skithebird Senior Member Joined: 1 Jan 1970 Posts: 101 Location: Evanston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Elektra Micro Casa... Grinder: Rancilio Rocky, Mazer Mini Vac Pot: NA Drip: French Press Roaster: NA
Posted Sun May 16, 2004, 11:34am Subject: Lifetime of Crema?
Does anyone know what is the "typical" lifetime in seconds for a reasonable crema layer from end of pour, and then, beyond the obvious, how its settling speed indicates the difference between a desired and undesired result?
I appologise in advance if this question has been discussed before, but searching the database, I can find no thread that seems to address it completely.
When I pour 2 oz in 25 seconds into a single "shot glass" I get initially all crema, top-to-bottom. Then as time elapses, I see the crema layer breaking down to pure espresso, eventually settling in at about 3 mm.
Loving crema, I intuitively consume my result immediately after a pour.
Loving crema, and also the enjoyment of more relaxing consumption, it would be nice if I could make the crema thickness a little longer lasting.
If doing so is possible, I suspect the magic grind lies inbetween my grinder settings. The next knotch finer is just too fine.
Is "crema lifetime" an important Barista subtlty within the "Golden Rule?" Has anyone looked at this in detail?
tom_b Senior Member Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 537 Location: Maui, Hawaii
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia/PID Grinder: Nuova Simonelli MCF Roaster: USPS/Popper
Posted Sun May 16, 2004, 10:59pm Subject: Re: Lifetime of Crema?
100% settling to 3mm doesn't sound bad for semi-fresh arabica, would expect thicker longer lasting crema from a robusta blend, or from arabica roasted ~< 5 days ago. tom
skithebird Senior Member Joined: 1 Jan 1970 Posts: 101 Location: Evanston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Elektra Micro Casa... Grinder: Rancilio Rocky, Mazer Mini Vac Pot: NA Drip: French Press Roaster: NA
Posted Mon May 17, 2004, 4:33am Subject: Re: Lifetime of Crema?
Thanks for the response! And good point. I'll check that direction out.
I've been using three different Intellengentsia blends so far. Black Cat, Berkeleys and an unadvertised espresso blend developed by Charlie Trotter for his restaurant.
At the time I did this test, my beans were about 2 weeks since roasting, which I know is way less than optimum. As a start, I'll retry with fresher beans, and look for differences between these blends. I'll also pay more attention as to the bean types these blends are composed of!
And I WILL try to compare more of a robusta and an arabica. I'm a real newbie when it comes to the theory behind decisions as to the best bean types to use. So far, I've been trusting Intellengentsia for that knowledge, and forming my preferences based on taste.
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