Different beans, different grind setting

[gronk62 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gronk62]

Ive been using beans from the local coffee booteek for a few months. Ive always bought the same blend from them coz I really like it.

Yesterday this changed when I received my first purchase of beans from the CS Bean Bay. I ordered the starter pack, which was shipped tuesday arvo and arrived first thing wednesday morning. Bloody amazing delivery speed!!

Anyway the pack contained 4 different varieties. Espresso Wow, PNG Wahgi AA, Sumatran Mandheling select, and Columbian Volcan Galeras.

So far Ive only tried the Espresso wow and I noticed Ive had to go 3 clicks finer on my grinder to get the shots right.

Im pretty new to all this coffee geekery and Im wondering if its normal for fairly large adjustments like this between bean blends/varieties?

And why?

Please edumacate me

[Guest Close mwatt]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

Different bean varieties, humidity of a given day, beans age, roast profile, um more I cant think of ...

Yep, youll find quite a variation in the grind youll need to use for different beans.

Someone with more knowledge can explain why

[GrindOnDemand Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GrindOnDemand]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

Gronk, matey ...

Maybe ask your boo-teek supplier what the roast date of their blend is that you so enjoy.

My reckoning is that the younger the roast, the finer the grind needed to get an optimal extraction.

Youre probably experiencing the freshness of the beans with your extractions from Andys roasts, & hence the need to grind finer to optimise flow but minimise thick crema content.

Give all of them a few days to rest ... then Im sure those SOs in your showbag will come to the fore in terms of taste.

Cheers,
Tony

[NewToEspresso Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NewToEspresso]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

Short answer is yes. Just as an example, my Decaf Mocha Java needs to be set very fine at 10 or 11 on the rocky (true zero 3) and the Harar on 14. Tried coffeehits ultimate and it was around 12 or 13 depending on age.

[gronk62 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gronk62]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

Ok so it looks like its normal for fairly wide differences in grind settings.

I know with the blend I had been using it only varied by half a click or so either way depending on freshness etc.

And I use both the single and double baskets. The double required exactly 3 clicks finer than the single.

I havent used the double basket with the bean bay coffee yet.

[gronk62 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gronk62]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

I opened the Columbian Volcan Galeras beans today. They seem to require a slightly courser grind and smell completely different to the espresso wow.

They also taste nothing like any other coffee Ive ever tasted. Im not sure I can drink these ones as a single blend.
I reckon Ill try mixing them with some of the Wow and see what kinda flavour that produces.

Its easy to tell how fresh these beans are coz if I squeeze all the gas out of the bags they are all blown up again the following day

[roknee Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close roknee]

Re: Different beans, different grind setting

Gronk, matey ...



My reckoning is that the younger the roast, the finer the grind needed to get an optimal extraction.

Cheers,
Tony

hey tony

i find that as my beans age, i am fining up the grind, therefore the younger the roast, the more coarse the grind.
is that what you were saying here?