Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 6:53am Subject: Lighter style espresso blends?
Good morning...:)
My husband adores HEAVY, chocolately espresso blends. I 'think' I'm in the minority in that I prefer lighter blends, sans flowery notes. I like a little fruit, a little chocolate, a little spice.
Any suggestions for readily available *green* beans (that I could blend) to create a lighter espresso?
milnerb1 Senior Member Joined: 25 Sep 2002 Posts: 391 Location: Lake Tapps, WA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Vivaldi II, Isomac Tea,... Grinder: Mazzer Mini, Solis Mulino Roaster: Behmor 1600, BBQ drum,...
Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 7:02am Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
deborahb Said:
Good morning...:)
My husband adores HEAVY, chocolately espresso blends. I 'think' I'm in the minority in that I prefer lighter blends, sans flowery notes. I like a little fruit, a little chocolate, a little spice.
Any suggestions for readily available *green* beans (that I could blend) to create a lighter espresso?
This is the blend I sent out under the name "Italian Blend" I used the Blue de Brazil which was superb, with a foamy feel and cocoa flavor, but which isn't being sold green anymore. Of the ones availble currently, I would go with SM's Cooxupe.
I use the same base in an all round "louder" blend I sent out as WTC
Roast 1: 20% Harar 20% Mild Kenya 40% Brazil 20% Aged Indo
Roast 2: 20% Antigua 40% Yauco 40% Uganda Bugisu
This is my current houseblend; I premixed about 10lbs of it since it's wtc -- way too complicated -- to blend for each roasting session.
dsharp88 Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2001 Posts: 73 Location: Metairie, LA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: LaCimbali Junior D/1 Grinder: Mini Mazzer, Solis Maestro Vac Pot: Yama Drip: Chemex, 1-cup Melitta Roaster: Alpenrost, FreshRoast+,...
Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 10:08am Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
This is the exact project I have just begun! After spending several months working on heavy, chocolate espresso blends(Chocolate Espresso, Part 2) and a Monsooned blend, I wanted to do something at the other end of the spectrum.
First, have you tried Moka Kadir Blend from sweetmarias.com? I'm going for something a little less fruity than that, but it's a good reference point.
My plan is to try the following beans in some combination:
Brazilan base (?); Papua New Guinea (or, possibly, Sulawesi); Yemen Mocha; and Ehtiopian Sidamo Dry-Processed (or, possibly, Harrar).
The base may not be needed, but the smoky, chocolatey flavor of the Mocha or the spiciness of the Sulawesi may force some use of it.
My idea is to combine a Moka Kadir-like blend with some lighter Indonesian for complexity, and enough base to keep any of the flavors from being too strong.
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 11:00am Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
I like the Mocha Kadir, but I use so much yemen/ethiopian, that I have all the ingredients separate now. In terms of fruitiness, the Sidamo (and Ghimbis when they're in) are the most. Next the Harar, Raimi and Sa'anani (aka Haimi). The Mattaris are usually red wine like rather than fruity. The Hirazis are positively dry.
IMO, if you want a light blend, you'll want to use beans described in cupping reports as "creamy" or "foamy", rather than heavybodied. As I said above, for me, the Yauco/Brazil combo works well; but I'm sure there are lots of other possibilities.
Thank you for sharing your blends and sources. I shall do some bean shopping this week!
May I share a little funny? My husband is an environmental scientist (math IS his life). He spent some time perusing the threads on this site. His comments (paraphrasing), "I wonder how many people are engineers (regarding the profiles)...coffee blending and roasting should be coursework in grad school." I suspect we have a convert! :)
Again, thank you. I really need a break from these HEAVY blends...oy
Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 12:28pm Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
dsharp88 Said:
This is the exact project I have just begun! After spending several months working on heavy, chocolate espresso blends(Chocolate Espresso, Part 2) and a Monsooned blend, I wanted to do something at the other end of the spectrum.
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sun May 25, 2003, 12:38pm Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
deborahb Said:
Jim...
"I wonder how many people are engineers (regarding the profiles)...coffee blending and roasting should be coursework in grad school." I suspect we have a convert! :)
dsharp88 Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2001 Posts: 73 Location: Metairie, LA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: LaCimbali Junior D/1 Grinder: Mini Mazzer, Solis Maestro Vac Pot: Yama Drip: Chemex, 1-cup Melitta Roaster: Alpenrost, FreshRoast+,...
Posted Sat May 31, 2003, 5:20pm Subject: Re: Lighter style espresso blends?
Deborah,
You did not want a bear of an espresso, so I give you this Gentle Blend. I assure you there is nothing grizzly about it.
I've given this project a lot of work (far more than went into that previous paragraph) over the past seven days, and I'm proud to introduce TERRIER BLEND (named for Boston University's nickname).
The final recipe is:
2 parts Papua New Guinea 2 parts Ethiopian Harrar 1 part Yemen Mocha 1 part dry-processed Ethiopian Sidamo
If you don't have the dry-processed Sidamo, this blend can be nearly duplicated with:
3 parts Sweetmaria's Moka Kadir Blend 2 parts Papua New Guinea 1 part Ethiopian Harrar
Your guidelines were a little fruit, a little chocolate, a little spice, and no flowery notes.
The Papua New Guinea adds body, a light fruity flavor, and a hint of spice. The Harrar adds some wild fruitiness, but doesn't overwhelm the blend because the PNG also acts as a base (usually Brazilian) would. PNG is not as heavy as other Indonesian beans. Yemen adds chocolate notes, but is kept light by lessening the amount of this smoky, fruity, chocolatey bean. Finally, the lessened amount of DP Sidamo adds light fruitiness.
Here's what didn't work: Sulawesi stood out too much even in a lessened amount. Its flavor is just too striking for this blend. Brazilian was not needed because the PNG worked so well as a base. Equal amounts of PNG, Harrar, Yemen, and Brazil (added to see what stood out among the flavorful beans) showed the Yemen tended to dominate the others. More Sidamo lessened the Yemen dominance, but flattened the blend thus making the flavor somewhat bland. Leaving out the Harrar noticibly reduced the complexity and the fruitiness, and made the Yemen dominate again even with a full amount of Sidamo.
Here's something that worked nicely, but wasn't what we were going for: Leaving out the Sidamo and equalizing the Yemen with the PNG and the Harrar was a very good blend, but not light.
I give you WOLFPACK BLEND (named for Loyola University New Orleans):
1 part Papua New Guinea 1 part Yemen Mocha 1 part Ethiopian Harrar
It's a strong fruit and chocolate blend a la Moka Kadir Blend, but with more body and spice, and a little less complexity. You could add some complexity back into it and reduce some of the body and spice by mixing 2 or 3 parts Moka Kadir Blend and 1 part PNG.
As always, personal preferences prevail. Perhaps patient pondering permits particularly palatable possibilities. (Oh great, now my monitor's all wet...)
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