# Single origin espressos?



## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any single origin beans to recommend for espresso? I've been using mainly espresso blends from various retailers and they work very nicely with my set-up. Now I'm moving on to try single origin beans but noticed that many of them just don't produce the kind of crema I like. I wonder whether it's because some beans are just not meant for espresso or is it time to upgrade my set and skills...

So I'll appreciate very much if anyone here has good experience with any nice single origin beans used in espresso and can recommend to me! Thank you!!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

What beans have you tried? What flavours do you like? What grinder and machine do you have?


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

I'm using a Porlex hand grinder and I'm suspecting I need a better grinder to get the results I want. Machine is La Pavoni (pre-millennium).

I like the fresh, floral notes of some South American beans. But tried an Indian monsooned malabar recently which is very different from the South American style and I liked it very much too. But for single origins, I've been trying out Costa Rican and Brazilian beans mainly.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Crema doesn't always equal taste - some of the blends you have tried may have contained a mix of robusta which will give a larger crema than a single origin or a 100 percent arabica blend .

What blends have you tried that you like the taste of ?????


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Any darker roasted bean will produce thicker crema - think this is because the bean retains more CO2 than lighter roast beans which is released during extraction combining with the oils and fats to produce a thicker crema.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Who have you been buying your blends from?


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

I've tried the espresso blend from my local coffee seller (Braithwaite, in Dundee) and also a few of the online retailers. Ordered some from hasbean, Pact and a roaster in Singapore before I moved to Scotland.

Well, I understand that crema and taste don't always correlate but I have a curious observation that specialty cafés serving single origins manage to pull beautiful shots with thick crema and so far most of the single origins I've tried don't produce anywhere near the same kind of results. Taste-wise, I find my shots usually leaning on the sour side. And that's why I'm thinking it's a grinder issue.. But still hoping to get a recommendation for positive control in my experiments. ☺


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Seasonal wise you you might struggling for brazillians at the moment ....

Sour is either indicative of a shot being under extracted ( the water going to quickly through the coffee ) or shot temperature or both

So how much coffee are you dosing in weight ( to 0.1g ) and how much are you getting out in weight (to 0.1 g ) and roughly over what time

The challenge with the porlex I suspect will be getting the coffee fine and consistent enough

A grinder will a bigger range of adjustment for espresso certainly would help

What basket are you using and what tamper ....

Sour can also be indicative of pulling your shots at too low a temperature

So how long is the machine on before you use it .


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## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

kwuntsun said:


> I've tried the espresso blend from my local coffee seller (Braithwaite, in Dundee) and also a few of the online retailers. Ordered some from hasbean, Pact and a roaster in Singapore before I moved to Scotland.
> 
> Well, I understand that crema and taste don't always correlate but I have a curious observation that specialty cafés serving single origins manage to pull beautiful shots with thick crema and so far most of the single origins I've tried don't produce anywhere near the same kind of results. Taste-wise, I find my shots usually leaning on the sour side. And that's why I'm thinking it's a grinder issue.. But still hoping to get a recommendation for positive control in my experiments. ☺


I found braithwaites to be horrendously over roasted to the point of tasting like coal! In Dundee you have esspress oh' on Perth Road, and they sell a variety of beans from HasBean if you want to be able to pick something up locally.

I'm going to be getting round to trying more single origins now that I have better control over brew temp. I fancy trying more of the single origins from "Steampunk" in North Berwick as I've never been disappointed with any of their coffee's so far, even their single origin decaf is absolutely delicious.


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

I'm just working through a bag of Costa Rica Finca Carrazal from Small Batch - and that it is making a great summery espresso to my taste (and I had it in one of their Brighton shops made in a siphon and that was glorious, too).


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Yeah what is your dose? Sour could be too smaller dose, i'd recommend around 18g with a lighter roast.

HasBean have a huge range of single origins, others you could try are Smokey Barn, Rave etc - big list in the beans subforum.


