here is a basic video to demonstrate how i like to extract this coffee; you will note that i am grinding slightly coarser to allow a faster flow rate; this fades out the tea like (camomile) tannins that are present if the flow rate is too restricted. i really dont like anything that tastes like tea in my coffee.
i have used a 20g dose with 6 bar of pre-infusion and the resultant brew weight is 37g - i was seeking about 40g but pulled the cup fractionally too early
Superb! if there is some left when i get down on coffee i will definitely order some - i see coffee collective sold most of the bolivian last week i think
Yes, at Coffee Collective I was only able to order the Fincas Los Rodriguez, and Espresso #1 which is blend of Columbian and Bolivian coffee. On the way now.
im very interested to hear your thoughts on that blend as i wish i had added it to my order now. i suspect it will be a winner
following on from yesterday i have dropped the dose down from 20g to 19g and tightened the grind to maintain the same flow rate as the puck was pushing up against the shower screen a bit and damaging the puck on some shots
it seems better now and the taste in the cup is a bit less over powering, a bit more balanced. better all round i think with a more consistent pour as the puck is being looked after better
the basket is our 18-20g IMS as i find it very flexible and it can accommodate up to 24g if it is a very fine grind
I’ve just received this lot from April roasters. So far I’ve only tried the Colombian, and am really enjoying it, very lively. Can’t wait to work my way through the rest.
Just to share with you my experience of the Gardelli mzungu so far. I have to admit I struggle a bit. I grind it with an ETZ light. I received the beans now a week ago. They had 10 days since roast. Kept them frozen, and I grind them frozen. The coffee is beautifully roasted, the perfumes jump at you even when you open the bag. I have tried various Pi, from 3.5 to 5, starting with those that you had mentioned Reiss (i.e. 4b PI, 18g, fine grind). 18g , first drop in 2/3 s each time, never more. Flow rate 1g/s with light variations. Crema looks normal, light colored, similar to your pictures. The volume of the crema is significantly inferior to the volumes of crema I get on average, though. I end up with a coffee that retains too much acidity to my taste, and I cannot tame it. The grind settings affect the flow as they always do, i.e. finer means lower flow rates. But I have found that this does not tame the acidity, funnily enough, almost the contrary. The extractions I liked best were the fastest ones, (although I never managed to extract with 2g/s...)
Any recommendation ? Should I try even higher PI and grind even finer ? It might be that this coffee remains acidic (did it, in your experience ?), but it is really on the higher range of acidity, I have to admit. I usually go for medium roasts, but I cannot shake the impression that I am not making the best out of that Mzungu project...
if you want to reduce the acidity further then increase the pre-infusion pressure - step it up all the way to 6 bar - this will increase the brew temperature
you may need to grind finer in response to the higher pre-infusion pressure, but try it at the same grind setting first
if you just find the coffee too intense, too much flavour, too much body, etc, then drop the dose in 1g increments until you arrive at a less intense experience
Espresso #1, highly recommended. It is bit darker roast then the other Bolivian coffees you tested. Still on the lighter side if we talk about espresso blends. This is really delicious blend, and also pretty easy to brew. I use 17,5 g in VST, I get 36-38 g of coffee. Preinfusion (standard 3,5 bar) around 7 seconds, then roughly 25 seconds of espresso brewing.
What is inside the blend? 66% Nolberto, Colombia 34% Buena Vista Natural, Bolivia
Espresso has beautiful rich floral aroma and very fresh acidity of grapes. Superb. Worth trying, when still available.
