SqM spring blend

[CarlFleischer]

Been a great few weeks so far pulling shots of it at work! Ramping that temp right up does it for me! works great with a touch of milk/foam, like a mach! yummy

[Viernes]

If someone with a La Spaz S1 have tried this coffee, please tell me your results. Seems impossible to me to do not get nothing but sour shots. Thanks.

[jossy]

Seems impossible to me to do not get nothing but sour shots.

Interesting... To be fair I'm not sure if what you describe as sour shots (negative) isn't exactly the same as what I described as acid or bright (positive) in my previous posts. As I wrote earlier, if I had tasted this blend a few years ago before I learned that there were more descriptives for coffee than "good" and "bad", I would have hated it! I think acidity in espresso is something that has to be avoided or only allowed when balanced with sweetness and other yummy components, as it is in this blend. It is precisely because this blend succeeds in making a good espresso with high acidity that I was impressed by it. I wonder if any of the coffee pros on this forum could comment on the differences between "sour", "acid" and "bright".

[Viernes]

Hi Jossy. Nope, is not acid, it's sour. Sour like vinegar, like a bad wine, not acid like a lemon ice cream. The acid in coffee, when its right, its a pleasant taste and tongue feel, something like a subtle effervescence IMO.

I have to say most of the time I get sour shots, not only with this coffee; and I don't know why. However as this coffee its light roasted, my usually sour shots are super sour shots.

Desperated...

[bruceb]

It seems evident that your machine is running too cool, ie. the water going to the head is not hot enough. It is not a trivial matter to measure this, requiring either a special "Scace" portafilter or at the very least a very responsive electronic thermometer, a styrofoam cup and lots of patience. It probably is best just to increase the temperature and watch the shots improve. I guess on the La Spaziale you will need to adjust the pressurestat and increase the boiler pressure, thus increasing the temperature of the extraction water and the temperature of the group. Others here can give you detailed instructions on how to increase the temperature of your machine, but there can be little doubt that the problem lies in too low water temperature at the group.

[jossy]

I see... I used to get sour shots after attempting to de-scale my Gaggia Classic with household de-scaler (this was a previous Gaggia classic.) The Gaggia classic has an aluminium boiler and retains the sourness of the descaler for weeks. I since use soft water and de-scale once a year with specific descaling products for household espresso machines. On the Spaz I doubt that there would be similar problems. Still, could it be a de-scaling issue that causes the sourness?

[bruceb]

Still, could it be a de-scaling issue that causes the sourness?

Consuming even small amounts of descaler is very bad for your health. I hope you flushed and rinsed until the water tasted sweet and not sour. Try tasting the water that comes out of the machine without any coffee. If it tastes sour you had better drain the boiler and flush it and all the tubing. I rather doubt that is the case, however. The situation with the Gaggia is a very special one and to be truthful, for the sake of taste and health an aluminium boiler that has been descaled with a harsh acid should really be binned. Neither stainless nor copper boilers have that problem, however.

Assuming the water coming out of the boiler does not taste sour you will need to increase the temperature as I mentioned above. If you go too high the sourness will be replaced by bitterness, so you can adjust it accordingly.

[Viernes]

Thanks for reply

About temperature... I've tried at 95ºC, 97ºC... 100ºC and... 105ºC, you can see how boiling water comes out from the group . No luck, no changes, harsh sourness.

Tried with brew times from 25 sec to 50 sec and sizes of 13 gr. > Sour. 14 gr > Sour. 16 > more sour. 18gr > Indecent sourness.

Tried with 8 bar, 9 bar and 10 bar. No much difference.

Tried with light tamp & and finer grind, 30lb of Espro tamper & fine grind, hard tamp and coarser grind

Tried Stockflets, WDT, Just Grind & Tamp...

Before throw the machine out of the window, I've tried with Mypressi Twist, a shot of 19 gr/30s/50ml and 21gr/32s/50ml... While the mouthfeel is a lot of better (specially the 21gr one) than the <18gr. LaSpaz shots, the battery acid is still there.

So, there are the following conclusions, choose what you like:

- My LaSpaz S1 do not have a problem because I have the same results with Mypressi.
- My LaSpaz S1 and Mypressi both have a problem.
- This coffee is not designed for 53mm machines.
- This coffee has been designed for saturated groups as Synesso & La Marzocco which makes magic.
- This coffee works on all machines & groups but I'm a completely dumbass.
- The shots I make are right but this coffee is not for my tastes.

I switch to tea.

[jossy]

- This coffee is not designed for 53mm machines.

If I'm not mistaken Square Mile have a Spaz (not sure which model) in their office so you may want to ask them if they tried the blend on it and what their experiences were.

[bruceb]

oton, have you had any health issues recently, taken any antibiotics or other medicines? It sounds like you could have a sensory problem. I once had an abscess under a tooth and had to take oral antibiotics for 10 days. I couldn't drink any coffee at all because it tasted so bad and it took nearly 4 weeks to recover. Tea was fine.

[Viernes]

Today I was at McCafe and it taste "good"; well I mean it taste like crap but like the usually crap, no changes.
My Nespresso coffees tastes as always.

Las night I gave to my wife one of the shots and face was something like..





So it seems thats not only my problem.


Thanks anyways for trying to help, Bruce.

[bruceb]

You haven't mentioned how the water that comes out without coffee tastes. Have you tried that?

[Viernes]

You haven't mentioned how the water that comes out without coffee tastes. Have you tried that?

The water does not taste sour, but it taste a little metallic...

[bruceb]

How about trying a neutral bottled water just for giggles? There aren't a lot of variables left to try since you've ruled out most of the obvious ones.

[Kaz]

Interesting... To be fair I'm not sure if what you describe as sour shots (negative) isn't exactly the same as what I described as acid or bright (positive) in my previous posts.

I've had this sour (neg) acid/bright (pos) 'problem' with tasting coffee. Having been brought up the rich Italian espresso-type coffee I'm not sure what I should be looking for when it comes to the lighter coffees. I think I should actually enrol for a coffee-cupping class (bit like wine-tasting). A while ago I asked one of the baristas at Monmouth (Borough Market) if he could enlighten me on distinguishing a sour from a bright/acidic coffee. I could see that the question was a difficult one for him to answer and, with hindsight. probably an unfair question because I think it's a case of actually participating in a tasting with others that would provide the best explanation.