5) Myspro

…This page is a log where I’ll occasionally post about where I am with my own espresso; my techniques, my aspirations, and some of the coffees and machinery I’ve worked with.

I’ll upload some shots of my shots, and describe where I am on the path towards espresso heaven. And where is that? I guess it’s understanding the art, the process and the specific beans enough to be able to make consistently delicious espressos, which accurately convey the characteristics of the beans in the best possible light, and which are completely free from brewing flaws. Each great bean or blend (from the right sources!) can potentially make an espresso that is ‘perfect’ in its own very different and individual way, but knowing how to most successfully get that into the cup for people to experience is something to aspire to. I’m not there yet; it’s a continuing process of learning and discovery within this complex cuisine..!

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MACHINE:      Astoria Plus4You Gloria 3 grp

GRINDER:      La Spaziale Astro 12

TAMPER:

53.2mm US curve Stainless steel and maplewood Reg Barber.

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…The updates:

Posts can be a bit like beans – old ones shouldn’t be taken too seriously, and even new ones are perhaps best treated with a healthy degree of scepticism..!

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October 2009:

It’s one month on now since our new espresso machine arrived, and I think I’m finally beginning to get a feel for it now, but there’s still lots to learn and experiment with, in terms of knowing how to use it to make the best possible espresso as we move forwards.

So much is superior and more sensitive to our ancient old machine – stability, temperature, adjustability, screens, water debit and delivery, pressure, flexibility, consistency, etc, etc; but that’s not to say there aren’t still lots of ongoing complexities to deal with when making espresso, especially when you make life more …interesting by using some different coffees for the espresso each week!

One curious feature on our machine is the additional temperature control at the group head. Each group has a dedicated PID controlled boiler supplying the brew water, adjustable by degrees of 1C, presumably offset by a certain amount to give a reasonably accurate brew temp display on the screen. But there is also an additional heating of the brew group metal, again adjustable by increments of 1C, which I believe is meant to further aid stability and accuracy, and which is meant to be set at about 2C below the displayed target brew temp. I think this feature might be designed to better guarantee the calculated target brew temp, particularly in situations where the ambient temp might be rather low, like outdoor mobile espresso bars and events, or, simply to help counteract periods of low usage where the groups might otherwise cool off a lot. Either way, I was finding that the temperature of the shots in the cup seemed very hot (rather than the brew water temp necessarily), and so have turned the group temps down a bit lower than recommended, which seems to work nicely, but which may or may not be the right way to use the machine… I need to enquire about these features, and their relationship to each other, further.

But by far the trickiest aspect of mastering the potential of the new machine however, continues to be how best to dose and distribute in the narrower groups. Judging both by watching the naked extractions, and tasting the results in the cup, the biggest problem hindering shots (now that temp accuracy, water delivery, etc, are vastly improved) appears to be uneven extractions. Channeling, and dead spots, etc, leading to early blonding, and pours which issue less evenly than is ideal, seems to be causing both bitterness and sourness to be present, even when you can deduce that the brew temp is set as ideally as possible for the specific coffee.

This probably relates more to the quality and dosing of the grind from the grinder into the baskets, and to barista technique, than to the espresso machine – and therefore the focus is now very much towards these first two points when looking for a solution.

The issue I’m encountering, as a barista, is that both judging the amount of the dose, and ability to affect distribution of grounds and clumps at the surface by use of the finger, is less straightforward in 53mm baskets than 58’s. Hence, I anticipate (or hope!) that a better and more suitable grinder will (along with continued experimentation with technique) help to iron out these remaining brewing flaws. I hope to see an Anfim Super with a digital timer arriving at the cafe within the next couple of months, which I feel will help to achieve this: The timer will help to better judge and control the dosing (even if the dose needs to be lower in the deep baskets) while the even, neat, clean, and uniform delivery and distribution of the grounds from the grinder will help to aid even extractions with reduced channeling, fracturing, dead spots, and blonding, etc. Combined with the PID temp control, etc, this should further help to get the shots shining as sweet as they should be..!

