Phillycheese wrote:Ok- I just placed my order for (2) kilos of Passalacqua- Napoli and Harem...the whole order priced out at $100 USD including the 30 Euro shipping charge. Aside from the dough- this is a great adventure, very exciting---thanks. I think I am ordering the Hausbrandt next...will report back!!

Hot dog! Please report back when you have tried one of them,,,I think you're in for a TREAT!

So today I got my shipment in from Napoli by way of Eurochibi- via DHL. It was great service and faster than I imagined. Now it wasn't cheap but there were no issues with customs or transit. I received (2) 1 kilo bags of Passalacqua beans- Miscela Napoli and Harem. See here: and here

So I will be opening the Miscela Napoli and dialing those beans in tomorrow AM- will report back as soon as we get the dosing, temp, and brew times correct. Should be exciting- will send pics of the shots.

I also picked up this Acaia portafilter dosing cup- which is the bomb, I took the forks off of the Mazzer Mini- see above, and now can tare the scale to get it to high resolution of 100mg then dose the cup to the exact weight. The cup is 58mm in diameter and it slips right over the portafilter with no spillage.
The other benefit is that the portafilter stays in the group head longer while you grind, dose, measure, and get ready to pour in the grinds. I find that with only a few mins out of the group head the portafilter cools off and then the shots come out light and weaker due to lower temps.

cheers,

Phillycheese wrote:So today I got my shipment in from Napoli by way of Eurochibi- via DHL. It was great service and faster than I imagined. Now it wasn't cheap but there were no issues with customs or transit. I received (2) 1 kilo bags of Passalacqua beans- Miscela Napoli and Harem. See here: image and here image

So I will be opening the Miscela Napoli and dialing those beans in tomorrow AM- will report back as soon as we get the dosing, temp, and brew times correct. Should be exciting- will send pics of the shots.

Does Passalacqua give you the roast date?

Passalacqua has the expiry date stamped on the bag- mine was stamped GUI22 on one of them and we had June of 2022 stamped on the other. GUI is short for June- so about 2 years out. The bags were also vacuum packed and not done with the nitrogen like some of the others we get.

Thank you.

Do you have a flat burr grinder? If so, I doubt you'll be able to wholly replicate the taste you're searching for. Further, i'd second the recommendation for Crema Dolce. I think trying to replicate the tasting notes by ordering similar localities and roast levels might be a bit misguided... as you've already discovered the hotel (like most hotels/restaurants) gets their beans from a wholesale roaster whose value proposition is consistency. Other roasters by definition won't be able to provide that same experience. Given that, I'd go after blends that have been designed to replicate the end result, not mimic the roast level or locale, and Crema Dolce seems bang on for what you want. You can also try the Espresso Vesuvius blend from Dragonfly as well, although that doesn't sound quite like what you're going for and is more of a southern italian style blend.

I also wouldn't discount the effect of the milk you're using... chances are that Italian hotel sources their milk from a local farm, or a farm in the general area. I highly doubt you'll get the same tasting milk in PA.

Last, if this hotel was in the mountains I'd remind you that altitude really messes with your tastebuds. When I'm in the mountains a quick and dirty Starbucks drink often surprises me with how good it is... not because that Starbucks is manned by an especially talented barista (quite the contrary, in fact) but because at 11k feet all I can register on my tongue are the bass notes.

Ok- the first official collection of Italian roasts have all arrived. See here:


So the line up is:

Passalacqua Napoli
Passalacqua Harem
Lavazza Super Crema
Hausbrandt Caffe
Hausbrandt H. Hausbrandt
Segafredo Extra Strong

(6) Kilos in total for this round.

Expiry Dates are out (2) years on the Passalacqua
See here for some of the others:


So far we have opened and tested the following (approx. 10-20 shots of each):

Lavazza Super Crema- light roast, delicate flavor, some chocolate very mellow- respectable
Passalacqua Napoli- robust dark and powerful with lots of linger in the mouth, sweet with some bite but no too much- a lot like the Kimbo Premium but not as powerful or oily as that. Can't wait to experiment more.
Hausbrandt Caffe- one of the house faves, beautiful in the cup, nice tones of chocolate and nuts- both espresso shots and low volume milk drinks are perfect- wow.

Phillycheese wrote:Trying to get an order placed for the Hausbrandt line from Trieste. Looking all over the site and the web, no real comments on tasting notes for each of the flavors they offer. Can anyone here chime in on what is good to great for their roasts?

Choices are:
Espresso Superbar
Gourmet
Gourmet Columbus
Academia Espresso
Trieste Espresso
Venezia Espresso
H. Hausbrandt

No one had advice and you chose H. Hausbrandt (black bag?) and which other one? Now you can school us. Thanks!

false1001 wrote:Do you have a flat burr grinder? If so, I doubt you'll be able to wholly replicate the taste you're searching for. Further, i'd second the recommendation for Crema Dolce. I think trying to replicate the tasting notes by ordering similar localities and roast levels might be a bit misguided... as you've already discovered the hotel (like most hotels/restaurants) gets their beans from a wholesale roaster whose value proposition is consistency. Other roasters by definition won't be able to provide that same experience. Given that, I'd go after blends that have been designed to replicate the end result, not mimic the roast level or locale, and Crema Dolce seems bang on for what you want. You can also try the Espresso Vesuvius blend from Dragonfly as well, although that doesn't sound quite like what you're going for and is more of a southern italian style blend.

I also wouldn't discount the effect of the milk you're using... chances are that Italian hotel sources their milk from a local farm, or a farm in the general area. I highly doubt you'll get the same tasting milk in PA.

Last, if this hotel was in the mountains I'd remind you that altitude really messes with your tastebuds. When I'm in the mountains a quick and dirty Starbucks drink often surprises me with how good it is... not because that Starbucks is manned by an especially talented barista (quite the contrary, in fact) but because at 11k feet all I can register on my tongue are the bass notes.

The Hotel- Albergo Firenze was downtown Como on the southside of Lago di Como- and not in the Alps.

I didn't go with the flat burr grinder, on my mini. Some of this is adventure and discovery of the old world of coffee culture from Italy, and outside of US coffee culture, and yes I agree that there are conditions present in Italy that can not be reproduced here in the US. Namely the milk, which is a huge variable- sometimes we will use Parmalat whole milk to replicate. Also we will always use Poland Springs water for the machine- not the same as Aqua Panna- but still good.

The results we are getting are very good, consistent and so far and without the fussiness of worry about roast date, off gassing, quick staleness and overpriced (IMO) US specialty brands. A kilo bag will stay fresh for a long time, and they know how to make this work for their market..please consider this is not a debate about US vs. Italian- its just about whats best from Italy and all that they have to offer. If we don't get to replicate the coffee from Albergo Firenze from the '90s thats ok- we will have fun trying!!!

cheers,

Chert wrote: No one had advice and you chose H. Hausbrandt (black bag?) and which other one? Now you can school us. Thanks!

We chose the standard Hausbrandt Caffe'- which is their most common and probably what the hotels/coffee shops are using(gold bag) and then we chose the H. Hausbrandt (black bag) which is supposed to be heavy chocolate tones. So far the Gold bag has been superb. When I open the black bag I'll report back...great choice though beans look super clean and uniform in color.