black cat

[michael]

theres a relatively new coffee shop in lower manhattan brewing black cat on the big synesso machine with one of the newer big mazzer doserless grinders with electronic controls (a lot faster than the mini and no clumps)and the coffee is great, great, great; not sure how they get it to taste like i can never do at home; they say the brew temperature is 205, but its probably 203 by the time it gets to the coffee; any thoughts on how they do it

[JohnB]

Most cafes are dosing at 20-21gr with the B/C which is how Intelli intends it to be used. Without a triple basket I don't know if you will ever get those same flavors at home.

[TruthBrew]

theres a relatively new coffee shop in lower manhattan brewing black cat on the big synesso machine...

Blue Spoon? I visited that place late '06 and thought the espresso was pretty decent but not fantastic (like it was a 9th Street).

Synesso's are pretty stable, so I'd doubt there is really a 2F drop by hitting the coffee. I agree, the best luck I've had with the BC is by updosing quite a bit... around 19.5 to 20.5g in a triple basket. Not sure that's how they intend it to be, but worked well for me.

[michael]

no, this i think is called kaffe, down on greenwich street in tribeca, near the corner of murray street, really good stuff

[michael]

after trying the black cat blend at a new york coffee shop, i got some of my older black cat beans out of the freezer, set the machine to 95 degrees, ground two notches finer on the mini mazzer e, moved up to 17gs and got some great shots. after this experience, i bought some more black cat which was delivered today. how long do i have to let the beans degass; do i just leave them in the bag on the counter or is there something else i should be doing?

i also purchased some of the organic black cat. any temperature recommendations for this would be appreciated

[JohnB]

Aging info here: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=897 Try the B/C at 94C & see what you think. It responds well to a tight grind/long, slow(35-40sec) pour. The Organic is the old Kid O which I liked at 93C/16g.

[michael]

thanks. i have tried 93 and 94 in the past with no success. 93, in retrospect, was sour to my taste. i went with 95 based on the temperature they are using in one of my favorite ny coffee shops. if you havent done so, check out the black cat at 95 degrees

[JohnB]

thanks. i have tried 93 and 94 in the past with no success. 93, in retrospect, was sour to my taste. i went with 95 based on the temperature they are using in one of my favorite ny coffee shops. if you havent done so, check out the black cat at 95 degrees

I've tried it at everything from 92-95 & settled on 94*C as my favorite. This was the blend from last spring & also the newer one from late August. No idea if its changed since then but I don't recall it being sour at 93C either. Could just be temp variations between machines.

My favorite B/C was last winter's version which if I recall correctly liked 93C best. I'm not a huge fan of the later versions. If you get a chance try the Organic/Kid-O in a press pot. It makes a nice morning brew.

[caf4brains]

My experience with the recent BC (IIRC the roast date was nov 9)is that you have to be sure to do two warming flushes otherwise the taste tends towards sour. In fact, I'm at 95C and the bean still flirts with sour. I'm also grinding for 40 sec pours. When everything is just right the result is fantastic, but it seems pretty fussy even with a double basket.

[Niko]

Eric,
Unless you've used the machine in the last 5 minutes, you should always be pulling 2 warming shots. The machine tends to drop a few degrees if it sits idle for longer than 5-6 minutes.

Sounds like that current BC would work at up to 97C with a little bite.
Looks like you need a triple basket

[michael]

i have some black cat and some of the black cat organic roast date 11/18 which i plan on trying in the next day or so; until recently when i took some older bc out of the freezer, i never had a great shot, but these last freezer beans were super at 95 degrees, 17gs in a 30+ second shot with 6 seconds of preinfusion

[Niko]

Ahh....6 seconds of Pre-infusion is my current favorite setting

Interesting how much Black Cat has changed over the last 2 years.

[caf4brains]

Eric,
Unless you've used the machine in the last 5 minutes, you should always be pulling 2 warming shots. The machine tends to drop a few degrees if it sits idle for longer than 5-6 minutes.

Sounds like that current BC would work at up to 97C with a little bite.
Looks like you need a triple basket

Niko,

If you can keep a secret I'll disclose that sometimes I skip the second warming shot. Usually I'm ok with the results, but with the BC ...NOT!

[Niko]

OK...I won't tell anyone

The Scace told me I wasn't getting the dialed in temps out of the grouphead unless the 2nd warming flush was done
...on both Vivaldi I & II

[caf4brains]

I had the last of my Nov 6 roast date yesterday after returning from the Thanksgiving trip. It was even deeper in flavor - almost totally without the lighter notes. Good stuff, but now I'm back to the home roast.

[michael]

i got 1 lb of the 11/18 black cat roast and 1 lb of the 11/18 organic black cat roast; at 95 degrees, 16.5gs to 17gs, its great stuff, especially with the preinfusion feature. at this point i wonder why i was never able to get this coffee to work for me until recently

[Niko]

....at this point i wonder why i was never able to get this coffee to work for me until recently

You said it yourself,
The Pre-Infusion feature spoke for itself