thanks for posting Pawel. i think they have obtained excellent bolivian coffees too and strongly encourage any londinium owner who enjoys a light roast to try them
i am now onto a tanzanian coffee from square mile and that is incredible too. ill take some photos and post about it soon
The next coffee is Square Mile's Magwila from Tanzania. I purchased this coffee on the basis that i have roasted Blackburn Estate from Tanzania before and liked it
Coffee in my experience falls into three categories; dud, good but intolerant of poor preparation, and good and tolerant of poor preparation
I like this coffee because the very first shot i pulled using the parameters i was using from the previous coffee gave a pleasing espresso, albeit one that would obviously benefit from refining the dose and grind
Furthermore, the flavour notes on the label were instantly recognised, which is often not the case in my experience
I now use an 18g dose for this coffee as the 19g dose was slightly too intense for my taste
I would recommend this coffee too if the flavour notes appeal as that is exactly what you will get in the cup
the next coffee up is one of three that my brother brought back from melbourne last week:
19g dose works well. im running 6 bar PI, but i suspect it is too much - it is knocking the stuffing out of it a little i think as very little acidity is exhibited
i will try dialling it back to 5 bar PI tomorrow
a super coffee though, these guys really know what they are doing and once again the flavour notes on the pack are accurate
so i dialled it back to 5 bar of PI and it is an improvement and i will try it at 4 bar next
i set the grinder just fractionally more coarse and lifted the dose to 20g
this coffee is a speciality coffee, but it has very low acidity, which i appreciate
i have learnt that this coffee needs to be run tight, verging on over-extraction
if you open it up and let it run fast and hot it tastes really poor; unrecognisable as the same coffee in fact
i would highly recommend this coffee to anyone in NZ and Australia, and further afield if you are willing to pay a bit more for delivery
it is exactly as described on the packet, which doesnt happen very often; it has strong base notes of dark chocolate, with some middle notes of dried fig layered on top of that, and then light notes of lime jelly swirling around elusively on top
a great coffee but run it tight. i had perhaps a 25s wait for the first drip to fall in the cup, the brew weight was 31.1g and it probably took 50s to fall into the cup
so after going down in 1 bar increments to 3 bar and deciding the taste was deteriorating i settled on the following as the best yet
5 bar PI 20g dose 20s for first drip to fall into the cup 45s for 27g of espresso to fall into the cup
250g of this coffee was gifted to me, but it illustrates the point that you need to buy at least 500g of any coffee you buy and i recommend 1Kg, otherwise just as you start to get a feel for the optimum brew parameters you will find you are getting to the bottom of the bag and the game is up
i would recommend this coffee if you like low acidity roasts - the predominant flavour here is cocoa nib and the high dose and brew temp help to accentuate this characteristic
19.8g dose (was hoping for 20g but that is all the beans that remained) 20s of PI to the first drip 40s for 30g of espresso to fall in the cup
it is a really unusual coffee, but in a good way, and proves once again that you can not be formulaic in your approach to the 'correct' espresso extraction for any given coffee: let your taste buds guide you. it has very low acidity (as many Panaminian coffees do) and you would expect it to taste better at lower PI pressure settings, but that just isnt the case
i ran out of coffee, but i prefer the PI at 5.5 bar or greater as the high extraction brings out the graininess that a high cocoa chocolate gives you and weirdly it doesnt taste burnt or woody
it also works best with a high dose and short brew volumes so you are really playing to the rich cocoa notes
i dialled this kenyan back from an initial pre infusion pressure of 5.5 to 3.5 bar and it was much better
i ran out of coffee before i fully optimised it, but i would expect the optimum pre-infusion pressure is somewhere just above 3.5bar, perhaps 3.7 or 3.8
all three of these coffees from melbourne roasters were first class and i would recommend all of them unreservedly
next we'll get back to the square mile coffee as that is worthy of more detailed coverage too
good roaster, poor coffee. when you are setting a kafatek max grinder finer than setting '1' and you are not even close to choking the machine this is your indicator that the coffee you are using is of poor quality. bear in mind that this coffee was less than a week post roast and the only 'crema' that was generated from it is due to the gassing off of the carbon dioxide post roast - once that had floated off it was clear that there was very little in the way of lipids in the coffee, which is where the magic is; that is where the flavour comes from
arrived monday this week. i have only opened the Ateng Super and it is the best coffee from indonesia that i have ever tasted. no notes of decaying jungle floor present here; a light clean roast with vibrancy. i highly recommend this coffee and look forward to opening the next one when this one is finished
I picked up some of the Panama Finca Hartmann posted by Reiss a few weeks ago. One shot so far, but the first was really wonderful. Full of character, flavors as described, creamy mouthfeel, delicious. A first shot shouldn’t taste this good! I’m not sure I’ll mess with it further.
I’m using a 2014 L1, starting with 17 g with 27sec to 36g. I pre infused fir 3 sec at 1.5 bar, then lifted the lever to just before catch point for higher pressure pre infusion until it dropped.
Geoff Roberts post=15847 wrote: I picked up some of the Panama Finca Hartmann posted by Reiss a few weeks ago. One shot so far, but the first was really wonderful. Full of character, flavors as described, creamy mouthfeel, delicious. A first shot shouldn’t taste this good! I’m not sure I’ll mess with it further.
