I'm sitting here chewing on one of those wooden popcycle sticks aforementioned, wondering how I could be so far in the minority on this subject. While I enjoy the taste and flavour of espresso and Cuban coffee, I usually opt for a shot in my coffee.(red-eye) I buy espresso roast Starbucks beans and grind them myself. I love the flavour. I cream it by whipping a little Cool Whip into the cup, no add'l sugar necessary. Aah!!! Next thing I know I'll probably be ordering cigars from Thompson's. What's happening to me?

OK, I've switched to bustelo for a week now and I have a few observations about it. First off, it has much more caffiene than most of the other espressos I have tried. Secondly, it does have a slightly muddy character to it, as sobek said. Lastly, its not that bad with a bunch of sugar. Then again, almost any coffee can be made drinkeable with enough sugar. But this is quite enjoyable actually.

Hey P: You didn't mention if you were using the "Gourmet" Bustelo (Black bag), or the regular Bustelo... IMHO, the Black bag stuff is much better.

My wife lives on Espresso. Every morning she puts a full carafe (about four espresso cups), a cup of milk, a bunch of Splenda and ice cubes in her travel mug and takes it with her in the car....gets her to work on time! I have a few small cups a day myself....

We recently switched to Pillon Gourmet (black bag also - I'm not that impressed with the regular Pillon), and it tastes much less bitter than the Bustelo (Gourmet or not); much smoother and not as muddy, and great flavor....if you can find it, give it a shot. The Pillon Gourmet makes a great Cafe Cubano.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rbihari,

rbihari - Why does your wife need a car to get to work? With that much caffeine, she could get there faster on foot.

A friend of mine in the states gets his coffee from tienda dot com. It's a 20% torrefacto (sugar roasted)/ 80% Colombian mix and extremely fresh = very oily beans, which produce excellent crema. He says the price is around $12USD per lb and shipping is quick.

Coffee and cigars: 2 of my great passions and even harder to find the perfect selection of either.

RBI and Paleto, thanks for the tips. The bustelo I am using appears to be the lower end one because it came in a big yellow can. I got it from the local mexican market. I didn't even realize there was a better variety. I will keep an eye out for it. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Paleto:
A friend of mine in the states gets his coffee from tienda dot com. It's a 20% torrefacto (sugar roasted)/ 80% Colombian mix and extremely fresh = very oily beans, which produce excellent crema. He says the price is around $12USD per lb and shipping is quick.

OK Paleto, I actually ordered these beans. First off, they were roasted like a year ago...as the date on them is '04. Second, the 20% is burnt to charred bits. Your friend needs better taste.

Ahh yes Grasshopper - you are much correct in your statement of the caffine being somewhat reduced during the expresso roasting process.
But the concentration or packing of the grind
if you will more than makes up for it...Hmm let's see 2 oz. of expresso contains approx. three time the caffine of a 6 0z. cup of regular grind coffee. Need proof -that's what they make search buttons for.

2-2.5 is a double shot of espresso. 1 shot vs 1 cup, American style coffee has as much and generally more caffeine than espresso.

Generally 1 shot is about 7 grams of coffee, and 1 cup uses around 6-8.

NOT bustelo. That stuff is atomic powered. I can drink the Illy all day with no effects. I can't have more than a single bustelo and I'm spun. I know... I'm a big puss. But otherwise, your number would be consistent with my experience as well. Espresso never makes me jittery while a few cups of strong coffee will do it every time.