In terms of the primary techniques which I can use to influence things (like the finger levelling/distribution), I have been experimenting with various combinations of patting, tapping, tamping and levelling over the last few weeks. Initially, I felt finger distribution might not be at all possible (safely), because using the technique would cause the dose to be too high in the 53mm baskets, resulting in it making contact with the screens before brewing, and this is certainly still very much a risk, as opposed to with 58mm baskets (with the 53mm single basket, for instance, I’d say you definitely can’t dose that high, without making screen contact). However; if you dose higher gently, with no initial tapping on the forks or counter as you dose, you can then, in some circumstances at least, finger-smooth the lightly piled grounds as normal, and then use some chosen combination of tapping and/or tamping to finish the compression in such a way that there is still a little headroom for the puck to expand (resulting in a dose of about 16-18g). Only when you dose higher though, can you employ the additional finger distribution with the 53mm baskets, and if you (or a coffee) prefer to dose lower, you probably can’t use this technique, due to the basket depth.

With an accurate, timed dose, I anticipate that employing the finger technique might become even more consistently possible. And I hope so; because what I have been particularly interested to note, is that (with the grinder and machine I’m using, at least) additional finger distribution still seems (as I suspected) to have a definite and positive effect on extractions, even in the smaller 53mm baskets, in my opinion. True, I haven’t done any scientific, or even rigorous comparative testing, but whenever I’ve swapped back to this technique in the last few weeks of experimenting, after not using it, shots (whilst by no means flawless necessarily) instantly seem to issue more evenly, hang heavier, straighter and truer, and give up the ghost less quickly! Obviously though, there are theoretical issues with the 53mm cake depth and shape that might lead to (over) extraction issues in the narrow baskets, even when they extract ‘evenly’, when you updose like this. But so far I’ve found ‘down’ or ’standard’ dosing with a finer grind just doesn’t work as well, with the coffees I’ve used, and so I’m happy to continue to updose as best as I can, at present, and perhaps investigate this topic of extraction problems at different levels in the cake more at a later date.

With this in mind, I think I’ll be keen, as much as is possible, to continue to gravitate back towards using the additional finger distribution (whilst continuing to ensure sufficient headspace), even once the general dosing and distribution improves with the arrival of the Anfim - because for me, results so far, even with a great new machine, still suggest that the technique does indeed contribute to significantly better extractions, despite much apparent current opinion to the contrary. Unless of course, the much fabled Anfim proves to be near-supernatural, thus negating any benefit of additional grooming..!

And then, with better grind quality and distribution, more accurate dosing, more even extractions, and brew temp, etc, pretty stable, it might be possible to better draw some conclusions about even finer points, like the effects on extractions of the cake depth/shape and of updosing in the new, deeper, narrower baskets.

I am also eagerly awaiting my new 53.2mm RB tamper base to replace my old 58mm. I have gone for an American curve again, after much pondering of the theory, and certain naked results with the cafe’s 53mm flat tamper, etc, led me to think the subtly convex US curve might be beneficial and preferable in this situation..!

September 2009:

It’s almost time for our new espresso machine to arrive! In the end we opted for the +4U from the ‘top three’ machines I selected for the cafe, and I’m very excited to begin experimenting with what I’m sure will be a wonderful piece of equipment!! In some ways the 58mm groups offered by the semiautomatic gb5 might have been preferable for me personally as a barista, due to the extra flexibility to fashionably updose certain coffees without overextraction, produce more syrupy ristrettos, and experiment with a greater range of dosing and distribution techniques, etc. But I felt it was important to focus on what might be the most sensible choice for the cafe, in terms of the best consistency of quality when factoring-in users of varying ability. I feel the +4U will best offer this (with 53mm groups and the option of AV dosing), along with potentially magnificent temperature stability (achieved with PID controlled multi brew boilers), general configurability, and some other important features.

