Day 1-3

I’ve finally taken the plunge: La Pavoni Professional, Rancillo Rocky and iRoast 2 are all lined up on my kitchen counter. Espresso heaven, here I come. Now, what’s missing is what I can’t buy: my skills. I have had a $50 espresso machine and a $10 grinder so far, and after 500 cups served it can only produce burnt water (you won’t know it until you’ve tasted it), but after this I was sure I wanted something that could make a real cup where I could taste something new.

Well, this was certainly new. I’ve experimented a week with the Pavoni (it arrived a week before the roaster and grinder) and not been able to get a single cup with crema using Lavazza, Illy and extra fine grinded espresso coffee from my local coffee seller. So I was really looking forward to the grinder. Having very excited opened it and followed the instructions, my first cup with Colombia Supremo from Føtex turned out to have very little Crema (but still more than with my previous cups) but an incredible taste. I was starting to believe.

Next step: roasting. I know nothing about roasting, but the iRoast 2 comes with two presets: light and dark. Figuring I’d try what it suggested first, I roasted some Espresso Miscela d’Oro from Risteriet at preset 2 - dark, and put it in a paper bag overnight. It smelt very burnt so I was afraid I’d overdone it.

Day 2 I wanted to taste it, even though I was skeptical of how burnt it was. Grind, press: there’s crema! Lots more than I’ve had before, although nothing compared to the pictures I’ve seen. The taste? Great! Really, really great. No bitterness, and all I’ve heared about a sweet cup of coffee, I just understood what they meant. And this was after one day, I’ve read peak taste will be at day 4 or 5. Can’t wait. To make the day after more interesting, I roasted a handful of greens at preset 1 - light.

Day 3 - the dark coffee is still very good. The light one I haven’t come around yet as I want to give my tastebuds a chance to go into neutral again. So meanwhile I’m surfing the net to learn what others think of roasting with this machine to see if I can get a third alternative and what I should think about when I’m tasting the next cup. Can’t wait!