I would like to know more about some blends anyone has tried for espresso.
I put every roasted coffee onto my La Valentina and single and double shot
it. I have had a few of the  "oh how gawd awful shots".
Jim, your post on cupping was terrific. Thanks from me as well.
gin

On 16 May 2003 at 10:16, espresso gin wrote:
<Snip>
My current blend (WTC for "way too complicated") 
is two equal sized 12 minute roasts (fast to 300, 
pretty much 15F/min from there) to the first few 
snaps:
Fast beans:
20% Harar
20% Kenya Kaiwamururu
40% Blue de Brazil
20% Aged Sulawesi
Slow Beans:
20% Antigua
40% Yauco
40% Bugisu
Jim

At 10:16 AM -0700 5/16/03, espresso gin wrote:
<Snip>
This will be a bit of a contrarian opinion with respect to Jim's 
post. One of the delights, for me, of roasting my own is that I get 
to experience a very wide variety of tastes, much wider than I knew 
were out there before I started. Occasionally, I'll try to make a 
blend, and when I want comfort I'll roast a blend my betters have 
come up with (including Jim's for decaf), but primarily I roast and 
drink single-origins for espresso. Clearly, they often aren't as 
balanced as a good espresso blend, but that doesn't matter so much to 
me as exploring the range of tastes. It's almost as if I roast so 
that the flavors balance out over time. I just, for instance, went 
from the Aged Sumatra Mandehling to the Yauco Selecto, both as s.o., 
and both in their way delicious. Jim is right that some beans aren't 
suited to this, but the ones that are still form a wider universe 
than I could ever get through.
Best,
	David
-- 
Less than 0.1 percent of the U.S. population gave 83 percent of all 
itemized campaign contributions for the 2002 elections, according to 
the Center for Responsive Politics.

On 18 May 2003 at 3:10, David Lewis wrote:
<Snip>
Good point. This is especially good for people who 
like lower acid coffees like Brazils, Indos, etc. 
straight. All of these make great single origin 
shots. Straight Yauco is one of my fave shots too 
of any espresso, straight or blended.
But in my regular drinking, I'm more of an acid 
head, liking Kenyas, Guats, etc. So for espresso, 
I enjoy using 25% to 50% of these. 100% bright 
just doesn't work for espresso, so I blend by 
neccesity.
Jim