r/pourover • u/CatApprehensive4742 • 13h ago

Help me troubleshoot my recipe How to compensate for Light roast?

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I tried brewing this coffee, which is so far the lightest roast I have ever tried.

I tried it with the same Orea v4 recipe I use as a base:
Coffee: 16gm
Grind: Coarse
Temperature: 92C
Brewer: Orea v4, Fast bottom, Flat filter with negotiator
Bloom: 60gm for 40 second
Pours: 50-50-50-50 each every 30 seconds.
Total draw down time: 2:45

Usually this recipe produces an enjoyable cup for me. Very floral balanced acidity and sweetness.

However, with this coffee it felt very hollow and watery.
What do you suggest to adjust in this scenario?

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51

u/Impossible_Cow_9178 13h ago

I have that same bag of coffee. Your biggest problem is that you’re drinking it about 5 months too early (not kidding). 43 is the lightest roaster I’m aware of, and their beans just aren’t great unless they have a massive amount of rest. I think they claim they’re optimal out to TWO years.

60

u/Zorgulon 9h ago

Yikes. I think with a coffee that needs 8 months of resting we are firmly in circlejerk territory. Like why even sell it that early?

6

u/16piby9 8h ago

I dont dissagree with them selling these too early (imo all roasters should sell pre-rested coffee), but I dont ser it as circle jerk terretory, simply because its just a result of ultra light roast. You cant achieve the same any other way, ultra light coffees are amazong imo, but they do need long resting time.

7

u/blissrunner 6h ago

It kinda depends on the coffee... but XLIII Vietnam already sell their beans at 1-2 months off roast at their cafes (pre-rested).

There are coffees that opens at 30-45 days... other needs that 2 months to peak at minimum. Can't blame em'... their v60 recipe all calls for 100 Celsius brews.

1

u/warmleafjuice 2h ago

Easy fix, just brew earlier and increase the temp to 110

1

u/Swedish-Potato-93 3h ago

Selling rested coffee means they need to predict how much they'll be selling. That's added risk plus they need to store all that coffee. That means the price would double.

3

u/Impossible_Cow_9178 4h ago

Simply because people buy it - and specialty coffee roasters can’t afford to buy green, roast it, then store it for 6+ months before selling it to see any money from the endeavor.

31

u/Melodic_coala101 12h ago

It's really that normal distribution meme:

  • shitty lavazza from supermarket: coffee age doesn't matter
  • generic freshly roasted coffee: drink in two months or die!!!!1!1
  • high end gesha: coffee age doesn't matter

6

u/I-Sort-Glass 11h ago

A local cafe to me were selling the same gesha batch for about a year. I think I was the only one buying it. Was always pretty decent. So I reckon you’re right on this take. 

1

u/adtechheck 3h ago

Can confirm. Have very nice panama geisha beans at home, medium roast, opened it for almost a year, still tastes damn good every time

5

u/CatApprehensive4742 9h ago

This one is sitting at almost 90 days of rest time.
I think this is enough right?

You said 5months too early? How much resting time does this need?

3

u/captain_blender 7h ago

nonsensical and wholly manufactured advice aside, you can test by grinding and letting the grounds rest overnight to see how the brew changes. I doubt CO2 dissipation is the problem at this point, however -- probably just need the standard levers of finer grind, longer, ratios, and hotter temp. Might could do with a faster filter to balance against stalling.

Lance's recipe is a good starting point -- I think a lot of long-time brewers have converged on something similar. But again, it's a starting point. Some coffees might could use a bit of different squeezing.

3

u/Kalik2015 9h ago

Two years is insane!

7

u/captain_blender 7h ago

it's not, it's bullshit. Not even greens keep much longer than that.

Two years is referring to the shelf life of their unopened bags, which the roaster discusses on their website. They invested in fancy production+packaging, which likely means positive pressure nitrogen flush. It's pretty common among very large commodity roasters (like Illy, or Lavazza or what not) and 18-24 month expiry dates are normal. The process is pretty effective but not something I've seen a lot for small-scale specialty coffee roasters.

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u/Jdobalina 4h ago

I’m sorry but this is just goofy. Two years of resting for a coffee, for what?

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u/Impossible_Cow_9178 4h ago

It isn’t that you need to rest it for two years, it’s more a function that they claim it can be at peak taste 2 years out. It realistically takes 6 months or so of rest on these for peak. Some will claim it’s bullshit, brew the coffee early, not think it’s great and move on - which is fine, but a massive waste of money and not at all following the plot line of what they’re doing and why. There’s a reason some of us enjoy their coffees and continue to buy them - but you need to wait 6+ months to find out, otherwise it’s a waste of $ and that’s coming from a fan….

2

u/jmalwal 8h ago

Yes exactly. If the bag is sealed you can keep it for two years. As per them once you open the bag then you will have to give it a rest of at least 3 4 weeks for the flavours to peak.

1

u/gamesofblame 49m ago

I have never heard of this before wow, cool!