I’ve started buying coffee from different places when I see it, rather than just getting beans from Pact. And unsurprisingly there is more variation and this sometimes changes the grind setting needed.

However, this latest bag is a bit different, the beans are dark and glossy (normally they are brown and not shiny) and when I put some in my Porlex hand grinder, they took ages to grind, less resistance…halfway through I had to give the grinder a good tap on the side of the sink as the grinds seemed to be gumming it up.

It was much finer than normal and this turned into a gloopy soup I had to skim off the caffatierre, and I’ve had to leave my very strong cup of coffee for a bit for the sediment to settle.

So of course I need to try and get the grind much more coarse but normally its just a click or too, is it normal to see such a change? I’m also a bit hesitant to run it through my bean to cup machine in case it gums up the grinder in that!

could mean they’ve been roasted too long, or just more recently. Yeah, just a change of settings should do it. Should be ok in the grind, mine just needs a little more shaking out, but doesn’t hurt it.

Over roasted, old and stored non-airtight for a period of time I would say. Who are they from?

I had some like this as a gift once, it made for a very thick syrupy espresso but it was over roasted really, tasted quite burnt and the beans smelled a bit icky.

It ground up fine though. There defo can be big differences in terms of grind settings etc.

It’s difficult to compare exactly but I have to change my grind settings quite a lot for different beans, though I don’t know how my grinder adjustment compares to yours

I’m no expert but as I understand it beans that have gone shiny are old and past their best.

Does that bag have a roasted date and use before date on ?

I’d be either be going to customer services or binning and going elsewhere

What company?

I’ve messed around a bit more…roast date is a month old and sealed.

Just wound off the grinder loads and it has made a better grind and ‘cleaner’ coffee.

It’s our wonderful forums Deadline blend and to be fair it’s sold as punchy and dark. It’s ok but does seem a bit burnt!

Beans on the right are a local roaster, and the Pact ones tend to look the same but a little larger.

Pretty common and often ‘french roast’. Just back the grinder a long way off and use it for press/filter.

You grinder burrs will need a good clean after mind! A relative used to bring me oily french roast coffee over from Canada. Ended up using a cheap blade grinder to keep it away from the burr grinder. Tbf, the coffee tasted like Gauloises so the grind made little difference to the end result!

Off topic, but shows how much UK coffee has improved in the last 15 years. Going to France used to be a joy for the great coffee. Now it tastes shit and I some with me!

I’m no expert but as I understand it beans that have gone shiny are old and past their best.

Don’t think so, I’ve had fresh beans that looked like the OP’s pic. It’s just a very heavy roast – too much for my tastes these days. After you’ve drunk medium roasted stuff for a while it tastes like burnt tyres.

I’m enjoying a blend from Mr Duffin’s roasters in Staveley at the mo.

It’s generally the roast level, Italian style beans usually look like that as they’re traditionally a much darker roast

I got some beans by accident and don’t have a grinder, I do however have a Nutri-blitzer (copy of nutr-bullet), is this the best alternative? Grind in small batches

Chocolate covered coffee beans ftw.
Or, for future use, a hand grinder from AliExpress. I just got one for camping after I had to press my Porlex into service grinding garam masala, and quite impressed considering it was half the price of the Porlex.

I’m enjoying a blend from Mr Duffin’s roasters in Staveley at the mo.

Is Rinaldo still going? Thought that was an excellent roasters.

Yup Rinaldo’s is great also. They just got a swanky new coffee machine in fact. 🙂

bob_summers
Or, for future use, a hand grinder from AliExpress.

Got a link? Might try this grinding lark rather than using pre ground.

I bought this for 40eur shipped from EU, it won’t grind for pump espresso but handles everything else. There’s loads of slight variations of the Timemore grinder, probably can’t go wrong with any of them.

https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/0.html?spm=a2g0s.9042647.6.2.57db63c0FIjRWL&orderId=3009687876538417&productId=4000088848451