Espresso

Espresso is a strange, beautiful drink that if made correctly will have a thick feel in the mouth and sweet, lasting flavor on the tongue. Making it correctly though is more an art than a science.

Today I took the time to pull a couple dozen shots of espresso using three different
espresso blends. Espresso beans are usually roasted to a darkness called Full City. That is,
they aren't as dark as a really dark roast but neither are they as light as a medium roast: kinda in-between.

The three blends I used today differed in their roast profile and in their composition. One consisted of about 60% African coffee and 40% Indonesian coffee. The African coffee gave it a distinct acidity and the Indonesian coffee gave it some good body. All in all, it was too abrupt for me. It has a real bite to it that I don't care for.

The second blend was about 50-50 Indonesian and Latin American full-city roast. This blend was my favorite as it made a sweet, smooth, full-bodied shot of espresso. The crema wasn't as thick as I'd have liked but I think that was because I didn't have the shot time dialed in quite right. I like to pull about a 28-30 second shot and this was running at about 23 seconds. Still, it was a good shot of espresso.

The third was a mix of Indonesian, Latin American and African. This was a very complex mix that smelled like roses but was a bit too dark for my taste.

In a couple weeks I will try more blends and some single origins as well just to get a feel for the unique flavors in each.