Recommended Espresso Roasts for Neophytes - Page 3

#21: Post by **RyanJE** » March 10th, 2017, 1:27 pm

RioCruz wrote:Well...I suspect any time we use "should" or "shouldn't" when it comes to taste, we're prolly on infirm ground. If you look at the taste profiles for the coffees offered by Sweet Maria's, for example, you frequently find "bittersweet" as a descriptor...and that's a taste that accompanies many coffees. And if you don't like sour, stay away from many 3rd wave coffees. I recently had an espresso at Cat and Cloud here in Santa Cruz (as well as Verve a few years ago) and I would describe their offering as "pure lemon juice" in a demitasse. Not to my liking, but many others swear by their coffees.

I agree, but when I wrote shouldn't be bitter or sour, I was operating under the premise that those were negative characteristics. I.e. a result for either gross under or over extraction or really bad coffee.

Your own preference for the widely varying acidity levels not included. Hope that made more sense.

#22: Post by **CwD** » March 10th, 2017, 2:12 pm

For a fruitier single origin, check out Sump's Costa Rica San Luis ( https://www.sumpcoffee.com/products/cop ... ulia-12-oz ). One of the best tasting espressos I've worked with. Among the easiest to extract ones. And hands down the easiest natural process I've ever worked with.

Very fruity, without the usual bite of fruity African coffees. None of the funkiness or temperamental nature that sometimes comes with natural process coffees.

#23: Post by **TomC** » March 15th, 2017, 5:40 pm

I think there are some very solid recommendations in here for newbies to start out with. I'm going to un-pin this thread and let it drop off like any other thread unless someone replies. It'll still show up in search results.

#24: Post by **escape** » June 5th, 2017, 5:07 pm

After a few months of delighting on Redbird Brazil Sweet Blue and Vivace Dolce, I am getting ready to try something new to make my milk-based espresso drinks. I've been wanting to try Black Cat, so that's most likely what I'll go with next.

Looking forward to trying all other recommendations from this thread, too. Thank you to all for all the suggestions.

#25: Post by **HBchris** » June 6th, 2017, 1:58 am

You might want to try out, my favorite go to roasters: Temple Coffee, and PT's Coffee.

Temple always offers a single origin espresso which they switch up. Many of their other single origins also pull well for espresso

From their current lineup, I found these to be quite good:

http://store.templecoffee.com/coffees/b ... minas.html

http://store.templecoffee.com/coffees/c ... honey.html

#26: Post by **escape** » June 13th, 2017, 3:28 pm

escape wrote:After a few months of delighting on Redbird Brazil Sweet Blue and Vivace Dolce, I am getting ready to try something new to make my milk-based espresso drinks. I've been wanting to try Black Cat, so that's most likely what I'll go with next.

Got to try Black Cat today. 17g in, 26-27g out. This is probably the lightest roast I've ever used to make espresso. It's fairly delicate in taste. It might be strong enough for straight espresso shots, but in my milk-based drinks it gets kind of lost, at least compared to other beans I've tried like Redbird Brazil Sweet Blue or Vivace Dolce. I will have to play around some more with dosage and extraction amounts - maybe it's just user error on my part.

#27: Post by **wingnutsglory** » June 13th, 2017, 3:48 pm

I'll second that Nossa Familia Full Cycle and Caffe Lusso Gran Miscela Carmo are great options. Olympia Coffee Roasting Big Truck is also easy and tasty. I don't know if you can order it online, but Red Door Coffee Roaster's espresso blend was pretty nice and super easy to pull as well.