I’m using a 2014 L1, starting with 17 g with 27sec to 36g. I pre infused fir 3 sec at 1.5 bar, then lifted the lever to just before catch point for higher pressure pre infusion until it dropped.
I have a suggestion of some North Italian style blends from Espresso Vivace (https://espressovivace.com)
Espresso Vita Espresso Dolce
There's quite a bit of information on extraction based on modern machines, but not a lever; so I thought it might make for a good translation. That, and I really like the coffee.
Comments
i have used a 20g dose with 6 bar of pre-infusion and the resultant brew weight is 37g - i was seeking about 40g but pulled the cup fractionally too early
[video width=425 height=344 type=vimeo]336250258
https://shop.gardellicoffee.com/coffees/422-el-arcangel-honey-lot-bolivia
i just ordered this earlier today:
https://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/magwila-espresso
i have had the blackburn estate coffees from tanzania before and really enjoyed them, so hopefully this one is every bit as good if not better.
On the way now.
im very interested to hear your thoughts on that blend as i wish i had added it to my order now. i suspect it will be a winner
following on from yesterday i have dropped the dose down from 20g to 19g and tightened the grind to maintain the same flow rate as the puck was pushing up against the shower screen a bit and damaging the puck on some shots
it seems better now and the taste in the cup is a bit less over powering, a bit more balanced. better all round i think with a more consistent pour as the puck is being looked after better
the basket is our 18-20g IMS as i find it very flexible and it can accommodate up to 24g if it is a very fine grind
r.
Attached files
Hello Reiss and team
Just to share with you my experience of the Gardelli mzungu so far.
I have to admit I struggle a bit.
I grind it with an ETZ light.
I received the beans now a week ago. They had 10 days since roast. Kept them frozen, and I grind them frozen.
The coffee is beautifully roasted, the perfumes jump at you even when you open the bag.
I have tried various Pi, from 3.5 to 5, starting with those that you had mentioned Reiss (i.e. 4b PI, 18g, fine grind).
18g , first drop in 2/3 s each time, never more.
Flow rate 1g/s with light variations.
Crema looks normal, light colored, similar to your pictures. The volume of the crema is significantly inferior to the volumes of crema I get on average, though.
I end up with a coffee that retains too much acidity to my taste, and I cannot tame it. The grind settings affect the flow as they always do, i.e. finer means lower flow rates. But I have found that this does not tame the acidity, funnily enough, almost the contrary. The extractions I liked best were the fastest ones, (although I never managed to extract with 2g/s...)
Any recommendation ? Should I try even higher PI and grind even finer ?
It might be that this coffee remains acidic (did it, in your experience ?), but it is really on the higher range of acidity, I have to admit. I usually go for medium roasts, but I cannot shake the impression that I am not making the best out of that Mzungu project...
Cheers
Nico
thanks for posting
if you want to reduce the acidity further then increase the pre-infusion pressure - step it up all the way to 6 bar - this will increase the brew temperature
you may need to grind finer in response to the higher pre-infusion pressure, but try it at the same grind setting first
if you just find the coffee too intense, too much flavour, too much body, etc, then drop the dose in 1g increments until you arrive at a less intense experience
let us know
kind regards
reiss.
It is bit darker roast then the other Bolivian coffees you tested. Still on the lighter side if we talk about espresso blends. This is really delicious blend, and also pretty easy to brew.
I use 17,5 g in VST, I get 36-38 g of coffee. Preinfusion (standard 3,5 bar) around 7 seconds, then roughly 25 seconds of espresso brewing.
What is inside the blend?
66% Nolberto, Colombia
34% Buena Vista Natural, Bolivia
Espresso has beautiful rich floral aroma and very fresh acidity of grapes. Superb. Worth trying, when still available.
i am now onto a tanzanian coffee from square mile and that is incredible too. ill take some photos and post about it soon
best
reiss.
Coffee in my experience falls into three categories; dud, good but intolerant of poor preparation, and good and tolerant of poor preparation
I like this coffee because the very first shot i pulled using the parameters i was using from the previous coffee gave a pleasing espresso, albeit one that would obviously benefit from refining the dose and grind
Furthermore, the flavour notes on the label were instantly recognised, which is often not the case in my experience
I now use an 18g dose for this coffee as the 19g dose was slightly too intense for my taste
I would recommend this coffee too if the flavour notes appeal as that is exactly what you will get in the cup
reiss.
