Favorite espresso beans?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Whole? Pre-ground? And what brand do you prefer? I know there have to be some folks with opinions here. Just a hunch.

2

I have been ordering from blue bottle coffee for several years. I also like Intelligentsia, but Blue Bottle is my favorite…

check them out… http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; always whole bean, grind right before use…

3

huge fan of blue bottle as well. and intelligentsia.

but i try as much as possible to buy locally. i recommend finding a local cafe that you enjoy and ask what they use and go from there. what’s the coffee scene like in houston?

4

Whole bean. Always. Invest in a burr grinder if you don’t have one.

Always Terroir Coffee. http://www.terroircoffee.com/store/more_info.php?gid=221

The South Italian Espresso is on sale. I went through three bags last month. Transitioning back to drip for the winter so I’m weaning myself off espresso right now. The drip coffee beans seem to be lasting me a lot longer…

5

Another Blue Bottle vote, particularly the Yemen-Sudamo - amazing stuff. And following Yaacov’s rule, it’s my local supplier. neener

As Brent says, always bean, always burr grinder.

6

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7

Espresso Vivace Roasteria. Dolce blend. This is the only place in America where I will order a milk-based espresso drink.

8

chocolate covered

9

Nice gents, thanks … this is very helpful. I’ll have to check out Blue Bottle and Intelligensia … and I also think there’s one place in town that has been doing serious espresso things, which will be checked out. Thanks for the help!

10

Okay, I ordered some Blue Bottle espresso based on the recommendations here, and neither Heidi or I like it at all. We typically make Caffee Americanos with it, I do sort of a hybrid of a latte and an espresso - and we can’t even taste the stuff.

I’m going back to that Italian stuff we used to get from Whole Paycheck - can’t remember what it is, but when we get some more, I’m going to post it here.

11

My favorite roasters are Stumptown and ZBeanz. My favorite at the moment is ZBeanz Yirgacheffe, but I buy according to freshness. Stumptown has a “roasted on” date on the bottom of every bag, and I can usually find beans that were roasted yesterday or the day before. It makes a huge difference. Within a week or so, the beans take on new aromas-- aromas I used to associate with coffee in general, but that I now associate strictly with stale coffee. Open up almost any container of beans from Safeway or Trader Joe’s, and they already have this stale smell.

12

Let me add PT’s La Bella Vita, Caffe Fresco Ambrosia, Barefoot Element/The Boss and Klatch WBC to the list. There are a wealth of excellent choices out there. Terroir is my personal fave but variety is the spice of life.

Pre-ground coffee? [bleh.gif]

David [drinkers.gif]

13

Todd

Which one did you get?

I use temescal as my day to day espresso, but I do like hayes, retrofit and roman as well, but not as much as temescal…

If you are making americano’s… use the bella donovan in a drip machine

14

Temescal - that’s what we got, too. Maybe we’ll try the bella donovan.

15

From my limited experimentation, grinding has more impact on the final brew than the beans. In other words, grinding fresh decent quality beans results in a much better crema than using top of the line, already ground beans.

Keeping the espresso machine clean has a big impact on the crema, too.

16

What didn’t you like? acid note?

17

No, the acid is fine - it’s just ‘weak’, for lack of a better term. I felt like I was using ground coffee to make espresso. It really lacks in flavor, too - the reaction Heidi had was that it was ‘watery’, and I make her Americano the same way each time.

18

Buy green beans from Sweet Maria’s – roast and grind yourself.

I’d give more details but it’s my neighbor who does this. I drink regular coffee unless I am over there, and their espresso is really good…

I can ask if anyone is interested.

19

just to clear something up, espresso is a coffee brewing process, not a specific blend or variety of coffee. you can make espresso from any beans. i’ve found that blue bottle uses a light hand on most of their roasts, which i like, but if you’re coming from a more heavily roasted coffee, it will seem weak by comparison (for lack of a better word).

cafe americano is just espresso (usually 2 shots) with added hot water to achieve a drip coffee-like consistency, but a very different flavor profile (i love them). contrast that with a longo/lungo, which is just an espresso shot that instead of stopping at 2 ounces, you keep brewing until you reach, say 4-6 ounces. the 2 are often confused, especially by restaurants (when asking for an americano, you’ll usually get a longo).

20

Yes, Yaccov - we love Americanos, but I’ve tried (by accident, actually) a longo, and do not like it anywhere near as much. I’d take coffee over a longo, but nothing beats a Caffe Americano - particularly the way I like it, with less water than ‘normal’.