Espresso blends – where am I going wrong?

by **GreenBean** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:31 pm

I have been trying different beans to try to select the ones I like best as espresso to add to my stock of greens. I am disappointed and surprised that I have not really liked any of the espresso blends I have tried :cry:

but absolutely love some of the single origins.

I realise that these blends have been developed to be better than the single origins and can not help thinking that I am missing something or doing something wrong. I have great faith in the micro roaster that supplied the beans (all espresso blends were professionally roasted beans) and on you guys who drink them. I am not good at describing tastes but have a sensitive pallet. All the espresso blends have just a tiny hint of ‘burned rubber’ to my taste. I do not get this with any of the single origins. It tastes almost as though a few Starbucks beans have been added to the blends. They have lots of great flavours and often start with a wow but the finish (hint of burned rubber) is always disappointing.

Before I order single origin beans and give up on blends can anyone suggest what I could try to get better espresso from the blends?

The beans I have tried as espresso in order of my preference are:

1. Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira Canario Screen Dried – Just wonderful
2. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe - Very good
3. Brazil Inglaterra Special - Almost as good
4. Guatemala Finca San Francisco Tecuamburro
5. Brazil Espresso perfeito Blend
6. Has Bean premium Espresso Blend
7. Brazil Daterra reserve Espresso Blend

by **Beanie** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:42 pm

I'm confused, Greeny. Numbers 5 through 7 ARE blends. Are you saying you don't like those? IIRC, they don't contain robusta (which usually gets the blame for burned rubber tastes). Alternatively, stop licking your car tires before you drink a shot of espresso blend :shock:

If you want to give pre-blends another go tho', I hear good things about the La Selecta from HB.

I don't look at blends or SO's as necessarily being 'supposedly' better over the other. I just enjoy them for the differences. I have more SO's than pre-blends but the great thing about that is you can experiment with your own blends. Also, just because it's SO, doesn't mean you can't have a blend

I've been really enjoying multi-roast blends of SOs lately

I think these are called 'melange' but I could be wrong

Could it also be that because your pallet is so sensitive that the variety of tastes start to overwhelm you a bit?

by **leecb** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:07 pm

Beany wrote:

If you want to give pre-blends another go tho', I hear good things about the La Selecta from HB

I can second that, it's my favourite blend. Fantastic in a flat white.

by **Beanie** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:12 pm

leecb wrote:_________________
This week I am mainly feeling a lot better!"

Have you been poorly lately, Leigh?

Glad to hear things are improving though

by **leecb** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:20 pm

Thanks Marcy!

by **GreenBean** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:29 pm

Sorry if I was not clear Beany :oops:

. The list is all the beans I have tried so far as espresso. It is less than two weeks since I got everything working and I can not drink the coffee any faster than this! I realise that numbers 5 to 7 are blends and they all come last for me and all due to the same hint of burned flavour.

I am sure that some TMC members lick tires before or after their coffee (I have a particular member in mind :lol:

) but I am not keen on this myself as the taste reminds me of espresso blends!

Maybe my taste buds are overwhelmed by the variety of tastes but I get the same hint of burned in all the espresso blends and none of the others. It is faint but enough to put me off.

Thanks for the advice on La Selecta I will try some.

It may just be the level of roast, the espresso blends seem to be roasted a little darker than I am used to. I was hoping that someone could advise if I should treat the blends differently to get better espresso from them. Perhaps I should get some greens, roast them lighter and see what that does.

by **simonp** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:38 pm

If you like the Cachoera, I would have thought you would like the Daterra for sure, as it is caramelly and nutty like the Cach, but more intense, bigger body etc. If you got the blends where I think then I doubt they will have been roasted too dark.

Try pulling the shots a little cooler if possible which can help with a darker roast. Burned rubber tastes usually come from a machine that needs cleaning to be honest, or really bad robusta!

by **BazBean** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:26 pm

Burnt rubber flavour Hmmmmmmm
GB, watch out for green unroasted beans "sneaking" into the bag... occasionaly this happens and its packaged obviously as an accident. This not only causes havoc to the burrs but tastes real rubbery in the cup........ after it happens once you never forget it and you get to reconise the speckles in the P/F over and above the usual chaff flecks...plus the pour will alter.
also with any blend and especailly if its complex in smaller ratios, you may get slightly more of one type in a shot rather then the defined percentages by design overall.

by **CakeBoy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:34 pm

Bean_Believer wrote:
leecb wrote:_________________
This week I am mainly feeling a lot better!"

Have you been poorly lately, Leigh? Glad to hear things are improving though

Ah, bless ..... she was probably missing me :wink:

Glad you are feeling a bit better Leigh

by **GreenBean** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:27 am

Thanks for the advice guys. I was not aware of the effect of the odd green in the roast, I will keep a look out in future. I have taken your advice and ordered 2 kg of La Selecta so that I can experiment with different degrees of roast and different brew temperatures. I have also ordered 4 kg of Canario Screen Dried and 2 kg of Yirgacheffe in case the La Selecta disappoints me.

by **toast21** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:08 pm

GreenBean wrote:I am sure that some TMC members lick tires before or after their coffee (I have a particular member in mind ) but I am not keen on this myself as the taste reminds me of espresso blends!

Personally I prefer to bite my tyres AFTER i've had my espresso... i mean you dont want to confuse tastes do you?

Would be interested to see how it turns out GB.

by **beansmeanshighs** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:55 pm

GB, I also like your 2 choices . The fazenda is excellent. Yirg always makes a nice espresso.
I also tend to agree about the espresso blends from some of the roasters, they are a bit burnt. I do like a twist of robusta though and monsoon malabar in my mix. The cup of excellence coffees are still top of my list . Viv and merc have been wonderful lately

by **leecb** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:31 pm

Cakeboy wrote:

Ah, bless ..... she was probably missing me

Glad you are feeling a bit better Leigh

Where have you been Cakey??? Definitely missed you...
Feeling much better (you don't want to catch what I had I tell you) and looking for someone to taunt (according to Marcy)! :lol:

by **monkey66** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:36 pm

If they all taste off is it possible you are over-extracting?

On option is to buy some pre-roasted as a reference for your home roasting.

by **GreenBean** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:28 pm

monkey66 wrote:If they all taste off is it possible you are over-extracting?

On option is to buy some pre-roasted as a reference for your home roasting.

Hi Monkey66, It is only the espresso blends I have tried that have the slight burned taste. The four single origins have all been good the best two wonderful. All the espresso blends were professionally roasted to eliminate any chance it was my roast.

beansmeanshighs wrote:GB, I also like your 2 choices . The fazenda is excellent. Yirg always makes a nice espresso.
I also tend to agree about the espresso blends from some of the roasters, they are a bit burnt. I do like a twist of robusta though and monsoon malabar in my mix. The cup of excellence coffees are still top of my list . Viv and merc have been wonderful lately

Hi Beansmeanshighs, It is good to know that I am not completely alone!

I am sure that the blends are exactly the way most people like them and I would trust the blender/roaster with my life not just my coffee! I think It may just be that I am used to my coffee relatively lightly roasted for the French Press. The single origins I have tried as espresso, roasted by me or the supplier, are all lighter roasts than the espresso blends and are all good to wonderful. I will try the La Selecta stopped just before second crack and see what that is like. If I don’t like that then I will try a lower brew temperature. If that does not work I will give up on espresso blends and stick to the wonderful single origins for now.

Espresso blends – where am I going wrong?

Espresso blends – where am I going wrong?

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