This forum is now read-only
To login to the new support channel and community forums, go to the Support Portal
Wet Roasts?
Please excuse my ignorance if someone has noticed and discussed this before... (I haven't been around much recently!)... Anyway, I think many people are aware that I use an early L1 to extract, and a Nino to grind and I have been happily extracting and grinding mainly Square Mile "SweetShop" blend for the last year(ish).
There have been a couple of short periods when there has been none for sale and I have been forced to look elsewhere, I have used HasBean single estates from Ethiopia and Tanzania, and Coffee Compass Blends "Brighton Lanes", "Elephant" and the single estate Panama Geisha... I have noticed a couple of interesting effects unrelated to flavour:
1: The HasBean Tanzania (SE) and the Coffee Compass Geisha (SE) have both caused my Nino to become blocked, which begins with a reduced dose and then it pushes the spout out and the whole machine needs to be disassembled.
2: The other effect is from the Coffee Compass roasts only, and affects all of them, blends and SE's... And this is a WET PUCK which does not pop/knock out of the PF without leaving a quantity of sludgy coffee behind.
Now obviously Londinium owners stretch out around the whole globe, it being a project for world domination
but I am just wondering whether people have noticed that some roasters produce this type of "wet roast" and is there a reason behind it?
I certainly don't remember suffering from this when I used Reiss's coffee almost exclusively, so he is a "dry" along with Square Mile, but CC (chiefly) and HB (a bit), are really testing the Nino and having an effect on the extraction.
I look forward to comments.
Also, many thanks to Reiss for the bundling of PF gaskets, even though I don't change them half as much as I thought I would be doing... I am on my second one!
There have been a couple of short periods when there has been none for sale and I have been forced to look elsewhere, I have used HasBean single estates from Ethiopia and Tanzania, and Coffee Compass Blends "Brighton Lanes", "Elephant" and the single estate Panama Geisha... I have noticed a couple of interesting effects unrelated to flavour:
1: The HasBean Tanzania (SE) and the Coffee Compass Geisha (SE) have both caused my Nino to become blocked, which begins with a reduced dose and then it pushes the spout out and the whole machine needs to be disassembled.
2: The other effect is from the Coffee Compass roasts only, and affects all of them, blends and SE's... And this is a WET PUCK which does not pop/knock out of the PF without leaving a quantity of sludgy coffee behind.
Now obviously Londinium owners stretch out around the whole globe, it being a project for world domination
but I am just wondering whether people have noticed that some roasters produce this type of "wet roast" and is there a reason behind it?I certainly don't remember suffering from this when I used Reiss's coffee almost exclusively, so he is a "dry" along with Square Mile, but CC (chiefly) and HB (a bit), are really testing the Nino and having an effect on the extraction.
I look forward to comments.
Also, many thanks to Reiss for the bundling of PF gaskets, even though I don't change them half as much as I thought I would be doing... I am on my second one!
Comments
Do you think the coffees that give you a wet puck are sitting lower in the basket? I'd think up-dosing a tick might solve that issue.
As to the grinder, I wouldn't think a Geisha or Tanzania roast would be dark & oily, so perhaps the grind setting is just too fine for those coffees? I'm assuming they behave the way you want when pulling a shot and taste fine.
That's my speculation on the matter, hope there's something there for you
In both cases the Nino blockage occurred subsequently, it has a very small exit chute, around 3/4" wide and 1/4 high, which then passes into a removable two part stainless steel "box girder"... I expect you have seen it. It is this effect that has led me to consider this "damp roast" idea... Nether of them were dark and oily, both medium roast, Steve Leighton (HasBean) has a reputation for being pretty light on his medium roasts, Coffee Compass go a little bit the other way, their medium roasts tend to be a bit darker.
However, a tighter grind (as you suggest) could make for a denser and more difficult load for the grinder. So that may well explain the situation.
Wet coffee puck can also happen when there are a lot of fines.
Kfir.
You appear to be suggesting the complete opposite to my conjecture.... Coffee is drier than what I and my grinder are used to, and is cracking into a greater proportion of fines than is normal for me... thus causing both the uneven dosing and the wet pucks.
That is interesting, and you might well be right. If it was more dry than is usual, it would follow that the coffee would run through the puck faster at my normal grind and need tightening, which is what I did.
...I thought that I had worked out how to make espresso work, but now I am not so sure.
Happy days.
My (amateur and unscientific) observation is that conical grinders produce more fines and you can even see them in the basket holes when using a naked PF.
I think that this is the reason they are more forgiving in terms of grind settings than flat burr grinders.
Maybe you could try giving your grinder a good cleaning? Grindz or similar stuff does a fine job...
Kfir.
http://www.home-barista.com/grinders/elektra-nino-chute-jamming-with-coffee-t26779-10.html
Maybe it will be of some help.
Matt
I backed off the grind and have prepared around three doses and don't seem to have a problem now...
I await further confirmation, but the caffeine is still pulsing through the veins and the Geisha is too good to waste.
http://www.coffeecompass.co.uk/shop/panama-geisha-250g.html
I thought it made a lovely drink, not really what I would usually go for, but very creamy, no bitterness no sourness, just a lovely rounded coffee.
Why do you ask?
When I returned, I bought three bags of the stuff, at highly inflated prices I may add!
Anyway, I have just loaded my first bag into the Nino... And all of a sudden, I am getting excellent shots of the correct weight, which pass through the PF at a good speed.
It didn't seem to matter what I did with the coffee from Coffee Compass, which included the Geisha, an Indonesian, and the Elephant blend, I couldn't get it to deliver a full basket of powder. I might add that all of these coffees had a good flavour....
...The Elephant blend went to Ireland (pre-ground) in the Mazzer, and was very tasty in the AeroPress.
When I returned, the same coffee would not go through the Nino properly, it either blocked it, or would not grind enough coffee in the allotted time...
Whereas I get 18-20 grams of Sweetshop, I would get 12-14 grams of Elephant, in the same time.
OK, so my methods are not as painstaking as some users on here, but I keep coming back to my theory that different roasting machines do some very different things to the beans, even though they look the same on the outside. Kfir may well be right when he suggested that rather than wet, they might be drier, but colour of Sweetshop is pretty much the same as that from CoffeeCompass.
I believe that Square Mile use that Dutch drum roaster (Giesen), whereas both Coffee Compass and HasBean use Probat from what I can see.
Reiss is coy about his tools (I know, but won't divulge here), but I never had any problems with his roasts, some of which were darker than Square Mile and some of which were lighter.
BTW: I am not being critical of CoffeeCompass, I have just placed another order with them...
I am just curious about roasting methods, and the effects that these differences have on grinders!
Oh yes, finally, I might add that Sweetshop is not a consistent blend... It is usually a couple of Ethiopians, but they vary, and it is also often other things, currently a Costa Rican and a Kenyan... Nevertheless the coffee behaves consistently in the grinder and the L1 (which I haven't mentioned yet, since it is the least important bit when preparing a PF).
I found that I had developed a liking for the AeroPress with the CoffeeCompass Elephant Blend.
I remember Reiss poo-pooing the AeroPress, but I stuck with it on returning from Ireland for brewing the above CoffeeCompass offerings... I liked it, but there is nothing quite like a well made L1 shot... But guess what?
I decided to see what I could do with the Geisha and the SwissGold one cup brewer...
Reiss is always right.... when it comes to coffee...
The SwissGold makes a stunning cup of Geisha...
NB: I also had a shot (ground on the Mazzer) and passed through the L1, for a flat white last night and that was excellent too!