In November we hope to twin the machine with an Anfim grinder, which I anticipate will further aid shot consistency, and quality..!

August 2009:

To repeat that old phrase, I increasingly feel that the more I learn about coffee and espresso, the less I know. Things are about to change for me in my working environment, with new, state of the art machinery on the way, heralding an exciting new phase of espresso for me and the cafe! Hence, I thought this would be a good time to post on where I am at present, prior to the improvements.

It’s my 6th year as a barista (but only my 3rd making proper handmade shots), and whilst that might seem like a long time to some (and whilst I might just be a slow learner!), it’s more apparent than ever that there’s (always!) a lot more to learn. The more deeply you delve into the minutiae and subtleties of coffee, and of espresso technique, the more even deeper layers of complexity emerge!

That said, this last year has been great for me espresso-wise. I’ve had the ongoing good fortune to be in a position to order an ever changing selection of coffees for espresso for the cafe (all of an outstanding quality), which has given our customers variety, and helped to develop my awareness of different origins and flavours. Also, some fantastic beans, combined with a lot of hard work and planning, helped me to win the Wales and West heat of the UKBC earlier this year, which was a valuable and rewarding (albeit stressful and expensive!) learning experience.

I feel the espresso I’m making now has very gradually developed to be better than ever, even using the same old equipment at the cafe. Much of this is due to the afore mentioned quality of the beans themselves which has improved beyond measure over the last year or so. But I think I’ve also gradually developed more subtle, natural, and intuitive practices in my espresso preparation, and have come to understand the machinery I use better, which has also contributed to this improvement over time. Nevertheless, I am still often embarrassed and ashamed by my espresso; feeling guilty that such great beans are not being shown in their best light, and that customers are not always receiving the taste experience they could be.

Some of these failings are likely to be down to me (I could always concentrate better, and understand more!). But, having spent a long time developing my skills, I have increasingly felt that the weakest link in our beans/barista/machinery chain is now the latter. Our machine can make some very nice espresso. With some clever TLC and modifications it could perhaps make some very nice espresso. But as it is, there are numerous factors that can cause it to spoil the best, most carefully prepared beans. Preparation techniques that I’ve gradually honed and modified have really helped to counter the failings of the machine to an extent: Careful, circular distribution to create very smooth and even pre-tamp grounds, attention to level tamping, and also the recent removal of any tapping with the tamper (I now just try to ‘catch’ the stray grounds at the sides of the basket as I re-tamp with pressure and polish), all seem to have contributed to better espresso production.

But even the most carefully distributed and tamped grounds suffer from bad channeling, and pours are always gushy and watery towards the end, often with very early blonding. Through recent research into machines, I feel this is primarily due to that fact our old machine has an extremely heavy and completely unrestricted water debit, combined with poor screens and dispersion. Temperature fluctuations are also a big problem. Hence, whilst the training of staff and their attentiveness to their techniques and the espresso could aways be improved (myself included!), I think we have reached something of a ceiling now, certainly in terms of being able to develop my own skills at the cafe further, and in terms of the espresso I can produce for the cafe.

However..! As mentioned above, in a crucial move, the plan cafe has now decided to invest in new machinery for the espresso! After two and a half years of learning-but-battling with our present machine, I have to say I’m pretty excited about a new one!  And it’s not just any new machine… I have spent the last couple of months researching machines: trying to find out what the World’s very best machines currently are, and which of them would be most suitable for the cafe. Some of these machines are over budget… But we have shortlisted a couple which are affordable, and which still tick all the right boxes in terms of their ability to produce much more amazing espresso than your average machines! Temperature stability, temperature adjustability, good technical support, consistency and reliability, quality, build, and ergonomics, have been the key aspects considered in this search. There may well be better machines out there, but I’m confident ours will, theoretically, be able to hold its own against the very best! (albeit ignoring a certain trepidation about the possible implications of 53mm groups..!) 