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

Mrboots2u said:


> Seasonal wise you you might struggling for brazillians at the moment ....
> 
> Sour is either indicative of a shot being under extracted ( the water going to quickly through the coffee ) or shot temperature or both
> 
> ...


I usually switch on the machine at steaming temperature and lift the lever to warm with group head with some of the hot water before switching it down to brewing temperature.

My normal doses are between 14g and 15g. Most often at 14.2g if you want the precision. I never actually weighed how much I get out of it but I stop at blonding point which takes 20 seconds with espresso blends. I tamp with a flat Reg Barber.

The same settings give me a rather thin and sourish shot with single origins. I've tried making the grind finer, tamping harder etc but they either blonde too soon or they come out drip-wise. Hence I'm thinking maybe the optimum grind setting is somewhere in between 2 notches in my Porlex. Will probably need to invest in a good grinder with finer settings...



aaronb said:


> Yeah what is your dose? Sour could be too smaller dose, i'd recommend around 18g with a lighter roast.
> 
> HasBean have a huge range of single origins, others you could try are Smokey Barn, Rave etc - big list in the beans subforum.


The maximum I have tried with my machine is 15g. 18g is a bit too much for the La Pavoni pre-mil 48mm basket, I think... Thanks for your suggestions though! I'll check out Smokey Barn and Rave.


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

shrink said:


> I found braithwaites to be horrendously over roasted to the point of tasting like coal! In Dundee you have esspress oh' on Perth Road, and they sell a variety of beans from HasBean if you want to be able to pick something up locally.
> 
> I'm going to be getting round to trying more single origins now that I have better control over brew temp. I fancy trying more of the single origins from "Steampunk" in North Berwick as I've never been disappointed with any of their coffee's so far, even their single origin decaf is absolutely delicious.


Hey I do agree that Braithwaite tends to roast really dark. But they do have some nice guest coffees occasionally that work well. Their espresso blend isn't fantastic as a shot itself but I do enjoy it as a flat white or latte. I did contact EspressOh earlier on about retail beans and they said they will begin selling them later this week so I'm looking forward! Will be going there with a friend this weekend for coffee so probably good chance to get a bag of nice beans to try out.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Try dropping your dose to around 12-14g and as a rule of thumb with lever machines grind finer and tamp lighter. Sour flavours with darker roasts points to several possible problems, under extraction of the shot, brewing the shot at too low a temperature and as you already seem to know your grinder itself. You have to be able to grind dose, distribute and tamp well enough to create some resistance in the puck as well as brew at the right sort of temperature, you can buy LCD temperature gauges which can be stuck onto the group to give you an idea of the temperature you are at. How long do you leave the machine switched on for before pulling a shot?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Grinder is your limitation by the sound of it. You need to be able to go a bit finer


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Sorry forgot it was a La Pavoni, yeah going higher wont help in this case.

As Charlie and Jeebsy say go a little finer, if you could weigh a shot out that would also help us see what you are extracting currently.


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions! I'll try a smaller dose at a finer grind setting and lighter tamp when I'm back from work this evening. Going to test with 13g this time since I usually dose at 14g+.


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## Delfi (Jan 4, 2013)

I'd make sure you've got your water temp about right. As I'm sure you're aware the EP is quite temperamental. Have you got pressure gauges and temp strips? I'm finding it's very easy to get too hot and ruin the extraction. I've been grinding 12g of various single origins from Monmouth in London and getting good results 20-26g. Perhaps try pulling a little less water through on your pre shot routine?


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## kwuntsun (Jul 21, 2014)

I've finally made up my mind to try a better grinder so I bought a new Eureka Mignon from Bella Barista which just arrived today. Played around a little to get used to the fineness adjustment and after a few sink shots, I managed to get a decent shot out of the HasBean Guatemala Finca San Sebastian. The flavour profile is really significantly different from shots from my Porlex grinder. I will still need to make more finer adjustments to get the optimum grind level but so far I'm very pleased with this new grinder!


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