more pressure wackiness

So I've pulled a couple dozen shots already today. And on all where I did my part (i.e. the grind was right, the temp surf was right, dose and distribution were right) I got the desired and previously elusive "clarity of flavours."

Now... I'm very happy about this. Don't get me wrong. I had one of the best shots I've had in a very very long time this morning as well as a truly amazing cappuccino.



But I've learned something along the way.
Sometimes you don't want clarity.

While the shots I've had of Hairbender and some other coffees have been amazing and brilliant and beautiful - the shots of a couple other coffees have been far inferior to what I'm used to getting on this machine. With the clarity of flavour, unfortunately, has come a lack of balance and the sudden emergence of flavours in the coffee that are not amazing and brilliant and beautiful. With these coffees, the resulting espresso has been jarring and jagged on the palate.

I think it might be a great thing to have clarity of flavour in a coffee where all of the component beans are very good tasting and very high quality. If, however, the blend is "hiding" an inferior bean or two in the mix (perhaps to provide enhanced crema or improved colour or the like), even if the blend is incredibly carefully constructed so as to emphasize only the positive attributes of that bean and to obscure the negatives... once you get the sort of definition and transparency I'm talking about those hidden traits pop right out into the open.

Now this is an interesting discovery and a compelling concept!! And it might fit into some of my theories about Italian espresso, natural coffees, fine grind/light tamp, the pre-infusion on E61 based machines and the default declining brew temp of such machines. Hmmm...

I'm starting to see a potential diverging evolutionary path here. And in the future of the one I want to move down is a espresso machine with some sort of computer controlled linear hydraulic piston instead of the traditional rotary pump. Couple this with computer control of brew temp and temp profile as well as a bunch of the other innovations of late... Anyone listening out there in techie world?

The newest Portafilter.net podcast is up and I'm interviewed on it. It was fun but damn do I sound like a seriously wacky mad scientist. Sigh... Oh, for those who've heard it, my eye has some discoloration but it's not actually black as it turns out.

Oh... and finally, I did not "invent" this whole water pressure/brew pressure thing and I'm not the first person by a long shot to come up with the idea that it is of importance. Folks like David Schomer figured that out years and years ago.

eureka moment

I may have had a breakthrough today.

I've been trying to understand a factor that I prize in great espresso - the sense of "clarity" of flavours. By this I mean that experience you sometimes get in a great shot where you can taste all the component beans and all the component flavours of all those beans - where there is this sense of "definition" of flavour in the cup. This is something I particularly value in truly complex espressos like the Hairbender or the Hines Espresso blend.

Ever since my first home machine review (of the Mia) I've been obsessing over this elusive characteristic. I discovered that I was not able to get any sense of clarity with the Mia or the Astoria. This is not to say that the espresso didn't taste good. But I was missing that weird definition.

I then came to the realization that I had rarely experienced this clarity in shots from commercial machines either. In fact, the only machines that seemed to be able to produce this were the temp-stabilized top commercial machines like the Synesso or a temp-stabilized Marzocco or Mistral. But... that being said... I also had noticed that there were examples of such machines where I was not able to get that clarity - so it couldn't just be temp stability. Hmmm...

I'm currently reviewing a home machine that seriously kicks ass (the Fiorenzato Briccoletta). Now, this machine has a couple of unique characteristics. First - it has a Procon rotary pump like the big boy commercial machines. And secondly - it is plumbed in. Now... as I'm reviewing it, I decided to run it off bottled water. But I didn't want to risk damage to the machine, and also didn't want to have to pay for tons of 5 gallon bottles of Crystal Geyser. So it's hooked up to a FloJet pump system (to mimic line pressure) and a Everpure Filtration canister.

I've been working really hard (with tons of advice and assistance from knowledgable folks who understand Heat Exchanger machines far better than I do) and have reached the point where I can be very accurate not only on brew temp but on temp profile. Thanks to some research by Dan Kehn, I've become able to "mimic" the temp profile of a Linea. But I still was not getting the clarity I'm looking for. Damn it!!

Today I went to reset the brew pressure on the machine as it's been running too high (10.25 BAR instead of 9.25 BAR). After doing so, I pulled a shot that was damn near perfect. Incredible clarity. Wow!! Hunh?

So I started to play around with the setup trying to understand it. In doing so, I came to an amazing discovery. If I had the pump running straight out of the water tank I could see "flutter" in the brew pressure while monitoring it. If I had the pump running off the FloJet but without the water filtration I could still see the flutter. In addition, shots pulled both of these ways lacked the desired clarity.