With this ‘ceiling’ removed, I think the sky will be the limit, and we will, potentially, have the ability to start producing some stellar coffees for our customers, and certainly espresso coffee of a much more consistently very high standard.

Consistency and quality will both be vastly improved. Differences between my espresso and that produced by the other staff will probably become more subtle… I will endeavour to use this new machine as the starting point for a new level of espresso learning, and to continue to further improve what I can prepare for the cafe. It would be easy as a barista to feel comfortable with the good-coffee-more-easily scenario that will now occur (from October), and to stop progressing. But personally, I don’t think this move will necessarily make things any ’simpler’. Quite the opposite, if anything. I think the variances will be more subtle and elusive, the parameters tighter, and the questions raised will be more complex. And whilst I will no doubt feel I know even less, hopefully I will continue to learn more!

But, on a more tangible level, if I can serve our customers more consistently lovely coffee, serve espressos that I’m not constantly embarrassed by; which show the delicious potential of great beans more successfully, and ultimately maybe even get people more excited about great coffee, it will be mission accomplished …for the time being!

April 2009:

We’re now serving James’ Gourmet Coffee Co’s fantastic Formula 6 for our espresso at the plan – although other equally delicious blends and single-origin beans will be making frequent appearances too!

The amazing Operation Cherry Red bean in my competition blend was never going to last forever, and besides, I felt it was time for something new!

Whilst my blend was a really exciting, extraordinarily fruity and unique espresso, it was perhaps a little unbalanced, lacked some body, and was maybe not the best with milk…

Formula 6, on the other hand, is a wonderfully balanced, carefully constructed, constantly modified, multi-faceted treat - that is amazing both on its own, or with milk, in ristretto cappuccinos. There’s so much going on in this espresso – but not in a busy way – just so many flavours that come together harmoniously and make sense. It has a magical, soft, sweet brightness, that’s balanced perfectly with body and depth.

 

When it’s dead-on (I’m thinking a sweet, syrupy ristretto double after surfing to just the right temp on our machine), this espresso is incredible. I think I got it there today (17 days from roast), and it was one of the best espressos I’ve had:

 (Start of the pour in a 6oz cup)

January 2009:

             

                                    

We are currently serving my competition espresso blend at the plan. It’s a really exiting and unique espresso coffee, which I’m proud to have access to, and which helped me to win 1st place and Best Espresso at the Wales and West heat of the official UKBC 2009. Come in and try some!

This is a 50/50 blend of Operation Cherry Red Ethiopian Sidamo Natural Process, and Brazilian Fazenda Cacheoira Natural Pulped Bourbon!

August 2008:

Monmouth Coffee Company’s espresso blend arrives! As of this month we are now serving Monmouth’s espresso blend at the plan, after deciding we were at a stage were it was worth investing in a great bean for the cafe. Monmouth Coffee are a well established company based in Covent Garden London, who are widely renowned as one of the UK’s top cafes/roasters, who source lovely beans for their blend (often through Mercanta), and who have recently modernised their roastery with up-to-date equipment to get the best from these beans. Monmouth Coffee are serious and passionate about their coffee, and their espresso blend now gives us:

…Traceability (we know what beans are in the blend at any given time, and where they’ve come from – often down to the individual farm or estate).

…A type of seasonality (the blend will alter slightly from time to time as different speciality lots come into the UK).

…Ethically traded espresso (whilst not part of the Fairtrade brand, Monmouth [and Mercanta] have close buying relationships direct with the growers of quality coffees and agree a fair price for the premium beans; often a much better price for growers than via the Fairtrade brand).

It’s a pleasure to be working with such a good espresso which at it’s best is beautifully rich, complex and balanced – lovely notes of chocolate, nuts, and subtle fruit to name the main flavours in the blend at the moment. When it’s just right, it pours a thick, glittering red-gold, and has great flecking in the rich crema. Our espresso is no longer a yellow-green brown; it’s a lovely red-brown! Admittedly, as ever, it’s not always possible to get the best from the coffee with our old espresso machine which can be wildly unpredictable, and which runs quite hot, but the extractions are pretty successful generally, and sometimes excellent!

