Yesterday afternoon, while we were working on an espresso blend, I came across this post; thanks so much! It gave us the needed insight to perfect our blend!

We cupped several (all high grown) coffees and thought some of the lighter roasted ones promised the best spro. As shots, though, we couldn’t kick a slightly acidic bite in the finish. Higher temperatures helped, but we figured we’d just have to roast darker. No! It blew my mind that “the darker you roast the less potential soluble solids you have.” Down dosing on those higher grown, higher density, lighter roasted beans really made the difference!

Wahoo!

Ben

That’s just one anecdote and not a study, but the difference in the two waters was dramatic and is probably something we should keep in mind.

this is the first time that I write on this blog, and not sure if this entry is in the right place but here you go, would like to ask you and your bloggers opinion on: “should a coffe shops serve as a default a espresso in a cartoon cup as if an espresso could be drank on the move? and does it change the taste of an espresso the cartoon cup or is just my coffee snobish imagination? . I went today to my local boutique coffee shop ‘coffee plantattion’ in portobello road and I was refused to be served and kicked out! A rude imbecile who claimed to be the morning manager took offense becuase I asked him to change my espresso that he had served in a cartoon cup into a porcelain one as per usual in the afternoons when I usualy go there. Perhaps I wasn’t sufficiently polite asking the change or he have had a bad night, but great to hear your thoughts on the 2 above questions. Cheers, Pablo

Knowing this then made something I had experienced make apparent sense – darker roasts generally prefer higher doses, because you need more coffee to get more solubles to get a nice, thick and pleasant espresso. But after a moments thought it didn’t make sense. This would mean that you would get a thicker, heavier cup with a higher TDS measurement from lighter roasts but lighter roasts generally produced delicious but lighter bodied cups

I thought the body of the espresso was due primarily to the in-solubles rather than the solubles? Perhaps later-stage developments degrade the structure of the bean in a way that really throws off the insoluble/soluble balance during extraction, which would make sense if your TDS readings are showing the way they are.

Underdeveloped is in a broad generalization what we call roasting raw. You cannot compensate for that as a barista, the astringency alone can turn your stomach a bit. Ambient temp/humidity and the pipes are a solid call Jason, props on that.