harbor_pirate Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 41 Location: Yulee, FL Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Señor Giotto by ECM aka The... Grinder: Mazzer Mini for the office,... Vac Pot: Farberware Robot x2, Yama... Drip: Technivorm KBT741 , Keurig... Roaster: WB MK1 x 2
Posted Wed Jun 26, 2002, 7:26pm Subject: Espresso color
In a majority of pix I've looked at in the not too distant past, the color of the espresso being dispensed by a variety of machines is FAR darker than anything I've created down here. For that matter, it's darker than anything I've ever seen in any coffee joint I've purchased espresso at.
Is the color strictly a result of roast? Are there other variables I may not be taking into account?
Heck! I'm just beginning to get this tamp thing.
Bear in mind now that I am WELL aware of the fact that the Capresso 101 I'm using is woefully inadequate but fer now it'll have to do.
Thanks for the input.
Siempre buscando el buen café HP sends from the Penal Colony
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Wed Jun 26, 2002, 9:32pm Subject: Re: Espresso color
Hi HP,
If you're referring to the nice red crema color:
It may be impossible with the Capresso 101, since it has a crema enhancer which typically produces a white crema.
I don't think the roast of the beans has much to do with the crema color, although really dark roasts don't put out much crema period.
I roast my own, have good espresso equipment; but today it would have been charitable to call any of my shots even cinnamon colored, never mind reddish.
For good crema, everything has to be right ... and the espresso gods have to be smiling.
Now for the bad news - colour is not strictly the result of the roast. For eg, I get "Schomer"like dark golden red streams from his full city roasted Dolce blend, and also from his green preblend that I roast myself.
But just today I was doing shots with my own blend of Guatamalan Hui Xoc and some excellent Nicaraguan and about 10% robusta, roasted to full city + / almost a light french, and the streams are lighter.
It really is the machine that makes the difference, but also something else... the filter basket size. I use a commercial 2x filter, and sometimes a 3x filter and I get that dark golden red crema with the tiger mottle flecking on almost every shot I make with a roast that's less than 5 days old. Using up to 17 (or 22) grams of coffee ina filter basket that aids in full and complete extraction really helps.
Check out the cup on the front page of www.coffeekid.com right now - see the crema? that's untouched, and what I would consider "light"... and the lighting I used probably lightened it up even more.
BUT... does this mean your Capresso is only producing crappy shots because the crema is more golden? I wouldn't call the shots crappy - if you're into the whole "art of espresso" thing, I firmly believe you can product 8 or 9 rating shots on almost any pump driven machine (mind u, crema enhancers, imo, bring this down toa 6 or 7).
harbor_pirate Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 41 Location: Yulee, FL Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Señor Giotto by ECM aka The... Grinder: Mazzer Mini for the office,... Vac Pot: Farberware Robot x2, Yama... Drip: Technivorm KBT741 , Keurig... Roaster: WB MK1 x 2
Posted Thu Jun 27, 2002, 3:22am Subject: Re: Espresso color
A) I'm diggin the atmosphere over here. Keep doing what yer doing.
B)Jim and Mark: thanks for the quick responses. I was not aware of the crema enhancer. Every now and then we will get darker crema but nothing like the red, cinnamony syrup I've begun to see and Mark linked to.
We do okay down here. We are probably seeing a 6 once a week or so, if we're lucky. We ain't producing garbage any more though, so the learning curve is no longer a line straight up. I think my machine is under powered. So I've started a savings account for a Livia 90 semi. When I transfer back to the world in ten months I hope to have it waiting or me upon arival. 'Til then we'll make do...AND more coffee!
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Thu Jun 27, 2002, 12:46pm Subject: Re: Espresso color
harbor_pirate Said:
A) I'm diggin the atmosphere over here. Keep doing what yer doing.
B)Jim and Mark: thanks for the quick responses. I was not aware of the crema enhancer. Every now and then we will get darker crema but nothing like the red, cinnamony syrup I've begun to see and Mark linked to.
We do okay down here. We are probably seeing a 6 once a week or so, if we're lucky. We ain't producing garbage any more though, so the learning curve is no longer a line straight up. I think my machine is under powered. So I've started a savings account for a Livia 90 semi. When I transfer back to the world in ten months I hope to have it waiting or me upon arival. 'Til then we'll make do...AND more coffee!
I had a 101 (or 111) back in my pre CG espresso days.
The bad news is that it does have a sort of crema enhancer (slit outlets in the basket)
The good news is that the machine will self-destruct in about 6 - 12 months. If you don't descale, the thermoblock will clog, if you do descale, it will screw up the flow rate and you'll get luke warm espresso. You could use really soft water to put off the joyous day.
Yeah, I did. It gave me the brilliant (doh!) insight that Consumer Reports or Good Housekeeping weren't really the best source for espresso machine advice.
One websearch and one year later ... and here I am, a pontificating senior member ;)
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