CaffeineHat Senior Member Joined: 2 May 2006 Posts: 87 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Baby Grinder: Gaggia MDF Drip: French press, actually. Roaster: Home
Posted Sun May 18, 2008, 8:01am Subject: This is embarassing...question about "ultra fresh" beans.
My last post was about 'sprites' with my bottomless portafilter. I adjusted my Nemox Lux and filled it with home roasted beans. They were about 24 hours old and at a variety of grinder settings, they are 'choking' my Gaggia machine. I haven't experienced this because I have been using a fairly low quality grinder before the Nemox. The puck comes out uniformly wet and compressed with a perfect impression of the shower screen screw in the top.
Is it possible for beans to be 'too fresh' to produce espresso? I had not had this problem with my grinder before and I'm thinking that this is on the way to becoming my back up grinder with a Gaggia MDF replacing it. Any thoughts from the experts before the Nemox Lux goes to the cabin in the country for good?
Luca Moderator Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2,597 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Espresso: H: Maver W: FB-80 Grinder: H: Super Jolly W: Brasilia... Vac Pot: Hario TCA-2 Roaster: Sample Roaster at Work
Posted Sun May 18, 2008, 9:16am Subject: Re: This is embarassing...question about "ultra fresh" beans.
CaffeineHat Said:
Is it possible for beans to be 'too fresh' to produce espresso? I had not had this problem with my grinder before and I'm thinking that this is on the way to becoming my back up grinder with a Gaggia MDF replacing it. Any thoughts from the experts before the Nemox Lux goes to the cabin in the country for good?
Yes, it is most definitely possible for beans to be too fresh for espresso. How fresh is too fresh varies depending on your palate and your roaster. Some commercial roasts need to rest for two weeks or even more to reach their peak, which is a logistical nightmare for companies that pride themselves on freshness. Some popcorn popper type roasts are reputed to be good after as little as two days resting time. Personally, I tend to find espresso made with coffee less than four days old overly acidic and thin in body and I tend to use most coffee packed in valve bags after about five or six days, or ten to fourteen days at work. Espresso that is too fresh will come out with monster crema that fades quite rapidly, leaving you with as little as half of the volume that you originally extracted.
It is well and truly worthwhile getting a substantial amount roasted at the same time and trying it every day until you no longer find it palatable. In the long run, it will save you a lot of time wasted on coffee that is too fresh or too old - but you need to be aware that beans from different roasters can have dramatically different optimum rest periods.
Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 295 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini Vac Pot: Ford Ranger Drip: TechniVorm Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Sun May 18, 2008, 1:00pm Subject: Re: This is embarassing...question about "ultra fresh" beans.
I have roasted certain beans and ground them say 3 days later and choked my Livia. Usually I open up the burrs for a couple of days and then gradually fine up as the coffee ages in the hopper..toward the seven day point.
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