# Clifton - E1 project



## unoll (Jan 22, 2014)

Took a bag of Clifton E1 project medium roast espresso beans out the freezer a couple of days ago and tried extracting today. Unfortunately I'm finding that no matter what I do, I seem to be getting bitter unpleasant tasting espresso. Even 18g - 28g in 23 seconds at 91°C had an unpleasant bitter taste to it.

http://www.cliftoncoffee.co.uk/shop/e1project-fincabellavista/

Anyone out there enjoying or had good experience with this coffee? I'm hoping that the dodgy drinks are my fault as I had so much hope for this one and have generally enjoyed Clifton roasts in the past.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

91 sounds quite low to me. Try it at 93 and be prepared to go a little higher. How long were they frozen for?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Try pulling longer . You may be interpreting stroking as bitter .


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Mrboots2u said:


> Try pulling longer . You may be interpreting stroking as bitter .


Stroking coffee is a new one


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Only had one bag of Clifton before but it was good as spro IIRC.

Try 18g - 36g in ~30 secs.


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

I am a noob regarding coffee but I've never read, in books or online, that storing coffee in the freezer is a good thing. Could that be part of the problem?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> Stroking coffee is a new one


Foa


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Ramrod said:


> I am a noob regarding coffee but I've never read, in books or online, that storing coffee in the freezer is a good thing. Could that be part of the problem?


It's a hotly contested debate. Certainly if you do freeze it needs to be airtight (one way valves properly sealed) and thawed out properly before opening. If you search freezing on the forum there's loads of threads.


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## Ramrod (Feb 9, 2016)

I'll have a nose around on the forums....


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Mrboots2u said:


> Foa


Act fast pal


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

Had 2 x 1Kg bags of E1 recently as 2 weeks back ( Clifton are round the corner from one of the sites I look after, so go in and pick up every now and again)

Was going 18 into 30-32 over 33 seconds inc 8 sec pre infusion and they did benefit from being pulled a bit hotter than cooler on the conti.

Presume you are referring to the El Salvador Finca Bella Vista? Had one as med and one as "dark" ( read m/d) and had to say preferred to the "dark" of the two which hit its tasting notes of molasses, dates and cocoa the med was ok just got a bit lost in milk although made a very drinkable brazen ( as did the dark to be fair).

Hope of help and above of going hotter and longer may be the best way to go

John


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## unoll (Jan 22, 2014)

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm getting somewhere with these beans but I'm pulling pretty long and fast. best so far was 20g - 50g in 23S at 92°C but there's still some unpleasantness there. Regarding previous comments:

- Beans were frozen for a month. The beans were put in the freezer the day they were delivered which was 2 days after roast. It wasn;t an issue with the last beans I bought, but should I be observing an additional weeks resting time once I've taken them out of the freezer to allow for degassing. It could be that this is the source of my problems.

- I haven't struggled with frozen beans in the past, I use airtight containers and make sure that bags are sealed up. I defrost in an airtight container also just in case.

- Regarding increasing temperature: will this not increase bitterness? My understanding of coffee is that exposing coffee to higher temperature water will result in increased extraction and therefore increased bitterness. What am I missing? Initially I was extracting this coffee at 94°C and 17g - 34g in 27s but it really wasn't very pleasant.

- Yes they're the Finca Bella Vista beans, and they're a medium roast. If I'm finding this coffee a bit bitter I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like the dark roast too much, or again, maybe I'm missing something.

So, where do I go from here, plan is:

- Take all beans out of freezer and see how they taste at different times from defrost

- Stick with the grind that gave me the 1:2.5 ratio and try a few ratios to see where that gets me (1:1, 1:2, 1:3). Dillute shots to the same total weight as the 1:3 to help my tastebuds out.

- Get some other coffee on the go incase there really is no hope. I've got some smokey barn Colombia Cundinamarca on it's way so hopefully I don;t have to struggle along for too long.

Thanks again everyone


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