Almico wrote:Hard to imagine that profile would change a coffee that dramatically. I've tasted battery acid. No Bueno! That profile is what EddyQ was thinking of trying. The convex RoR curve is typical for the speedy Maillard roast. The dry time is good. I would think you would either need to spend more time in Maillard, or more post 1C development. Acidity is most effected in the final roast stage. If you want to drop 1:12 post 1C, you might need to burn off some of the more aggressive acidity earlier on.

Thanks for your feedback Alan, much appreciated!

Late yesterday evening I thought about this batch some more, and I may have to play with brew ratio a bit before making any decisions, I am so used to staying at the Ristretto end of the ratio that I may just be cutting the shot way too short for this type of roast. Will play with that for a bit today.

Bingo. For light roast espresso, when I just want to enjoy a shot and not go all commando, I pull 8g singles at 3:1 ratio, grind finer, preinfuse for as long as possible and extend the extraction a bit as well. I want it viscous enough to coat my pallet, but I don't think it will ever be like goopy-sweet dark roast comfort espresso, but enjoyable just the same.

I don't know how someone can enjoy an 85 Agtron coffee with an 18-20g in and 35-40 out. In a milk drink or Americano for sure, that's a nice kick in the head. But too much for me as straight espresso. I've come a long way from my milk and sugar days, but I'm not there yet.

But all that said, I don't think espresso is a good way to evaluate a roast. I used use my Fetco brewer at the bar because it is so consistent (and easy), but more and more I'm just doing a proper cupping and eliminating the brew variables completely.

I'm usually doing 14.5 in 20 out, with pretty fine grind judging by the time it takes to fully pre infuse (30 or so sec), I love the goopy condensed milk version of espresso, the essence of espresso

Almico wrote:I don't know how someone can enjoy an 85 Agtron coffee with an 18-20g in and 35-40 out. In a milk drink or Americano for sure, that's a nice kick in the head. But too much for me as straight espresso. I've come a long way from my milk and sugar days, but I'm not there yet.

I like a nice 18.5-19.0g in => 32g out myself. Long pre-infusion, "slayer style". I'm not sure if I'm just a nut, but my shots often seem "sweet" to me. I was offering them to my sister when she visits and she's a cream and sugar with her coffee type of person. I first added 5g of sugar to my shots I served and went down to 1g and now last time almost none. She still liked it even though I warned her there was almost no sugar in it. So I wonder if it's shot preparation that makes it not work for you, or if it's just the intensity in general which isn't your thing.