Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

[Intellidepth]

Now that I actually have a blend that everyone else has probably tried before, and some will have the same batch as I, Im after some ideas to refine my techniques, and perhaps begin educating my palate.

Does this blend have a typically fast dissipating crema at about 4 days post roast? I found after a 60ml pour that it ended up about 40ml after a quite short time. Or is this something to do with technique? Ive never had beans this fresh before.

It tasted lovely, the espresso crema was milder than Ive had from any other bean blend so far. I think thisll be a good entertaining bean thatll meet the general range of tastebuds that come to my house.

I got a bit confused by the amount of crema oozing from my portafilter spouts, incorrectly assuming it was blonding for a few shots, until I realised what was happening.

Im interested in any perspectives on this weeks roast so I can start my real education. Thanks.

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

I have some WOW and drinking it now

I grind on the finer side of a regular espresso grind
Otherwise it will blond at about 15 seconds

KK

[yeeza]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

New coffee, new machine - you must be chuffed!

[speleomike]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Kosmo wrote

> I grind on the finer side of a regular espresso grind
> Otherwise it will blond at about 15 seconds

Do you use less dose in the basket for the finer grind? That will then have more head space above the puck. Or do you just use same dose but get a longer pour time?

Interested as I was getting blonding at 15 secs for some Ethiopians on my Galatea but not for the Brazils.

Mike

[mwatt]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Does this blend have a typically fast dissipating crema at about 4 days post roast? I found after a 60ml pour that it ended up about 40ml after a quite short time. Or is this something to do with technique? Ive never had beans this fresh before.

Ive not tried the WOW (its on my to do list ). But I generally find that four days is not enough rest for most (but definitely not all) beans. When a coffee is too fresh the crema does tend to dissipate faster, in my experience. See how it settles down over the next few days...

[Dimal]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Ive not tried the WOW (its on my to do list ). But I generally find that four days is not enough rest for most (but definitely not all) beans. When a coffee is too fresh the crema does tend to dissipate faster, in my experience. See how it settles down over the next few days...

Yep, I agree Michelle.....

I found that I was getting the best quality pours at around the 10 day Post Roast mark and it plateaued at this level for 5-6 days. Wonderful blend this one and one that I use as a yardstick against my own efforts .

Cheers ,
Mal.

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Kosmo wrote

> I grind on the finer side of a regular espresso grind  
> Otherwise it will blond at about 15 seconds

Do you use less dose in the basket for the finer grind? That will then have more head space above the puck. Or do you just use same dose but get a longer pour time?

Interested as I was getting blonding at 15 secs for some Ethiopians on my Galatea but not for the Brazils.

Mike

Mike
I think that I was under-dosing and when I tamped to the regular mark it must have been tamped on the light side
When I made the grind finer I also added a little extra grinds and tamped harder to the same mark and I got perfect results


KK

[Intellidepth]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Having great results with Espresso WOW. Its changing as it goes along. The fact that I can actually notice this says a lot about my progress in skills I guess.

The beans have settled more yesterday and today, and tonight was tested on visitors - one of whom I would consider a definite Coffee Snob - yep I was scared - and they thought it was great. The Snob followed up the double-shot milk coffee I automatically offered (just in case!) with a double espresso, and drank the lot. A great thumbs up for both the blend, and, ahem ahem, my skills, which must have improved! (Yes, it definitely helps to have a wonderful machine now.)

I found I needed to tighten the grind by a quarter turn from this mornings brew. Ive noticed also that the grind is a little less fluffy than the first day I opened the pack. I use a 16g dose.

Interesting comment about needing a finer grind - I did need to fine it up a few turns for the initial calibration of the new bean blend.

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Interesting comment about needing a finer grind - I did need to fine it up a few turns for the initial calibration of the new bean blend

Intellidepth this is what I suspect

Its mostly due to the blend of bean varieties
If it was a single origin bean you know what you get

But if its many beans as this blend is the grinder cant grind every variety the same
(Some beans are large some small some soft some hard)

Grinding all the different beans at the same time is difficult for any grinder
I found that a little finer grind did the trick

KK

[Intellidepth]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

For the last three days Ive found the coffee Im making is tasting flat/2-dimensional... it seems less flavoursome in the cup somehow. Ive found my grind needs to be constantly fined up more dramatically than other blends Ive tried to this point (not many).

I separated the big bag I received at about 4 days post-roast into small valve bags. Ill open another this morning and see what I think, will fine-tune the grind and maybe try ristretto. Plenty of beans to play with.

The coffee still tastes great in comparison to anything else Ive had in between... and I find myself hankering for one of my coffees while Im at work.

EDIT: The newer bag is definitely fresher, but after pouring 8 shots, I think my problem is too fine a grind+tamping. With the same grind, the slow pour that lasted a minute tasted much more flavoursome than the 30 second one, so Im assuming its channelling which would explain the change in flavour too. Back to the drawing board for the grind! Technique, technique.

[Intellidepth]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Quite a few batches of Espresso Wow later, and a lot of hands-on perfecting-my-shots experience later, I love this blend from the day I receive it a few days post-roast, to about 10 days post roast as a 16g double-shot made up to 250ml with microfoamed full-cream milk (Im a full-cream convert).

After 10 days post-roast my novice taste buds and nose seem to indicate that some of the complexity disappears, by which time my next batch has arrived and I donate the remainder to the office.

I recently dumped the very first part of a shot in the drip tray (pre-infusion drips), and oooh ahhh, I did like the result, sweeter, less acidic, and the rest of the shot carried beautifully through the milk still.

[Dimal]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Me too "Id"....

Andys "Wow" and the "Gold" are my favourite non-home roasts... Absolutely beautiful and very difficult to stop after only one

Mal.

[fatboy_1999]

Re: Espresso Wow Roasted 13 July

Have to add some kudos about the Wow as well.
I tried some for the first time tonight. Its only +3 at present but it is a VERY nice blend. Im looking forward to tasting its progression over the next week or 2.
I had planned to give some of it to other people, but now Im not so sure.

PS. I am a heathen who drinks it in milk ;-)