Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

All things beans. Discussions about green and roasted coffee beans - where to purchase them, how to roast them, how best to grind them for the S1/V2/Mini/Dream/Dream T. Also, discussions about grinder and roaster hardware.
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Endo

Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by Endo »

Lot's of roasters here it seems.

Any good blend recipes that are well suited for the S1 (16g doses).

I'll start it going:

My latest roast (after a bit of experimenting):

55% Brazilian Cerrado
30% Sumatra Mandheling
15% Ethiopian Harrar

Roasted using the simple P1 profile on my Behmor. Full City + roast (hit cool at first sign of second crack).
oton

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by oton »

Nice thread Endo. Thank you. I am frankly disgusted with the blends I've tried so far. In fact, I'm wondering if the investment in my gear was worth it.
JohnB

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by JohnB »

oton wrote:Nice thread Endo. Thank you. I am frankly disgusted with the blends I've tried so far. In fact, I'm wondering if the investment in my gear was worth it.
Have you tried any S/O espresso? Have you ordered blends from other parts of Europe? Italy? UK?
oton

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by oton »

Yes John. I've tried different coffees from UK, Spain and Italy. Most of them tastes to me like a "simple coffee", I mean, I can't find any special flavors. Other majority have the typical chocolate flavor but not much more. Unexciting. In only a few I tasted interesting things; for example Guatemala Nimak Kape (decaf) with wine and black cherry flavors or Pascucci Gold (an Italian coffee) which cut the milk pretty well bringing caramel/liquor flavors. However, the coffees with this "special" flavors (fruity, cereals, spicy, etc.) that I've tried are inferior to the ones that I can make (dead easy and with 100% repeteability) in my Nespresso :pale: (better insert a hanged man emoticon here).

Today I've just recieved some coffees from Ecco Caffe - Yes, despair has made me buy cafe from 10000 km far away - Not tried yet. I have Ecco Espresso, Ecco Espresso Reserve, Ecco Espresso Organic, Brazil Fazenda Sertãozinho and Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira. Any tips for use this coffees, please?
JohnB

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by JohnB »

How long did they take to get from Calif to Spain? Haven't tried any Ecco coffees yet but Jman may have some detailed info he can share. I'm currently drinking Intelligentsia's Black Cat Organic which is all Brazilian beans & liking it at 197*F (92C) so that might apply to your 2 Brazilian S/Os. Looks like lots of Brazilian beans in the blends also so I'd start there temp wise.

How about Square Mile in the UK?? http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/
JmanEspresso

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by JmanEspresso »

The Organic, Reserve and Cafe Espresso's, are all quite forgiving, and very delicous. Chocolate, Caramel, Honey, Vanilla, with some soft fruit lingering in the background. Dont get me wrong, these are anything but fruity coffees.. But last time I had the Organic, there was a hint of candied orange that would poke its head up every so slightly, teasing me, forcing me to fly through the bag to pull it out again.

The Current Ecco Espresso, is made up of the same coffee's that the BC Classic is(or was) made up of. Brazil, and Yirg from the Dama Coop. Run a high dose, and pull longer ristrettos. 45seconds is generally my stopping point, regardless.. I try to keep things, at their tightest, at 40 or less. I just finished a bag of this, and heres how I ran it:
17grams(Its tight, but it fits without issue)
93C or 92C, depending if you want more mouthfeel/body(92C), or hint of fruit and vanilla(93C). Definitely try both(and experiment further if you wish)
3-6sec PI. I also ran a bunch of shots without PI, but I brought the dose down to 15.5gr. The PI in this case was mainly to help out with the high dose.. it didnt bring to much to the table flavor/texture wise.

I dont have VII notes on the Organic or Reserve, but I enjoyed them very much on my Anita. If/when I do buy them again, and, I will be buying them again.. I will start pretty much where I was for the Ecco Cafe Espresso.

The Sertaozino needs good rest. Its all wierd in the first couple days. I found it was good between days 6-12, with the peak on days 8-9ish. I ran a lower dose here.. 15grams, and I played around with +/- .5grams. 91C was nice, 90C was better, 89 was sour. Pre-Infusion brought out the advertised Tangerine flavor, but I also found that running 14grams, 1.75oz in 28seconds brought it out as well. Up the dose to 15gram, and pull it ristretto, and its a cup of dark chocolate. if you nail the extraction, the dark chocolate tastes like it's swirled with creamy honey, kill almost ALL bittersweet-ness. It was quite a sweet shot when i nailed it, and on the lower dose, its easier. Dont be afraid to let this coffee run into the blonde for a second or three. You may find it mellows out the shot a bit, and you may not. Many coffees like to be cut out before any blonding, to preserve body.. But this brazil has great body to start with.

