I’ve been roasting on the bullet for a month now and it’s going very well. Most of the coffee I’ve roasted so far has been medium roast and I’ve sold a number of bags of these via my online store. I’ve been getting requests for a traditional Italian Roast suitable for neat espresso and similar to that that can be bought in a quaint Italian cafe.
I understand that in order to do this I need to roast dark but I would really appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of suitable green beans (origin and process method etc) and also a suitable roast profile I could try to emulate please.
Poke around on the Sweet Maria’s site. They have several choices for espresso but I’ve had good luck with their Liquid Amber blen & also their Espresso Monkey. I take the liquid amber to about 447°-450°F. It’s a blend so picking out 2Cs can be a little odd with some beans beginning before others. Is it going to be like “…that that can be bought in a quaint Italian cafe”? Beats me- I’ve never been to Italy. But I like what I’ve roasted for myself and for others.
If you’re looking for single origin beans suitable for espresso, you can filter for that attribute on the bean list page on Sweet Maria. Descriptions will also indicate “good for espresso “. On their blog pages there is also one or two articles on how to blend your own espresso blend. I’m not inclined to do that but have had good results with Yemen, Chiapas and Sumatra beans taking each to a medium dark (not quite espresso dark).
Thanks for your replies. I will check out those beans you’ve mentioned .Unfortunately, as I’m based in the UK, I can’t order from Sweet Maria’s but we have similar vendors here. I just think I haven’t been brave enough to roast into the 2nd crack yet.