  

December 2007:

In addition to the previous points, I thought I’d mention that I’ve been working on my ristretto pours too. Great ristretto is, I suppose, the holy grail of the espresso world, and a must for anyone passionate about the cuisine. The main problem I’ve encountered so far is that the incremental adjustments on our grinder just don’t seem accurate enough sometimes to pour a ‘true’ ristretto (by this I mean the method whereby you adjust the grind rather than the tamp or elapsed time, in order to obtain a ristretto double shot of 1-1.5oz in the usual 25 seconds). Sometimes just altering the grinder by one click throws the pour out by over 10 seconds, meaning it nearly stalls when you change it for a ristretto. However, some days I can achieve a nice ristretto volume in roughly 25 secs, resulting in a deliciously thick and syrupy shot. The only problem with ristretto though, is that being super-concentrated, any faults like woodiness, bitterness or graininess (the most common ones I’ve noticed) become super-highlighted, alluding to problems with brewing temps and shot timing, etc. The quest continues!

October 2007:

It’s been a good year for me espresso-wise: I’ve been on a valuable and rewarding learning curve since March this year, and now feel that I’m gradually becoming a bit more espresso wise.

However, the truth of Schomer’s words: “espresso making seems easy at first, with a gentle learning curve, but you are ascending a vast mountain… In espresso extraction, the more you discover, the less you know.” has become even more apparent than I guessed it would do.

I’ve been working with coffee for several years now, but it’s only this year that I’ve been able to begin learning about making proper, handmade espresso shots, using a traditional machine as opposed to the Starbucks-type super-auto that I used to use in Nottingham. I’d read a lot about espresso technique, and could pour lovely latte art, but had not actually made a single shot of espresso by hand until earlier this year.

I know my milk and art skills are pretty tight, so recently it’s all been about getting to grips with the espresso side of things more for me. I see some people hell-bent on trying to pour latte art, but unfortunately not understanding, respecting (or even tasting) the espresso -  which is really both the most important and the most difficult element to master (as all experts will acknowledge) – not realising that there is another, more subtle and complex level above and beyond the aspects of milk texturing a latte art. To some extent this is understandable – great texturing is a crucial component of a great cappuccino, etc, and good latte art shows a pretty high level overall competence, skill and dedication from the barista. You can hide a bad espresso quite well with really good milk. But if you love the art of the cuisine, and want to really perfect your drinks, you need to understand that the milk’s actually the easy bit – and the coffee is where the game is ultimately at.

I’ve gradually honed my espresso skills over the year. Firstly, I’ve developed what I hope is a sound, swift and consistent grinding, distribution and tamping technique. I have recently begun to be especially vigilant regarding the levelness of my tamp – a slight angle can make a big difference – and I have also gradually deduced the correct dose levels: with our double spout/double basket portafilter I give a slight concave finish level with the top of the basket prior to tamping, but our single spout/single basket needs a really concave dip before tamping to avoid contact with the screen. All this now provides me with as much consistency of extraction as possible – helping to minimise at least some of the risks and variables that prey on the process.

Secondly, I have learnt to frequently alter the grind throughout each day, depending on the relative environmental factors like humidity, as I notice the pours changing. I often find, for instance, that I need a courser grind first thing in the morning, but by the afternoon I will have adjusted it by 1 – 3 clicks finer (presumably due to increased temperature in the cafe or grinder, or both, accelerating desiccation of the beans and the grounds). Unfortunately, it’s not really practical or justifiable in my job to discard a shot if it’s not quite right, but I will notice, and try to make the adjustment ready for the next shot - therefore ensuring the grinder is as accurately set-up as possible for myself and other staff most of the time. By developing my instinctive awareness of the pours, the flow rates and the grind, I have been able achieve nice, thick, heavy, crema-full, creamy shots much more of the time – keeping the extraction time to the golden 25 seconds (give or take 5). I have also become more aware of the aromas and flavours and textures that indicate bad shots; shots that are too quick, too slow or too thin; and shots that are burnt, astringent or over-extracted, although I still need to improve on my evaluative abilities much more.

