Can't get good results from light roast espresso - Page 2

#11: Post by **Milligan** » October 29th, 2022, 10:29 am

erik82 wrote: Natural Brasil and light roast sounds awful unless you have that rare Brasil that is good enough to roast light. Sour is intended in light roasts but shouldn't be overly sour and harsh.

I was kind of hinting at that in my post as well. Good light roast Brazil is a rare thing.

#12: Post by **buckersss** » October 29th, 2022, 11:37 am

Jeff wrote: Medium-light and light roasts typically will not give you 1990s-style, syrupy shots from any grinder. They will tend to have little crema. I'm not sure why bubbles are related to "over extraction".

Thanks for this tip Jeff. I had been wondering about this as I have found it impossible to get thick sugary style creama on any medium-light or light roasts that I pull shots with.

Once I drop down to medium or darker I am eventually able to dial in a nice shot with a substantial layer of creama.

All else being equal (roast date, bean) should one expect to get more creama from a dark roast or a medium roast?

#13: Post by **erik82** » October 29th, 2022, 12:39 pm

The darker the roast you'll get more crema, body, mouthfeel and more bitters with less flavour seperation. The lighter the roast you'll get less crema, a much thinner body and more acidity but a lot more flavour seperation. Darker roasts also tend to disguise lesser green been quality whereas lighter roasts really highlight this so you need much bettert greens for a drinkable light roasts compared to dark roasts.

October 29th, 2022, 3:04 pm

Light roast tend to not have enough oils to emulsify properly under pressure. Although I prefer light roasts when making pour over coffee, I find I have to work around the parameters of the espresso machine to get best results. If you walk into any artisan coffee shop, what they use in the espresso machine is typically different than what they use in their brewed coffee.

October 30th, 2022, 4:24 pm

I tried to raise the temp to 94c and have a longer extraction. The espresso itself looks fine

The interaction with milk is still not good...

If this is how light coffee behaves, which is happening to me with any light roasts I tried so far, I am sure I should not be the only one seeing it, unless something is wrong in what I am doing. I don't have this issue with medium or dark roasts.

#16: Post by **mrgnomer** » November 1st, 2022, 4:00 pm

Light roasts from what I've read are denser and have more to offer for extraction. They do better with higher temps, higher pressures, longer extraction times and higher volume ratios. 1:2+. They don't pull like dark roasts.

Extraction parameters and ratios that give you a nice tiger flexed foamy crema are more from a time when med to dark roasts were the standard and light roasts were avoided. I think for a classic thick crema shot you'd need something like a good dark roasted Robusta Arabica blend at a lower temp and pressure preinfusion, lower temp and pressure shortened extraction.