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Grinding freshly roasted beans
I've scoured the web and googled a few threads re grind settings for fresh beans (circa 3 days - week old) and i've found conflicting responses as to how they are best extracted.
Seeing as how the beans in question are a rather popular blend here in Aus, being five senses' twenty four seven, I thought I would get a more specific and concise response here on CS.
These beans are 4 days old at the time of posting. And my usual espresso grind settings on my vario produces a much faster flow/extraction time with these beans, all else being constant, e.g. tamping technique and brewing temperatures.
The Result:
I'm not big on describing flavours, but it was noticeably weak compared to my usual supply of week old, darker blends. Now for those familiar with this particular blend, my description of 'weak' meant it was lacking in the 'bitter punch' department. It doesn't seem to have traces of choc or caramel. All I could taste however was the signature buttery smoothness at the start and that's sadly, also where it ends. I've actually had someone brew me an older pack of the same blend a couple weeks prior and it tasted heavenly, and contrary to what I believed, was extracted with a coarser grind setting.
So I decided to grind finder to achieve a slower extraction time, and now the flow seemed right but I'm still not getting that thick dark brown pour that usually lasts for a good 10secs at the start of extraction. All I get is a swift 4-5secs of decently brown fluid followed by blonding at the 10 sec mark, despite still taking a whole 27-30 secs to attain 60ml of espresso.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or tell me where I'm going wrong? Are the beans simply too young to achieve a flavour that my tastebuds are already accustomed to?
Thanks!
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You are correct that you would need to tighten the grind on fresher beans, This is true for lighter roasted beans as well.
Your taste and flavour profile on beans only starts pushing through properly after 7+ days. My advice would be to let the beans sit for 4 more days and try again. Take notes and if it's still not to your satisfaction wait a few more days.
'wash rinse repeat '
On a final note you may just find the flavour differs due to roast profile. Unlikely with commercial roasters though
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and for older beans? coarser grinds? or same grind larger dose?
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In a general sense a coarser grind is required for older beans
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Coffee Newbie
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Really? I found I have to go finer when my beans are "older" after 2 weeks.
But then I always buy enough just to last for 2 weeks at most based on my daily consumptions.
I also agree that the aging of the beans can be different after letting it sit for 3-4 days.
Another thing I noticed is the blend of the beans can also make a difference. So far after I did a few roast my self I noticed my blend of java/Ethiopian beans were slightly runnier and watery compared to my blend that included the Peru beans with the Java/Eth coming out thicker and more syrupy.
Recently I found a blend from a local roaster that uses Brazilian with something else (they called it Beazillain Dolce) and it was syrupy nutty chocolaty heaven for me
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I too find that the older the beans are the finer I need to grind to get a 25 to 30 sec pour.
I home roast most of the time and try to use it between about one and three weeks after roasting.
Barry
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