Attached files
19g dose works well. im running 6 bar PI, but i suspect it is too much - it is knocking the stuffing out of it a little i think as very little acidity is exhibited
i will try dialling it back to 5 bar PI tomorrow
a super coffee though, these guys really know what they are doing and once again the flavour notes on the pack are accurate
reiss.
i set the grinder just fractionally more coarse and lifted the dose to 20g
this coffee is a speciality coffee, but it has very low acidity, which i appreciate
i have learnt that this coffee needs to be run tight, verging on over-extraction
if you open it up and let it run fast and hot it tastes really poor; unrecognisable as the same coffee in fact
i would highly recommend this coffee to anyone in NZ and Australia, and further afield if you are willing to pay a bit more for delivery
it is exactly as described on the packet, which doesnt happen very often; it has strong base notes of dark chocolate, with some middle notes of dried fig layered on top of that, and then light notes of lime jelly swirling around elusively on top
a great coffee but run it tight. i had perhaps a 25s wait for the first drip to fall in the cup, the brew weight was 31.1g and it probably took 50s to fall into the cup
reiss.
5 bar PI
20g dose
20s for first drip to fall into the cup
45s for 27g of espresso to fall into the cup
250g of this coffee was gifted to me, but it illustrates the point that you need to buy at least 500g of any coffee you buy and i recommend 1Kg, otherwise just as you start to get a feel for the optimum brew parameters you will find you are getting to the bottom of the bag and the game is up
i would recommend this coffee if you like low acidity roasts - the predominant flavour here is cocoa nib and the high dose and brew temp help to accentuate this characteristic
reiss.
5.5 bar PI
19.8g dose (was hoping for 20g but that is all the beans that remained)
20s of PI to the first drip
40s for 30g of espresso to fall in the cup
it is a really unusual coffee, but in a good way, and proves once again that you can not be formulaic in your approach to the 'correct' espresso extraction for any given coffee: let your taste buds guide you. it has very low acidity (as many Panaminian coffees do) and you would expect it to taste better at lower PI pressure settings, but that just isnt the case
i ran out of coffee, but i prefer the PI at 5.5 bar or greater as the high extraction brings out the graininess that a high cocoa chocolate gives you and weirdly it doesnt taste burnt or woody
it also works best with a high dose and short brew volumes so you are really playing to the rich cocoa notes
next!
i am not a fan of colombian (or honduran) coffee, but credit where it is due, this is a fine example of a colombian coffee
kind regards
reiss.
Attached files
i ran out of coffee before i fully optimised it, but i would expect the optimum pre-infusion pressure is somewhere just above 3.5bar, perhaps 3.7 or 3.8
all three of these coffees from melbourne roasters were first class and i would recommend all of them unreservedly
next we'll get back to the square mile coffee as that is worthy of more detailed coverage too
reiss.
good roaster, poor coffee. when you are setting a kafatek max grinder finer than setting '1' and you are not even close to choking the machine this is your indicator that the coffee you are using is of poor quality. bear in mind that this coffee was less than a week post roast and the only 'crema' that was generated from it is due to the gassing off of the carbon dioxide post roast - once that had floated off it was clear that there was very little in the way of lipids in the coffee, which is where the magic is; that is where the flavour comes from
arrived monday this week. i have only opened the Ateng Super and it is the best coffee from indonesia that i have ever tasted. no notes of decaying jungle floor present here; a light clean roast with vibrancy. i highly recommend this coffee and look forward to opening the next one when this one is finished
reiss.
Attached files
I’m using a 2014 L1, starting with 17 g with 27sec to 36g. I pre infused fir 3 sec at 1.5 bar, then lifted the lever to just before catch point for higher pressure pre infusion until it dropped.
Attached files
From Australian roaster Industry Beans
https://rubycoffeeroasters.com/collections/coffee/products/creamery-seasonal-blend
thank you for posting
i put it in the cart and went to the checkout, but it seems they dont ship to new zealand unfortunately
kind regards
reiss.
great idea. please drop me a PM or email so i can reimburse you for the coffee and carriage charges
kind regards
reiss.
Espresso Vita
Espresso Dolce
There's quite a bit of information on extraction based on modern machines, but not a lever; so I thought it might make for a good translation. That, and I really like the coffee.
All the best
Adrian
i shall order some tomorrow
thank you for the suggestion
reiss.
its not going to be possible unfortunately.
Attached files
Screenshot2020-04-25at01.04.48.pdf (2.9 MB)