My father-in-law returned from Venezuela the other day...and brought me coffee beans (for the first time ever). Now...5 years ago, I would have been elated and anxious to try them, as I was used to Peet's Italian Roast which I'd chop up in my Rocky and run through my Silvia.
So...the beans in question are in a cellophane bag and were picked up off the shelf in a grocery store (I think). They seem to have a roast "date" of August 2012. Supposedly, these are the espresso beans of choice down there.
Now that I know better and have better gear, I pretty much want to use them to clear residue from the machine after a detergent backflush or descaling, or to run through the grinder to clean out Grindz residue...but alas, I don't want to offend him...well, maybe I'll get lucky and the espresso won't make me want to expectorate.
Good point. Maybe I'd be better off brewing it at off temperatures or overextracted and giving it to him to drink? Although that could just as easily backfire, as he';ll pretty much eat or drink anything and like it.
Well, today he brought it up and suggested we try "just a little" to see how t is. I suggested it might be best off used in the Moka pot.
...just gonna have to bite the bullet one of these days very soon...
I actually just got my Rocky in the mail that I got from my friend that just got me into espresso, and used it for the first time tonight with my Silvia... I ordered some black cat and it is currently on the way, but I couldn't wait to start pulling my first shots so I picked up a small bag of Starbucks 'espresso blend'...
After dialing in the grind and temperature surfing, I was pulling shots with extraction times around 27 seconds which I thought was decent, but the shots were very dark with only a thin layer of crema on top and tasted quite burned... Do you think that is due to operator error or do you think it's the Starbucks coffee and I'll have better luck with Black Cat?
After dialing in the grind and temperature surfing, I was pulling shots with extraction times around 27 seconds which I thought was decent, but the shots were very dark with only a thin layer of crema on top and tasted quite burned... Do you think that is due to operator error or do you think it's the Starbucks coffee and I'll have better luck with Black Cat?
That nasty burnt taste is the primary reason most of the people here dislike *$$! For sure you'll like Black Cat better...although I have to say I'm personally not all that fond of it
I'll admit, some days when I'm out of beans and didn't prepare by placing an order well in advance, I'll either run to the local Friedrich's Coffee which buys locally roasted beans...still not great, but not bad, or go to Grounds for Celebration which uses locally beans but they pull them out of larger bags and they're usually roasted within 4 days of when I buy.
I HAVE IN THE PAST...bought beans from Target, their store brand Archer Farms. I'll buy the lightest roast and pick the bag with the furthest out best by date and honestly, they have some decent beans, very drinkable shots (assuming you're making milk based drinks) and an overall "Not Bad" experience.
There are those that say that beans from Target won't even make espresso...but I've bought many a bag of 7 or 8 dollar 12 oz bags of mostly just OK beans while waiting for shipments of the real stuff....granted when I get the good beans in my grinder I have to loosen the grind setting quite a bit which would tell me the store bought beans are older.
I've bought beans from Whole Foods that were roasted the day I bought them and honestly, some of the more interesting Archer Farms Fair Trade beans produce better tasting shots.
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