Serra Do bone.. This I dont have notes for, and IDK why. So, when this happens.. I start simply. 16grams, 197F, slight ristretto. Then, adjust from there. When I had this on the Anita, the shot can be totally transformed from a thick chocolate bomb, to a lighter bodied caramel and lime espresso. Sounds wierd, but wait till you try it. The Lime acidity was crazy delicous mixed with the caramel and slight peanut butter notes.


Ecco's coffees are awesome. Usually quite forgiving, and their blends are smooth smooth smooth. Thats why I like them, they've got comfort food blends, as well as complex SO's(though, right now.. the SO's are very forgiving as well.. The Maravilla they had a little while ago was SUPERB)
michael
God Shot
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:30 am

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by michael »

the ecco SO coffees are great; i generally brew them with 20gs (their recommendation) in a triple basket at 93 for some and 94 for the SDB and the yellow burbon with 3 sec pi; havent tried these at 92; generally try to keep the time to around 30 seconds

also enjoy the new shakisso from counter culture; the epic blend from 49th parallel is a must try 8) 8) 8)
oton

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by oton »

JohnB wrote:How long did they take to get from Calif to Spain? Haven't tried any Ecco coffees yet but Jman may have some detailed info he can share. I'm currently drinking Intelligentsia's Black Cat Organic which is all Brazilian beans & liking it at 197*F (92C) so that might apply to your 2 Brazilian S/Os. Looks like lots of Brazilian beans in the blends also so I'd start there temp wise.

How about Square Mile in the UK?? http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/
7 days exactly. Shipped on the same day it was roasted. :smile:

I knew squaremile website, thanks anayway. Not tried yet, I wanted to try some U.S coffee. Probably will be the next.

___

Thanks you so much JmanEspresso your tips! :cheers:

I've tried with Ecco Espresso

All with 6 seconds preinfusion. The times includes this 6 seconds.
First shot:
93ºC - 17 gr/22 s/30ml
Not very bitter but too much sour. Bad shot.

Dial grinder...
Second shot:
93ºC - 17/35s/30ml
Wow. No bitterness, a little acidity but OK. Chocolate. Vanilla. (over)ripe fruits or perhaps some nuts. :smile:

Third shot:
93ºC - 17gr/40s/25ml
Nah... More bitterness, more sourness. Big mouthfeel, yes, but don't like the taste.

I'm surprised that you guys mention about 40s shots. I've always get bitter shots that way. :| :?:
JohnB

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by JohnB »

Is your shot going blond before the 35-40 seconds is up?
JmanEspresso

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by JmanEspresso »

I know people all have their own opinion on when to start the shot timer when using pre-infusion...

Personally... I dont really use my shot timer much. I do use to get thing dialed in, so its good to keep around.. but once Im in the ballpark, I go on color. Time and Volume look good on paper, but dont do much when you're dialing in. Color is a much better indicator.

But, generally, I dont count PI time as shot time. So, if I ran 4 seconds PI, and got a 34 second shot, its a 30 second shot, in my mind.


When you run shots long, like over 32seconds or so.. its because you've tightened up the grind, or upped the dose, or even both. Running a 14gram dose, for a 45 second shot, isn't normal. Running at 17gram dose for 45seconds, is more likely to give up a good shot. Furthermore, not all coffee do well pulled like this. Popular N. American blends do, like Black Cat, Leftist, Toscano, Belle.. things like that. REAL Italian coffees(like Illy and the like...when they're fresh), pull at their best, at a low dose, and a brisk 22-23seconds, for 1.75-2.0oz.
oton

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by oton »

I get an unpleasant strong salty taste in some coffees. I'm wondering if it's due to overdosing? Coffee gets salty when you load the basket with more coffee than a kind of coffee needs?
Endo

Re: Custom Roasts for the Vivaldi

Post by Endo »

oton wrote:Coffee gets salty when you load the basket with more coffee than a kind of coffee needs?
Not normally. I suggest you taste a "water shot" to see if it's coming from the machine or water.
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