I have also begun to develop a better understanding of the machine I use (and it’s foibles), and of how to make more consistent espresso: I heat the portafilter by running 2oz of water through the old puck and by briefly flushing onto the emptied p/f before re-dosing to bring it up to temperature if it feels a bit cool; I wait if the pressure seems low; and I switch the double and single portafilters around to achieve the best pour (because I know that the unpressurised water flow to each group is different on our machine (gicleur issue?), meaning the grind can only be accurately set-up for one of the groups at any given time) - but my proficiency with temperature surfing, etc, also needs significant improvement. It’s a constant love/hate relationship with our machine for me – it’s so ancient that parts for it are non-existent, meaning, as I recently discovered, that engineers can’t even attempt to fix the problem with the differing group-head pressures, incase they damages anything! So until it croaks it, it seems I will have to nurse the best from it I can manage. I’m pretty sure the grinder burrs on our main La Spaziale Astro 12 grinder are getting pretty dull too (not to mention the other grinders we have!), which won’t help matters - but getting my boss to have them replaced will be a trial, no doubt! (Sorry David, but they don’t last forever!).

As a result of my ongoing learning, I believe that the aroma and flavour of my coffees now more frequently and accurately reflects the aroma of the freshly ground coffee – whilst minimising negative elements like bitterness and sourness (though not always, by any means!).

However, it’s a constant battle to understand and control the espresso – I often do not fully comprehend exactly what has adversely affected a shot when it tastes woody, sour, bitter, or bland, etc. I do my best to stabilise the variables, but sometimes things are outside my sphere of control or understanding.

In conclusion, whilst my deepening examination of the art of espresso has at times produced more questions than answers, I feel I have got to grips with the real essentials of specialised barista techniques this year, and have now begun to develop an intuitiveness in my espresso making which, together with my existing milk skills, forms the basis of a sound overall repertoire of abilities that I will endeavour to continually perfect…

May 2007:

On a good day, employing good techniques, I can get some beautiful espressos from the old Ducale I use at the moment. We use Torelli’s ‘perlabianca’ espresso blend at the moment, which although not world class by any means, is actually a fairly nice blend that can be sweet and tangy with hints of almond/marzipan. It’s a medium-dark blend (but not so dark the oils come to the surface) of both arabica and robusta. Torelli don’t tell you exactly where the beans come from (which probably means they source them from varying locations), but I believe they predominantly come from somewhere in Central America. This sequence of shots documents a typically successful pour that I can achieve, although the quality of the images is not too hot on the detail:

                                         

With our double shot basket, I find piling the grounds quite high gives a nicer extraction.

My current distribution and levelling method is described and shown in this post (Although this is now out of date).                                     

Then I diligently follow a pretty sound Schomer/universal style tamping technique of tamping lightly, then tapping lightly only once to dislodge the creeping coffee from the edges, then tamping with full pressure (I’ll discuss my tamping weights later), twisting about 100/180 degrees as I release pressure to polish, then a final polish merely with the tamper’s own weight at about 360 degrees (Again, now out of date). Here’s a link to a really interesting article about tamping (if you’re a coffee geek, anyway), which talks about the ’Staub tamp’ amongst other matters.

                                                                  

This pour was good. Nice and thick; syrupy and honeyish – hanging down pretty straight for most of the pour, and a rich, even red-brown in colour. Sometimes I get thin veins of darker or paler espresso flowing down with the majority tone, but this one was pretty consistent in colour.                                      

                                          

I reckon this one’s OK. The undisturbed crema lasted for a good 20 minutes. I think it might have lasted for over half an hour, but I’m not sure – it got busy!