Illy medium-grind, medium-roast coffee for drip coffeemakers - wow, very smooth and lovely

[Cinnamon]

Recently tried Illy's medium-roast blend for drip coffeemakers and loved it, for 'plain coffee' vs. espresso machine use.
http://www.illyusa.com/AB1666000/show...

Can any connoisseurs tell me a couple things? Really more than a couple as I tend to ask compound questions :P

- I see that Illy also sells a fine-grind medium roast and am wondering what this would be used for? (Espresso? I thought that was typically dark roast. Or, is it used to make a regular cup of joe in some other kind of coffeemaker maybe?) What does that taste like?

- If I like Illy's medium roast medium grind, what other coffees might I like? (Low-acid maybe? I think Trader Joes has a variety so named.) This Illy medium roast, medium grind coffee I tried was markedly smoother and mellower than my other fave, Gelson's mocha java. (Two more would be Hilton Hotels' lovely standard coffee, fresh-roasted Coffee Tree coffee in Greenwich, CT, and at times Dunkin Donuts' - even McDonald's new blend is not so bad. Not such a big fan of the strong coffees I've had at Starbucks, Pete's, Diedrich, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.)

[saeyedoc]

Try to find a local microroaster and experience fresh roasted coffee, you'll never buy the canned stuff again. If you're not careful, you'll end up roasting it yourself.

[Cinnamon]

One of my favorites was daily-roasted Coffee Tree coffee (in Greenwich, CT). But I've had plenty of just-roast or roast-a-day-ago coffee (from micro roasters) that I really did not like at all... it was fresher and had the roast ambiance - but that was about it.

[zorra]

This particular Illy is my favorite coffee, too. Try Lavazza Qualita Oro, in the gold can. It's very similar and I like it almost as much.

[a_and_w]

Espresso is a way of brewing, not a roast -- you can use any coffee that's properly ground. Generally speaking, espresso machines and paper cones use a finer grind, gold cone and flat-bottom filters are slightly coarser, and press pots are the coarsest grind of all.

A finer grind will produce a stronger cup of coffee. The danger is overextraction, which yields an unnecessarily bitter cup.

[paulj]

Illy has both fine and medium grinds, and medium and dark roast with both. While a medium grind is needed for a press, I think either fine or medium will work with paper filters. With a fine grind the brew might be a bit stronger - more surface area, faster extraction. But the pour rate also affects the strength.

Now I use hand pour #2 paper filters, but my first automatic drip machine was one that came with a trial order of Gevalia coffee. If I recall correctly, Gevalia is a fine grind.

paulj

[Cinnamon]

Thanks