Top 5 Grinders for Light Roast Espresso Application - Page 17

#161: Post by **malling** » February 18th, 2019, 12:11 pm

Quester wrote:Interesting. I'm wondering if you like it even lighter than I do.

The espresso I'm getting at my favorite places in Denver is lighter than what I've had in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Tim Wendelboe, Coffee Collective, Johan & Nyström and others was a bit darker than my preference. Maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

Sounds like I have more to discover when it comes to Nordic shops that are extracting light roasts for espresso.

Re-read Dennis excelent post, he explains why that is so!

They use a light or a medium light espresso roast, those roasts are darker/ more developed than the nordic filter roasts that Dennis talk about. In fact there aren't really many places around that serve nordic "filter" roast for espresso, it also needs to be pointed out that the majority of the new nordic roasters are using darker roasts today then a few years back, as that is what the average customer want, so the mythical light loving scandinavian customer is exactly that a myth, or put in another way most scandinavian customers prefer a roast very similar to what the American customers prefer, why we have seen a drastic shift towards more developed roast.

Johan & Nystrøm is anything but light, it is also owned by a coffee chain.

The Coffee Collective is also more of a name, and you can find roasters who roast quite a bit ligther and who are pushing the boundaries, the coffee collective is in fact extremely conservative and do what works but aren't really the ones to go too if you want to explore.

#162: Post by **lucasd** » February 18th, 2019, 3:44 pm

You have to be careful, as I think there was a learning curve and nordic went to developed roast instead of underdeveloped/ not evenly roasted.
So basically you will get the best results with lightest but still well developed coffee.
Of course there is a chance that somebody like underdeveloped roasts, but IMO he loses some taste as in dark roasts...

#163: Post by **Quester** » February 18th, 2019, 3:50 pm

malling wrote:Re-read Dennis excelent post, he explains why that is so!

I was looking at the picture of the beans below the Leuchtfeuer Funkelfeuer bag in his post, and they looked darker than some of the filter roast beans I've been extracting as espresso. Sounds like a bean I would love to try though.

#164: Post by **guydebord** » February 18th, 2019, 3:55 pm

Aguirre wrote:<image>
...and let the games begin

The EG1 is a monster!

Its amazing how it dwarfs the GS3 which is a big machine. Size is the main reason I went for a Monolith, my partner would simply kick me out if she saw this. Congrats!

culturesub wrote:As i said above, only Sey Coffee and maybe some Passenger roasts in the true Nordic style, at least super consistently. Sey is easily the best for me.

Sey is a very good roaster and Im lucky I can get it locally. There are two other NYC roasters that are as good IMHO, Parlor and Gotham. I posted a picture of a bag from Gotham called Degrees North: Very, very, very light roasts for espresso?

It took time to dial in, but once I dialed it, it came out really amazing.

#165: Post by **malling** » February 19th, 2019, 4:53 am

lucasd wrote:You have to be careful, as I think there was a learning curve and nordic went to developed roast instead of underdeveloped/ not evenly roasted.
So basically you will get the best results with lightest but still well developed coffee.
Of course there is a chance that somebody like underdeveloped roasts, but IMO he loses some taste as in dark roasts...

I'm not sure if this is reply to me, if it is, then that isn't really the truth in regards to what I wrote above.

They only serve more developed roast because of demands, but if you look at the coffee bags they sell, you can still get roasts that are light and in many way resembles the coffee they used to use, hower just more evenly roasted.

In general the Loring has actually meant that they can succefully roast ligther without ending up with an underdeveloped roast. So while that is not the coffee on offerings at the shop, they do sell it for those who wants to brew at home.

#166: Post by **yvizel** » February 19th, 2019, 7:58 am

guydebord wrote:
Sey is a very good roaster and Im lucky I can get it locally. There are two other NYC roasters that are as good IMHO, Parlor and Gotham. I posted a picture of a bag from Gotham called Degrees North: Very, very, very light roasts for espresso?

It took time to dial in, but once I dialed it, it came out really amazing.

I went to their (Gotham) location in the city yesterday and they were serving the Degrees North as espresso. It was really good!!
However, the guy there said it was a Medium roast.

February 19th, 2019, 9:55 am

Medium? Not even medium light?

Clearly the guy there had no clue... Not uncommon to have one or two like that in coffee shops. The roaster and owner Chris Calkin was aiming for light on this Degrees North, the other espresso blend they offer called Red Hook is more of a medium light, I have tried almost all their offers and nothing comes close to a medium...

#168: Post by **yvizel** » February 19th, 2019, 10:20 am

guydebord wrote:Medium? Not even medium light? Clearly the guy there had no clue... Not uncommon to have one or two like that in coffee shops. The roaster and owner Chris Calkin was aiming for light on this Degrees North, the other espresso blend they offer called Red Hook is more of a medium light, I have tried almost all their offers and nothing comes close to a medium...

<img>

Yes. I could clearly see the difference between their Red Hook espresso blend and Degrees North (they were hoper by hoper

).
I'm going to get the Degrees North on Friday (what they had at the shop yesterday was roasted on Feb 6, so I skipped it).
We'll see what I can make of it

#169: Post by **RyanP** » February 21st, 2019, 2:11 pm

nuketopia wrote:I've been using a Monolith Conical quite successfully with light and very light espresso roasts for several years now.

Sorry if I missed it. I'm curious what your shot parameters are using your setup for light roasts?

March 8th, 2019, 4:07 pm

Honestly, it really depends. There's not a set of params to follow. Pretty much have to experiment and see what works with the particular coffee you're pulling.

I use the tools I have, including a microscope and a refractometer to measure whether what I'm doing is having the intended effect, and taste to settle on what works best. I formulate my own water, so I have full control of that, from straight RO to as hard as I dare run my machine on.

Honestly, I have no issue pulling great light roasts from my Monolith Conical and Linea Mini. We might not agree on what "light" means. I'll look into getting some sort of Agtron standard to go by, probably the color chips from the SCAA.

Have control of a lot of parameters, including the water mineralization, temperature, grind, dose, basket size, etc. I've experimented with pre-heating beans before grinding too. I can adjust the pressure, but generally I don't mess with that. Just standard 9-bar.

I would say that the lightest roast I ever pulled was Chromatic's "Radio" espresso, Ethiopia Konga. I didn't own the VST at the time. That roast was so light that even the spent puck was remarkably lighter in color than the SCAA light roasts I like. The Radio was a true Scandivian roast and it wasn't until I read the roaster's blog that I was able to nail it. One of the important factors was to use very soft water at high temperatures. What had been frustrating and sour then pulled as an extraordinary and incredible sweet and fruity shot.

Testing the limits: Chromatic Radio very light roast espresso

I've bought it and several similar extra-light roasts many times since. It doesn't seem to be on their roster at the moment, though I've been nudging the owners to bring it back.

I'm halfway into a bag of Leam Hammer right now. I find it very delicious and quite easy to pull with beautiful fruit and sweetness. (more notes in the coffee forum). I'm really puzzled at the number of remarks of people having difficulty with it. First try out of the bag was not bad, second was good and a few more experiments later, arrived at very great results.

On the track of the thread, I've seen virtually no data whatsoever to support the idea that conical burrs can't do this.

In fact, there are threads from a decade ago on this very forum that were extolling the tremendous virtues of conical burrs for light roasts.