The hunt for best Italian roasted coffee beans - Page 10

#91: Post by **another_jim** » June 7th, 2020, 6:18 pm

The last few months I've been enjoying Cartapani Cinquestelle.

To me, this is a quintessential Italian espresso, a no fuss liquid Nuttella shot with neither bitterness nor acidity, from a blend that doesn't seem to ever get worse, no matter how stale. If my tasting is accurate, I think it's about 25% of a very chocolaty high quality robusta, and otherwise mostly a nutty brazil, all roasted medium.

Cartapani is located in the north of Italy, near Brescia, on the Lago Garda.

$30 per kilo.

#92: Post by **nameisjoey** » June 8th, 2020, 1:05 am

Is Malabar Gold considered italian style?

#93: Post by **mathof** » June 10th, 2020, 10:23 am

another_jim wrote:The last few months I've been enjoying Cartapani Cinquestelle.

To me, this is a quintessential Italian espresso, a no fuss liquid Nuttella shot with neither bitterness nor acidity, from a blend that doesn't seem to ever get worse, no matter how stale. If my tasting is accurate, I think it's about 25% of a very chocolaty high quality robusta, and otherwise mostly a nutty brazil, all roasted medium.

Cartapani is located in the north of Italy, near Brescia, on the Lago Garda.

$30 per kilo.

Sounds good. Northern Italy is where I learned to love espresso. I've just ordered a kilo.

June 10th, 2020, 12:45 pm

another_jim wrote:The last few months I've been enjoying Cartapani Cinquestelle.

To me, this is a quintessential Italian espresso, a no fuss liquid Nuttella shot with neither bitterness nor acidity, from a blend that doesn't seem to ever get worse, no matter how stale. If my tasting is accurate, I think it's about 25% of a very chocolaty high quality robusta, and otherwise mostly a nutty brazil, all roasted medium.

Cartapani is located in the north of Italy, near Brescia, on the Lago Garda.

$30 per kilo.

Wow- Jim thanks for the tip- I'm running out to buy this now. In this hunt for the best Italian roasted beans, we've been on a quest to get the flavor from a Hotel on Lago di Como, having also spent time on Lago di Garda I would think the taste preferences of the people there are similar. Your description sounds great and it confirms some conundrum I've had about taste and age of beans especially when they come from Italy. My experience here is supporting your observation. I'll report back once we get it in the mix here.

Any thoughts from you on temp, dose and volume along with milk or no milk?

pc

#95: Post by **another_jim** » June 10th, 2020, 1:49 pm

No need to reinvent the wheel: 14 to 15 gram double, ground fine, but not too ristretto, nor too hot. It's got a pretty big sweet spot, but if you do get a hint of bitter, go cooler or more lungo.

June 10th, 2020, 3:24 pm

I just ordered some too. I'll report back.

#97: Post by **Spitz.me** » June 10th, 2020, 4:01 pm

another_jim wrote:No need to reinvent the wheel: 14 to 15 gram double, ground fine, but not too ristretto, nor too hot. It's got a pretty big sweet spot, but if you do get a hint of bitter, go cooler or more lungo.

Jim, when you're not reinventing the wheel, are you using an old-style basket or a high precision 15g basket? I ask because I'm wondering if you think that using an old style LM straight side-walled ridgeless basket would be preferable for these types of coffees instead of a high precision. I have not actually found there to be any real perceivable difference going between the older style basket and my IMS 18g. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I can get to a place where I like these Italian coffees - I just don't love them.

Does anyone have experience with the Lavazza Gold? It's Robusta/Arabica ratio is 30/70, like Kimbo Superior's blend and the profile seemed like it would be different since it's not just like "toasted nuts and smoke". Got a bag ordered today. It's not cheap coffee.

Jim's suggestion is just too expensive to explore for me - USA to CAD with terrible exchange rate and shipping charges - so I went a different route.

#98: Post by **slybarman** » June 10th, 2020, 4:04 pm

another_jim wrote:The last few months I've been enjoying Cartapani Cinquestelle.

To me, this is a quintessential Italian espresso, a no fuss liquid Nuttella shot with neither bitterness nor acidity, from a blend that doesn't seem to ever get worse, no matter how stale. If my tasting is accurate, I think it's about 25% of a very chocolaty high quality robusta, and otherwise mostly a nutty brazil, all roasted medium.

Cartapani is located in the north of Italy, near Brescia, on the Lago Garda.

$30 per kilo.

Any thoughts on how it would do with milk?

June 10th, 2020, 6:18 pm

It's good in a 6 ounce cappa.

I buy the good Italian espresso blends mostly because I can't roast them myself. I certainly don't have an in depth knowledge of that market, and am merely recommending the ones I like. Specialty coffee roasting, like we home roasters and the top US roasters do, is about roasting a high quality coffee to bring out its best tastes. It's like grilling a good steak or fish, the less you mess with it, the better. Italian espresso roasting is more like master baking, you take commodity ingredients, and make something delicious but very standardized and complicated. It uses commodity coffees, and a lot of proprietary roasting, blending, and even packaging skills and tricks.

The result, I think, is often better for what can be called a gateway straight espresso than is produced by our specialty roasters. And I like to have some on hand to make shots for people who say they don't like straight espresso.

#100: Post by **slybarman** » June 10th, 2020, 6:34 pm

another_jim wrote:It's good in a 6 ounce cappa. .

Thanks. I'll add it to my "to try" list.