A blend of grinded coffee?

[alberto_ita]

Still sleepy this morning, I was preparing the second coffee of the day, choosing the Has Bean Espresso Blend.
I noticed that, as usual with blends, there is a deposit on the portafilter, when coffee is already extracted, I have to keep it away with the spoon, as the usual way of slamming the filter somewhere to let the used coffee comes out (compact) doesn't work as always with single origin coffee.

Reverse engineering the fact, I suppose in the blend there is a bean quality that, considering the time of filling the cup of the whole mix was right, needs a different way of grinding raher the the other beans in the same blend, maybe should have been grinded coarser...

Or, maybe, going ahead with this tought, the beans need different kind of roasting, while the blends admit only one-profile-fits-it-all ...

I was wondering - maybe its obvious, but a blend would be at its best being mixed at the very last step, in the portafilter, right?

[Stephen Leighton]

I've never had this think its more of a tamping / unlucky than down to the blend although not 100%

Some blends do need to be post blends, but there are plenty that you can pre blend too.

[5M Coffee]

This sounds more like a tamping issue, and more often than not happens when the particle sizes are different (usually the case when using budget grinders)

However, I see from your signature that the grinder is not likely to be the issue.
Therefore, try a harder tamp to ensure all particles are compressed as close as possible to one another.

Have you replaced the basket recently?
They can bend slightly after many extractions and ridges caused from constant tamping can trap the puck so that it does not fall out evenly.

Are your pucks wet or dry when you disengage the portafilter?
If wet, try using more coffee and see the difference.

How many grams of coffee are you using at present? As little as 1/2g can make all the difference

[alberto_ita]

Well, I'm using about 16g in a double...I have no issues with other cru or self made blends, my pucks are always compact (where I roast all separately and then mix the coffees)...

[Stephen Leighton]

It will be the tamping the coffee cant be the issue here, I just can not think how it could be.

[alberto_ita]

I've never had this think its more of a tamping / unlucky than down to the blend although not 100%

Some blends do need to be post blends, but there are plenty that you can pre blend too.

Steve, maybe the one I used needs to be post blended? For you put the doses on the coffee description paragraph, maybe I could give it a try roasting the coffees separately...

I doubt it is a tamping issue because I spent 1,5 kgs observing the phenomenon

[Stephen Leighton]

What grinder are you using? I know the espresso blend probably better than any other, as I spend the most time getting it right and the most time checking it out. Premium and espresso both are huge huge sellers so very important for us.

Which one do you have ? The espresso blend is actually post blended (premium is pre blended)

I have never EVER had any issues/ sloppy pucks with either blend and I am sure I will have pulled more of these than anyone else in the world

[alberto_ita]

What grinder are you using? ......

Which one do you have ? The espresso blend is actually post blended (premium is pre blended)

So, that's the problem! I ordered the Espresso (not premium) blend as 2kg of green coffee !

However, I use Macap M4 stepless&dosed

[Stephen Leighton]

I still don't believe that will cause sloppy pucks.

We never used to offer the espresso blend as green because the robusta needs a slightly longer roast but got pestered so much we decided we would. Before I did I spent weeks roasting for personal consumption on an array of home roasters to make sure it would be ok.

Because its such a small percentage, it really wouldn't cause what your experiencing. What roaster are you using ? More for interest as finding a solution as I have no idea

[alberto_ita]

Steve I'm using the Behemor roaster.

What I am trying to say is that, IMO, roasting a whole blend in one solution leads easily to (maybe) less than optimal timings and flavour for each coffee composing the blend itself (for one kind needs more/less time than others).

Second, to grind the whole mix of different beans, all together, if coffees inside are very different each others, can lead to a less than perfect size of each granule of each single cru: observing my puck after the extraction of my selfroasted Espresso blend, I can notice that IMO one of the three coffees inside would deserve a coarser grind rather than the other two, although my total extraction time of 22 second circa could misrepresent a good overall grind size.

I hope my thought is clear, as it's difficult fo me to write a plain english

However that blend has overall a great flavour!
Could it be better? Maybe yes, roasting and grinding each coffee alone, finding a perfect extraction time for each and than mixing them all at least, in the portafilter.

So, the "perfect" blend should in theory be sold (and drinked) already grinded, not green but neither just roasted.
IMHO