Go to the Article: Pulling a Great Shot
I am pretty sure I will not be plonking down $$ for an espresso machine anytime soon. I do love my morning espresso though. This class was so much more interesting to me than I expected. Thanks guys!
One question, if one is pulling a 3:1 or 4:1, I'm assuming all you'd have to do is vary the grind? what about timing? still the same 25-30 second? I do not think you guys tackled that.
Hi Elie,
You're correct, to pull a 1:3 or a 1:4 shot, you'll need to adjust the grind size (larger grounds for faster extraction), and the extraction should always take between 25 and 35 seconds. We tackle this in Basic Espresso Theory, under Brew Time, but it's a large class, so we don't blame you for not finding it! Let us know if you have any other questions, and we're so glad you enjoyed the class! We wanted to make it interesting and helpful for anyone, whether or not they want to buy expensive equipment.
probably this is a dumb question, but here i go: can i measure the coffee beans after grind them???
Yes, and in fact, you should! Grind the beans into any vessel that's placed on top of a scale that's been zeroed out. You wouldn't want to weigh the beans before you grind them; you'll just end up with inaccuracies. Does this answer your question?
I've heard the distance between the machine and the cup is also important and the shorter fall the coffee has, the better. Is this a legend or is it true?
I'm going to say legend on this one! The truth is that a shorter fall will make the espresso look nicer because the crema is better retained with a short fall and there will be less splashing on the sides of the cup. But an inch of difference in the fall would most likely not affect the taste. But as with anything, blind taste test it and see if YOU can notice a repeatable difference. If it consistently tastes better to you with a certain methodology, keep doing it. This is all is about enjoyment after all.
I have a Rancilio Silvia that I've been using for the past 6 months and being from Durham, NC have access to terrific Counter Culture coffee - I definitely have consistency issue , but am hoping this methodolgy will clear that up. I have a question about 'naked portafilters' I have one, but have nver been able to pull a decent shot with it the water always runs out much quicker and I can't figure out why? It has the same basket
It's so hard to say without watching what you're doing. But, I will say that you should weigh everything and then see if it is still running faster. Sometimes not having the spouts on the bottom of the portafilter will change the way you dose your coffee and can lead to swings in dose weights if you are not measuring it out every time. Also the way you settle the coffee can change when you don't have spouts. Settling is the act of flattening out the coffee, some people tap their portafilter on a table or grinder forks before leveling. The amount of pressure you apply in this act can migrate fine grinds to the bottom of the basket, thus slowing the flow of espresso. I find that not settling the coffee and only leveling can create more consistency from shot to shot. Hope that gives you a few things to experiment with! Let me know if this class helps you overall with your consistency. I'm hoping it will!
yes it did, thank you so much!
Thanks for the reply! I'll play around with it and report back!
I'm currently in medical school, but when I'm actually a real doctor a real deal La Marzocco machine. In the meantime I'll actually use a recipe when making morning espresso and try to fine tune it from there.
Cheers,
Chris
Some may consider this a controversial opinion, but when I orient staff on proper puckbuilding (I am a repair technician) I set the target tamp pressure at 10-15lbs. The reason I do this is because many independent coffee shops in my area hire baristi with small frames and not enough upper body strength to handle a 30lb tamp all day. I feel that setting dose and grind to a point that a lighter tamp will achieve acceptable cup results is a more realistic target for baristi of all different body types to achieve consistently in a high-volume commercial environment. And as stated, exact pressure is less important than consistency.
Is anybody using VST baskets? My espresso machine came with a 14 gram basket, but I replaced it with a VST 20 gram basket. When I fill it with 20 grams of grinds, it hits right up against the screen. I've been downdosing to 18g, but I'm worried that is underfilled.
I'm using a Gaggia Classic.
What are your thoughts on pre-infusion? I have researched that some people preference or recommend starting the brew for a few seconds (without dropping any coffee), stopping, waiting for various amounts of seconds, and then brewing the final shot.
Would you consider this preferential, practical, or simply the "the few seconds to drop"? Thank you for your time.
