Espresso has undesirable taste at finish
-
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 10 years ago
I've been noticing more and more that my espresso shots tends to have an undesirable taste at the bottom of the cup even when the extraction looks great (e.g., nice stripes, dark flecks, lots of crema). Sometimes the shot tastes a little salty but more often there is an intense citrusy/herbal sourness/tartness. The taste is present in different beans (e.g., I observed it this past week in a fresh batches of intelligentsia black cat and chromatic gamut espresso) although I think it's less noticeable in SO's. I usually use 14-15g of beans in an Elektra double basket and pull for about 45 seconds. Anything obvious I can try to fix this?
-
- Posts: 645
- Joined: 10 years ago
Are you working to a brew ratio ( weighing in and out ? ) , are you stirring the shot before tasting it ?
-
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 10 years ago
When I stir, the herbal flavors are still strong enough to make the whole shot unpleasant. I usually do not weigh my shots although I'm using a shot glass with volumetric markings (a typical shot is about 25-30 ml) so I have a rough idea of my shot weight. What's puzzling to me is that such strong unpleasant flavors are present in different blends.
-
- Posts: 31
- Joined: 8 years ago
It sounds like a temperature stability issue. Here's a thread from not long that plenty of people helped trouble shoot a similar issue. Hope it helps.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=39967&view=unread#unread
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=39967&view=unread#unread
- canuckcoffeeguy
- Posts: 1286
- Joined: 10 years ago
In addition to looking at temp... try a faster flow rate. In other words, drop your shot time from 45 seconds to more like 30 seconds, but producing the same beverage weight. See if that helps.
So use the same dose but coarsen your grind to achieve the faster flow.
So use the same dose but coarsen your grind to achieve the faster flow.
-
- Posts: 78
- Joined: 10 years ago
UPDATE:
I went in and cleaned the dispersion screen (removed some coffee gunk) and the herbal taste is gone . Lesson learned.
I went in and cleaned the dispersion screen (removed some coffee gunk) and the herbal taste is gone . Lesson learned.
- yakster
- Supporter ♡
- Posts: 7319
- Joined: 15 years ago
Thanks for the update, that's helpful.
-Chris
LMWDP # 272
LMWDP # 272
-
- Posts: 3831
- Joined: 10 years ago
Double fermented coffee fermenting is a big thing these days! But a good reminder to remove the piston of my feamina to clean the sceen in the coming days (no other way to remove it easily)Patagent wrote:UPDATE:
I went in and cleaned the dispersion screen (removed some coffee gunk) and the herbal taste is gone . Lesson learned.
LMWDP #483