$ vetLana, on the issue of freshly roasted coffee I will write here, but then you can move on to that topic) I am a new person on this forum) Therefore, I did not write everywhere in the group, along the way I sit in the topic about Kenwood kitchen machines)
I want to immediately dot over And dot. What I will write below is my personal opinion, I do not consider myself a great coffee expert, and my knowledge may differ from the truth. But I know something about coffee.
Within the framework of work and cooperation, one company provided us with a trial version of freshly roasted grain, by the way, they have good service, the consultants tried to select coffee as accurately as possible according to my taste preferences, the roasting date is April 22, today I have already tried it. They sent me blend No. 98 Dominican Republic. My impressions: The grains are very different from the commercial varieties (Paulig, Lavaza, Kimbo, etc.), that is, the grain itself as a selection, good, even roast, fairly light. 2 The aroma is simply magnificent, I very rarely caught such a taste from purchased grains 3 The quality of the drink itself but there are several standards for determining the quality (cream color, in other words, foam, density, uniformity) One of the signs of not very good grain is white blotches on the foam, the heterogeneity of the coating with this foam, as well as its density - the foam must withstand half a teaspoon of sugar) According to these indicators, the grain is of a very high level. As for the taste, they didn't guess right after all. The sourness is felt and the density of the drink itself is average - this is due to roasting. I will definitely attach a photo of the package - again, this is not a network company, they fry themselves. Tomorrow morning I'll try to cook on my car, I cooked in the office there already + -12 thousand cups have been cooked. There is a feeling that this coffee should be perfectly prepared with milk. The acidity is just neutralized by milk. Unfortunately, I do not know how to make good reviews, I like statistics more, so below I will give examples of network beans - which I used specifically on Delonghi machines.
1 Pelican Rouge - EVARISTO series - recently discovered a new coffee, so I put it first. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in stores, but I believe this is a commercial variety for vending machines.Balanced between bitterness and sourness, the aftertaste goes slightly towards cocoa. Perfect for those who do not like sourness. I think it's best to use it - in espresso form. The taste is lost with milk.
2 Cafeteria blend № 345 - I tasted this coffee made in the studio of Artemy Lebedev in St. Petersburg, ideal for preparation in a horn, in our delongi machines it acquires some bitterness. Perfect for lovers of cappuccino, latte. On the packaging it is written that the aftertaste is a floral sweetness, prunes - well, maybe) I would recommend this coffee to be prepared with a coarser grind for delongues - it tastes less bitter. (Sold only in St. Petersburg)
3 Paulig Mokka is a commercial coffee that is one of the most affordable and very pleasant in taste. This coffee is suitable for those who do not like bitterness, but love a slight sourness, aftertaste - a pronounced taste of cocoa. Suitable for lovers of pure black coffee and lovers with milk.
4 Egoist Noir is a premium segment, in fact, ordinary coffee. In terms of taste, it is perfect for lovers of coffee with milk / cappuccino. The taste is similar to "Cafeteria blend 345" In a clean feed, the drink was not very pleasant.
5 Kami Rosso - In a nutshell, cheap and cheerful!) The taste is soft, rich, not sour, there is bitterness. I liked it in its pure form. The main disadvantage is the grains of average quality. Different grinds can have different tastes. A great option if you want to save on grain. In 2016, I took it 1kg for 420-520r
6 Paulig President - good coffee for every day, almost doesn't sour, but don't expect anything outstanding from it either. Just not bad coffee. I liked milk the most.
7 Melitta - maybe it was specially designed for coffee makers of the same name, but I didn't like it in delongues. Any variety was very sour. It is impossible to drink without sugar and milk.
8 Lavazza - tried almost all varieties. Liked only Rosso and decaffeinated. All with milk. Everything else was sour, especially Oro.
9 Kimbo - seemingly a partner of Delonghi, but no ... At one time, we brewed a drink for those who wanted to taste really vigorous / crusty / dense / rich / bitter coffee ... I have several packs of this grains at home, but I will open them when I have no other grain. Drink exclusively with milk. However, many people buy it, perhaps the credibility of the brand ... it's hard to say.
10 De Rociss EXTRA - Coffee closes the top ten, which I would not recommend to anyone. If you read a little about grains, then you can learn such a thing that grains are of different quality - if all the previous 10 extra specialties - that is, of the highest quality. In this grain, despite the name, I noticed: non-uniform roasting, small twigs, some grains were with small mold. The above post wrote about the bitterness of coffee. YES rancidity and strong bitterness arise from low-quality grain, in this case it was a whole batch of such grain. We tried it. Unfortunately, neither milk nor sugar can fix such grain.
To summarize: I use Delonghi coffee machines and a wide variety of coffee machines. In my opinion, different types of grains suit different people with different tastes. Be sure to play with the grind levels (adjustable while the machine is running), try changing the cooking temperature, change the water, try softer water, play with the volumes of water. I try to use some beans for black coffee, some for cappuccino, some for cappuccino, and I also keep decaffeinated ground coffee at home. The main thing is to try different types of grains, to remember a few important things when choosing coffee - the stronger the roast, the denser and richer coffee you get, with less sourness, but stronger bitterness (it still depends on the country of origin of the grain, but this is a separate conversation). to be afraid of rabusta, rabusta just gives a stronger and denser taste, does not give sourness. Robusta is considered just a cheaper type of coffee, but not worse. PS There are also 2 main varieties, Liberica and Maragadjip. but they are not used in the preparation of coffee.Do not forget to also look at the date of coffee production - this will protect yourself from damaged / infected beans. And at least the coffee will be more aromatic. Often they write on the packs "with fruity notes", be prepared that this coffee will be very sour, which means that it grew near fruit plantations, and, accordingly, coffee trees have absorbed a lot of acids from the soil. You can continue to write about coffee, but that's in a different topic)))
Irina FAnd you take delonghi ecam22.360 this model is no different in terms of making coffee. And if you want something newer 29.660) In these machines, the main elements have not changed for 5 years ...