Does color of crema mean anything?

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Ken5
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#1: Post by Ken5 »

I watched a YouTube video and it mentioned that the crema must be a golden yellow to be good espresso.

True?

Would color depend on the coffee and roast?

Ken

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Jeff
Team HB
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#2: Post by Jeff »

Concise, without overbearing opinion

Ken5 (original poster)
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#3: Post by Ken5 (original poster) »

Thanks Jeff!

Came to post photos of my crema and saw your post. Going to watch it right after posting this.





Good start?

Ken

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MNate
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#4: Post by MNate »

Interesting vid.

Nice looking shots, Ken. In the Robot chats some note a lack of crema and the recommendation seems right, according to the vid, namely, brew at a higher pressure.

garyb1991
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#5: Post by garyb1991 »

Can't answer your question but I can confirm these shots have been delicious and the crema appears to have a nice golden tone!




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sadbox
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#6: Post by sadbox »

As far as I can tell crema mostly corresponds to the lightness of the roast. Darker stuff produces darker crema, lighter stuff lighter colored crema.

That being said, I would largely ignore crema color, volume, or anything else with it comes to quality of the espresso. I have had shots with tons of crema, speckling, absolutely beautiful that tasted HORRID. I have had crema that disappears in less than a minute, no speckling, etc and it tastes wonderful. Basically, I've not found that crema has any correlation with taste.
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Nate42
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#7: Post by Nate42 »

The James Hoffman video is worth watching if you haven't already. There's definitely no one "correct" way for crema to appear. I wouldn't go quite so far as to say you should ignore it though, as you can derive useful information from crema. Its just that you have to know what is "normal" for the coffee you are using. A medium to dark roasted blend intended for espresso can be reasonably expected to have lots of golden brown crema with some tiger striping. If it doesn't, something has probably gone wrong (stale coffee, low pressure, grind is off, etc.). Lighter roasts on the other hand might have a fairly thin pale crema no matter what, and this is fine. You just need to know what is normal, and as always taste is king.

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redbone
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#8: Post by redbone »

My espresso experience changed for the better when I started stirring in the crema. Bitterness hit removed added a more coherent taste profile from start to finish.
Between order and chaos there is espresso.
Semper discens.


Rob
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