Crema - too much of a good thing?

[FarmerJoe]

Hey there!

Just a thought: I find when I make an espresso blend with a lot of DP coffee I get so much crema in the days immediately following the roast that I need to use espresso cups with a wide mouth for my doubles. Graduated espresso glasses (shot-glass like) just dont cut it as the crema will overflow well before I get anywhere near two ounces of liquid!!!

Common problem??? I have a Sylvia.

FJ.

[stratford]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

Come on now Farmer Joe...

Youre just bragging :

Cheers...

Chris

[nunu]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

You might also be seeing a lot of CO2 spatter. If theres lots of bubbling during the extraction, carbon dioxide is often the culprit. Let the beans de-gas a bit more.

Certain beans do produce heaps of crema. Malabar is notoriously big on crema.

[robusto]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

FarmerJoe, although excess crema can sometimes be symptomatic of pressure problems, I doubt that applies to your case. Just enjoy it and count yourself lucky for effortlessly achieving what millions can only dream about.

Fresh beans produce most crema, and as Nunu points out overly-fresh coffee can produce a lot of CO2 bubbles in it as it flows out. But unless your temperature is at boiling point it should not splatter out.

Robusto

[FarmerJoe]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

No splatter... just overflowing cups which settle down to only 1-1.5 ounces of espresso...

Dont get me wrong, Im not complaining, just telling how I need to use a different type of cup.

FJ

[scoota_gal]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

I was getting "too much crema" today as well at work. We had just received a new shipment of beans from our supplier and they were obviously just roasted! Makes for yummy coffee and regular customers were impressed with the taste of their coffee today.

So I was actually thinking I was underextracting the coffee and wound down the grinder a smidge. But it didnt seem to make much difference there. Will be interesting to see how it goes over the next few days.

[samthedog]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

If you are using a HX machine you could be drawing the shot with water that is too hot. I find that if I dont use a cooling shot then the crema becomes more of a high volume "froth" that is pale in colour and lacks the tiger stripes of a good crema.

[scoota_gal]

Re: Crema - too much of a good thing?

No, the crema was dark like thick honey/caramel colour. Though, the heat issue is an interesting one and I have been wanting to check that the temperature is right. Im still learning the vagarities and idiosyncrities of the big machine!!

Thursday, just gone for example, I got to work at 9am and didnt get a chance to set up how I wanted to until about 10.30am!! It was madness. We didnt stop until 2pm when the place went dead and we spent an hour cleaning up!! I was frustrated because the steam wand had milk all over it (I fastidiously clean after every jug I froth) and it took several soakings to get it clean! And my coffee was just pouring from the spout as the grind needed to be adjusted and I hadnt even been able to get to do that much...[/rant]

So, yeah, Thursday was a bit hetic.

And so I also have not been getting huge crema again recently either!