts.

Caffe Dini Gran Bar - A Northern Italian style delicate and sweet blend coming from Firenze. It's a primarily arabica, lower percent robusta blend.

The brew parameters I used for Gran Bar were 3 bar preinfusion for 5 seconds, then 28 seconds at full pressure on my lever. 16g in, 28g out. The sweeter, brighter nature of this coffee lended itself well to the higher preinfusion pressures and accompanying higher brew temperatures, in my opinion.

The aroma of the shots smelled like browning sugars to me, and it was obvious how sweet the shots were going to taste just based on the sweet scent of the aroma alone. I also thought along with the sugar came a floral note, akin the sweetness of smelling a bouquet of flowers.

The body was great, not quite as heavy and creamy as higher robusta blends, but still what I want out of an Italian blend.

The tasting notes varied depending on how the shot came out. The initial note was always dried fruit, but sometimes I thought it tasted more like golden raisins, and other times like dried apricot. The middle note was sometimes caramel, other times brown sugar, and other times still browning sugars. The finishing note was sometimes chocolate, though I quite enjoyed when a sweet cereal note came through (akin to something like Frosted Flakes or whole grain cheerios). Throughout the entirety of the shot, however, I couldn't help but be blown away by the overarching floral like sweetness.

My final observation was Gran Bar reminded me a bit of the Cartapani I had last year and is often spoken highly of on this forum. I would say, for my tastes, Gran Bar was sweeter and the better of the two if I had to choose one.






cskorton
Posts: 209
Joined: 6 years ago

#296: Post by cskorton »

Dini Caffe Christmas Blend - A limited edition run of a higher robusta blend coming again from Firenze.

The beans themselves are lighter than what I was expecting, a solid medium roast. The aroma of the beans themselves I thought was very interesting, as I picked up straight peanut butter.

Pulling a shot on my Londinium, I used a 17g dose (normally I like smaller doses but I've been playing with an 18g VST basket recently). I preinfused for about 10 seconds at 3 bar, then let the shot run for another 28 seconds at full pressure. 26g came out, so a little tight, but my preference is for ristretto's anyway.

The peanut butter aroma of the beans was completely gone from the brewed shot of espresso. The aroma smelled like straight robusta, so not pleasant, but not off putting either since that's what I was expecting. Let's go with an aroma of a good quality amaro.

The first thing that stuck out to me was the body. Oh boy was it creamy. Perfectly creamy. Thick and heavy wouldn't be the way to describe it. I'd almost say it was light and fluffy, so let's go with creamy, light, fluffy, and luxurious. Can you tell I really value body in my shots?

For comparison's sake, I thought the body was very different from something like Saka that tended to be more on the thick and heavy side. Makes me appreciate the body on the Dini even more.

The taste itself was quite agreeable. The major note that stuck out to me was dark chocolate, with a slight hint of roasted hazelnut. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up any dried fruit, though if I tried really really hard I could say I picked up raisins at the very tail end. Certainly no acidity I could pick up on the front end of the shot. The robusta in it was of very good quality. It's certainly a welcome change from the robusta blends I've been drinking recently.

I quite miss the Christmas Blend. My tastes tend to prefer the more robust, heavy blends, and I thought it really nailed it, without being overly bitter or unbalanced, undoubtedly because of the high quality robusta in it.






coffeechan
Posts: 145
Joined: 8 years ago

#297: Post by coffeechan »

Curious if there is an web outfit that sells Dini Caffe in the states. I assume somebody is doing a group buy and splitting like Saka. I'm looking for solid medium blends to try. This is the second time Dini has come up and been praised.

stephenmsis
Posts: 59
Joined: 3 years ago

#298: Post by stephenmsis »

I'm in London and have been importing Gardelli beans from Italy for a few months. It's no more expensive than getting beans from some of the UK roasters. The remarkable thing is I get them quicker from Italy than from UK suppliers without fail. My last order was roasted in Italy on Monday morning and was with me at 11am on Tuesday.

The Gardelli espresso blend is excellent. Consistently excellent.

I have tried a lot of their single origin beans too. Very mixed. Even the same coffee bought on two occasions can vary. I have a friend who also buys from them who has the same experience.

Paying more from their range definitely doesn't give you a better coffee. Perhaps some of the more expensive beans are better as pour over, but even in pour over, I'm not blown away.

Gargamel40
Posts: 82
Joined: 2 years ago

#299: Post by Gargamel40 »

Hi guys.

This is thread that could save my home espresso guy career. I went for a good espresso machine and grinder and all other tools. Then i read about fresh coffee and how it's the only way to go. So i found couple roasters in my country, bought (expensive) beans, pulled shot after shot and.... hated all of them. Sour. All sour. I tried different pulling parameters and nothing worked.

I even went to one of best speciality coffee roasters in the country to learn barista skills. We brewed espressos together. He loved it. I still didn't.

Then he asked me what kind of espresso i actually like. And i said Italian of course. Thick, velvety, sweet, not sour, not bitter. With some sugar in it.

Ah, he said. Then you need to stop buying speciality beans all together. There are no italian style espresso bean roasters in my country at all.

Now i found this thread.

I'm looking for that thick, velvety, chocolate, sweet espresso. No sour and not bitter. Can anyone recommend me a blend (company) that delivers that kind of espresso? Are there any italian roasters that have a blend like that and sell it fresh online?

macal425
Posts: 151
Joined: 3 years ago

#300: Post by macal425 replying to Gargamel40 »


I have seen your different threads/posts regarding your issues. Sorry that you are having a hard time. Most of us have probably been through similar stretches. You should check the thread about Saka Caffe
Saka Caffè in the States
I think this might be exactly what you are looking for. I can highly recommend the Top Selection, but you can post in the thread for others opinions about their different offerings. There is also lots of information in the thread about different grind/dose/yield/temperature settings. Hope this helps with your journey.