Extraction temp

[Consty]

Hi there,

Last months I gradually developed a grind-dose-tamp-time and clean routine with much help from reading all of your various posts (and video's! Very instrumental Niko, I also have the doserless M4!)

I never really spent time on varying the extraction temperature until now. Is this based on pure personal taste preference or are there some general ideas about the temerature and certain elements of taste it produces?
In analogy I'm thinking of the extraction time, short gives more thin and sour , long tends to produce more bitter and burn.
Curious about what some of you have to say on this.

Cheers,
Constant

[JohnB]

Well the ideal temp varies with each blend but too low a temp gives a sour taste & too high bitter.

[Niko]

Mostly single farm espresso is going through my machines and I find that the darker the roast, the lower the temp and vice versa for the lighter roasts.
This is not always the case but it's a rough starting point.

[Mizspresso]

Any suggestions for the Blue Bottle Hayes Valley? I bought some and have been disappointed. Either it is not intended for milk-based drinks or I am really off. It gets lost in the cappuccino. I've been pulling it at 92 degrees because it's a somewhat darker roast than the Brazilians I've been drinking recently.

Tomorrow I'm going hotter, but not so sure that will help anything. It's better in a macchiato; very smooth and almost velvety. Maybe it's the drink not the temp?

Or or...maybe I'm getting closer to drinking straight espresso?!

[Niko]

That blend would pull great on an old S1 at about 89C, you can always run your VII in S1 mode

[JohnB]

That blend would pull great on an old S1 at about 89C, you can always run your VII in S1 mode

Or play with the offset when you get the board upgraded.

[Niko]

...or I can walk 4 feet away to the S1

The board upgrade is going to be perfect for this, John. :P

[Mizspresso]

Well till I get the upgrade, I'm just gonna pull at 91C. I think I will try grinding finer, too, as I've heard this is good at upwards of 30 seconds.

I will leave the geeky stuff to you guys till I'm at least at espresso grade

[coffeeowl]

I don't know how yours, but mine VII without any upgrade has the superspecial temperature setting described in the upgraded manual - from 91 down to 88 and from 97 up to 100. Found it out only yesterday... I haven't done the homework and wasn't checking for news too often here
Yet I haven't found a coffee getting better lower then 91C (sometimes I was cheating and doing one flush instead of two to check taste).

[Endo]

That's the what they call the "Extreme Temp Set" they describe in the owner's manual. It gets activated when you are in STBY and at either the lowest (91C) or highest (97C) and you hold down the 2 cup button.

You can get even more range (from 85C to 120C) if you switch it to V1 mode. (You can use 120C if you want to do green bean shots, that way you can roast and do a shot at the same time! ).

Another way is to change the "enhanced offset" (which gives you +/-8C range). I typically use this option (since I've been playing with offset a lot lately with the Scace). Just don't forget to record your original offset if it came calibrate from CC.