To the TS, what grinder do you have? Light roasts are much more demanding on the grinder. For me a major grinder upgrade was needed before I could really start to enjoy lighter roasts. These coffees demand a much higher extraction which is what cheaper grinder just can't do thus underextracting.

erik82 wrote:But you ordered filter roasts and not espresso. Wendelboe espresso roasts are already really light and the filter roast not really suitable for espresso. So if you really want to know what Nordic roasts are about order espresso roasts from great Nordic roasters.

Thanks for the tip - I'll have to try one (or both) of their espresso roasts.

I did try their Kenyan washed (Karogoto; 28 on Roast Vision) as espresso (MAX@4, Compressa@5 bar PI, E&B Superfine basket, 19g in, 38g out). It was good, well-balanced, competent. No real complaints, but it didn't blow me away like Luna or Letty.

I was actually less satisfied with it as a pour over this morning...

erik82 wrote:But you ordered filter roasts and not espresso. Wendelboe espresso roasts are already really light and the filter roast not really suitable for espresso. So if you really want to know what Nordic roasts are about order espresso roasts from great Nordic roasters.

I don't agree, his filter roasts make excellent espresso.

It's sold out now, but the Gatugi Wet Mill from Hatch was one of the best very light filter roasts that I've had on espresso. Maybe because it was a Kenya natural and had so much sweetness on offer that the acidity ended up very balanced no matter how I pulled it. There is something with how they roast that I have a hard time making a bad cup, the rest of the coffees I've gotten on them are too pricey to worry about dialing in with bad shots so I stick to brew, but this one I had enough of to try on espresso and now I am tempted to try some of the others.

erik82 wrote:To the TS, what grinder do you have? Light roasts are much more demanding on the grinder. For me a major grinder upgrade was needed before I could really start to enjoy lighter roasts. These coffees demand a much higher extraction which is what cheaper grinder just can't do thus underextracting.

I've been following this thread as I've been having issues pulling a good shot with light roasts as well. Yesterday I tried a new light to medium roast that is for espresso. On a whim I decided to do it in my Hario Switch. I used my conical grinder and it turned out pretty well. It could have used a bit more body, but not terrible for a first attempt. It was sweet with blueberry and cabernet notes. This morning I pulled three espresso shots using my EG-1 (700 rpm) with core burrs. All three were pretty acidic even though I ground progressively finer. The first shot was 18 in 32 out in 22 sec. The third was 18 in 32 out in 40 sec. The third shot was the best of the three but it didn't have the nuanced berry flavors that I got with the Switch and if I hadn't made it into a cappuccino, it would have been too acidic for me to drink.

What am I doing wrong?

FWIW - I typically like medium roasts and prefer espresso/ cortados/ cappuccinos.

JB90068 wrote:... too acidic for me to drink.

What am I doing wrong?

Interesting that your favorite shot had a longer brew time - I.e. finer grind and more water contact time which would result in more extraction.

Your brew ratio may be a little short (1:1.8) Try pulling a longer shot to tame acidity - 1:2, 1:2.5, 1:3 even. This will tend to increase extraction which helps with acidity.

Nikvas wrote:I've struggled with them too for a while and had some success trying to replicate Slayer type recipes on my Bianca. Of course it's NOT the same (or as successful as a Slayer) but I feel I got close by doing the following;

There's really nothing like a dialed in shot on Slayer, Decent slayer profile isn't even close, side by side let alone grind for slayer will choke and kill the DE lol, FC E61, not my modded BDB. Buddy has one and still years later shots are just unmatched, not even just light roast, even medium is incredible and with darker you can go full tilt no prebrew and switch back to pre brew stage to finish and its just amazing (you can sit there with flow control or bdb profiling and it still isn't the same). People underestimate how consistent and accurate a Slayer is. I have some natural Ethiopian coming from Eote today gunna play with now that I have the brass mods done and it's better/smoother profiling vs replacement factory pump and opv.

CoffeeMac wrote:Interesting that your favorite shot had a longer brew time - I.e. more water contact time which would result in more extraction.

Your brew ratio may be a little short (1:1. Try pulling a longer shot to tame acidity - 1:2, 1:2.5, 1:3 even. This will tend to increase extraction which helps with acidity.

Totally agree with CoffeeMac. With the EG-1 I'm pulling more like 1:2.5 to 1:3 as those bigger ratios work better for lighter roasts. Most of the time I do like a 7-10s PI followed by a 27s extraction. This is, most of the time, my starting point. With those tighter ratios really light roasts tend to become more and more acidic. And try to lower pressure to around 7 bar as with the Strietman most of the time I tend to do a 7 to 4 bar profile.

I can tell pretty quickly when beans are dreck to me anyway and are just not going to happen. The bag goes into the freezer and gets mixed with beans that I like to create my own 'blend' of interesting, good tasting discoveries.

I don't waste too much time teasing out disappointment after disappointment; I know what I like - and what I don't.

YMMV

Completely true when you're at that level. I do the same. But when just learning and still needing to develop the full toolkit it's a quite different story. But when you invest the time and effort in it everything will be pretty easy in the end. Just keep trying different things but start off with the standard/basics for that particular type of roast and play with it. Develop how every variable (PI, extraction time, dose, grind) makes a difference and hone that skill. Get to push your equipment to the limits and let them be the limiting factor and not you.