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I had the same experience as melbroaster , temps in the range of 94-96 (as measured by my trusted Eric termometer in the grouphead) get the best out of dark roasts. A while ago I got some roasted coffee from a roaster that I was not familiar with and I got an Italian type of roast. The coffee was Sumatra BlueBatak, a pretty good coffee otherwise. I found that by extracting at 94-96 I get a sweeter shot with some almonds/marzipan notes at the end. A shot extracted at my normal 90-92 range and below tasted bland. My thinking is that a dark roast kills whatever more complex fruity/floral/spicy notes the coffee offers so there's no point extracting at lower temps trying to preserve those.
It's useful to appreciate the interaction of all the variables that produced your espresso, rather than assessing them in isolation.
All else being equal, increasing brew temperature should increase the espresso's extraction. However, the brew ratio you are using (19:26) is relative low compared to prevailing standards (closer to 1:2), which has the effect of reducing extraction percentage. As a whole, the higher brew temperature helps get your extraction back to the sweet spot. It'd be interesting to see how increasing your yield and reverting to a lower temperature affected the espresso's flavour.
Barista Hustle has a few useful articles on the relationship between yield, strength, and extraction percentage that I am using as the basis for this.
Glad you managed to get the best out of what sounds like a challenging coffee!
ie 96 degrees doesnt sound right for a dark roasted coffee?
Not for me, anyway...
I'd prefer it down at around 91-92C. Lighter roasted coffee seems to taste sweeter, fruitier, etc to me when it is up around 94-ish. We're all different of course but it may be that your brew water, actual delivery temperature, is a bit lower than what is being indicated...
Might pay to do a check using a bead t/couple on top of a puck, using the CS DMM Data-logger and verify what is actually being delivered. Mightn't be what you are being led to believe...
Hi melbroaster, the beans sound like my worst nightmare but that's just me. I appreciate the post as I once had the opportunity to also test this out with some beans that were too far beyond 2C for my liking.
In most cases, I have had success with lower temps on darker beans, not too low though. On one bag of dark beans I received I was much happier with the results of 96 degrees and I too was surprised. You are extracting more at that temp so that also means tapping into the sweetness.
We can't neglect the overall roast profile to understand how those beans were developed or if that particular bean is just a crazy battler that protects its integrity even at darker roasters.
Glad you extracted some enjoyment out of what might have been a bad bag
Bought some great beans that were very darkly roasted. Certainly past 2nd crack, and would have been the darkest roast level that most roasters would produce (just to give you an idea of roast level). Tried extracting 19g in and around 26g out at 3 different temps : 87c, 93c and 96c keeping everything else the same. The sweetest shot by far was at 96c. Tasted like i had stirred in a teaspoon of sugar with some caramel syrup compared to the first 2 shots.
Had always subscribed to the "darker roast needs lighter temp to avoid a bitter shot" idea so sharing in case it helps anyone else have a delicious morning.
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