21st Street Coffee and Tea

We’re asked all the time about coffee freshness-we’ve discussed freshness in prior posts but I wanted to say something about espresso.

We get weekly deliveries of Black Cat Espresso from Intelligentsia.  The coffee is roasted and ships out the same day.  Chicago to Pittsburgh is only a two-day trip via UPS Ground.  The coffee is shipped in foil bags with a one-way valve to allow the coffee to degas during it’s journey.   Roasting imparts carbon dioxide to the coffee, and for espresso it is this gas that allows for the wonderful crema that essentially translates the aroma of the coffee to your palette.  A thick, persistent, reddish brown crema is an indication of fresh espresso.  Too little crema… your coffee may be stale (assuming you’re doing everything else right).  When the coffee is just out of the roaster, however, it can be a little “too fresh”.  Too much CO2 leads to a shot of espresso that can turn to gas before your eyes.  What started out as a 2oz double shot can quickly shrink down to an ounce or less.  Where did my coffee go?  Hey I ordered a double… I thought you only served doubles here… sigh.

We’ve found, with the current incarnation of the black cat blend, the coffee actually tastes best after it’s rested for at least 5 or 6 days.  I’ve pulled shots at day 12 that were still pretty great, but I think day 7-9 is the sweet spot for this blend.  The thing is… we have to make sure it tastes awesome every day of the week, no matter if the coffee is three days off roast or 12.   We make use of other variables, such as temperature, dose, and grind, to account for the age of the coffee.  Our Synesso Cyncra gives us half a degree Fahrenheit temperature control over the brew water as it hits the coffee… it’s stable, too.

On Wednesday afternoon we got in our usual coffee shipment (9/8 roast).  We were getting low on 9/3 espresso, so it looked like the 9/8 stuff was going to go in pretty soon.  To sort of accelerate the aging process, we cut open a bag and let it “breathe” most of the day before it went into the grinder hopper.

Since it was under 5 days out of the roaster, we dropped the brew water temperature down a couple clicks to 195F.  We could have taken it lower but it tasted great at 195 and the lower temp really calmed down the “effervescence” of the crema- no more disappearing shots!  Today we were back up to 197F and the shots were tasting even better.  If the coffee is getting “long in the tooth”… 10-12 days off roast, I’ve cranked the temp up to 200F and we’ve been able to coax out some really nice flavor and still get a nice syrupy thick shot.

When I met David Schomer (one of the initial proponents of the Synesso) in Seattle this past spring he told me that 203F was THE TEMPERATURE at which espresso should be brewed.  I bought some of his coffee (@ Espresso Vivace- the Dolce), brewed it at his recommended dose and temperature and it was really great.  The roast appeared to be a shade lighter and the crema had more of a fluffy mouthfeel as compared to the syrupy black cat we were used to.  The guy obviously knows his coffee and for his blend he has “optimal settings”… but they don’t necessarily correlate to my shop with my coffee and my water at my altitude, etc.  It just goes to show that there is never really an absolute best way to prepare espresso.  We gain more control through technology and techniques and apply that to continuously improve what we perceive in the cup.

What does this mean to you?  I guess I’d like to express that each coffee is different.  Play around with all the variables under your control and find what tastes best to you.  Don’t take anything for granted, and don’t drink all your test shots.