But when the FloJet and the water filtration unit were combined, the flutter went away and the clarity returned.

The light goes on...

I think, or believe, that the filtration unit is acting as a "dampener" of sorts. And I think, or believe (or perhaps hope) that this clarity is a result of control of the brew temp profile and a consistent brew pressure.

Man... if this is true it's a very cool thing!

too many coffees to imagine

So in the last week I've pulled shots of something like 10 different commercial espresso blends and another probably 15 single origin shots on top of that. In addition, I've cupped a dozen or so coffees. I'm trying to draw these all together into some sort of conclusive thought but it's daunting.

I guess the first conclusion is that there are some coffees out there that really are well suited to home machines. And if the home machine in question is a very nice and expensive one... then your options get wider.

Everyone who was around over the holiday period (Bronwen, Stephen, Kyle, Valerie, Alex, etc. etc.) seemed really impressed by the Briccoletta. In people's minds the real standout blends we checked out included the Hairbender (though we all agree that it's gonna be a tough nut for many home machines and baristas) and the Doma Vito's Blend. Not shockingly, the current standard-bearer for home espressos is the Black Cat and it continued to impress with its consistency and ease of use. On the other hand, the single best espresso of the weekend was made from the Vivace Vita - a notoriously not user-friendly blend. I figure it was largely luck, but...

We all continued to be amazed by how good single origin espressos taste on home machines. When comparing shots from a top commercial machine (a Mistral or a temp-stabilized Linea or a Synesso) to these home machines, there is a noticable gap in quality when it comes to all the blends. But the gap is either quite small or in some cases non-existent when it comes to the single origin espressos. This... I don't get.

Oh... we had a wonderful day cupping a ton of samples that Andrew Barnett sent up to us. We cupped a whole stack of the E lot Ethiopians including a wonderful Yirgacheffe from the Hama co-op and an incredible natural Sidamo. I have pulled shots of all these coffees as well and, while three or maybe four of them would make great components in blends, none of them are great single origin espressos (sadly).

Finally... we both cupped and pulled shots of the mighty Panama Esmerelda (thanks Bronwen). It's an astounding coffee. But... it was interesting to cup it on a table of Ethiopians. I've only cupped it alongside other latin coffees - where it really stood out. When on the table with a whole bunch of top Ethiopians, it really didn't stand out to the same degree. It was still my favorite coffee on the table - but it didn't outright dominate the other coffees as it usually does.

R&D

I've been talking with various people about the need for more communication and transparency between roasters and baristas.

I think there are so many grey areas in our understanding - so many unfounded myths and misguided assumptions. These are holding us back and doing us damage.

I strongly believe that baristas can learn a huge amount from better communication with roasters. But at the same time, I think roasters can learn an immense amount from listening to baristas.

It's rare that any baristas even know what the components of their espresso blends are. It's rare that they understand the implications of those coffees, the flavour profiles of those coffees. And it's at least as rare for roasters to understand the results of their blending decisions, the results of changes to extraction parameters... there is no feedback loop. As a result... progression is mostly imitative and in most cases the result of blind luck.

So few people seem to be exploring the interplay between all the variables and taking advantage of the opportunities available to them from manipulating all those variables.

I would love to see the development of some sort of independent espresso research "lab".
It could be funded by a consortium of coffee companies and wouldn't have to be that expensive to anyone as a result.
Imagine being able to send roast samples (with comprehensive details on coffees, roast, etc) and get back results including tasting notes, optimal extraction parameters (on various machines) and feedback and suggestions.
Imagine being able to provide green samples (with details) and get back results.
Imagine being able to provide equipment and get back results.
It could be totally independent and totally confidential. Samples could be packaged blind with details and this way only someone "administrative" would even know the sources.

I could even see different "tiers" of membership with associated costs.
Some could be tied to number of tests run.
Some could be unlimited.
Some could be a la carte.
Others would just get aggregated reports ("Extraction Parameters for Pulped Natural Coffees with E61-based Espresso Machines", "The Use of Washed Coffees as Espresso Bases", "A Hydrophilic Evaluation of Coffee Types," etc.).

Now that would push things forward.

Gorgeous shot of Intelligentsia Black Cat

OK... so we have more positive thoughts about the Briccoletta... Kyle came over and we pulled shots of the Zoka Yirgacheffe ("really floral, not citric, nice chocolate") and the Zoka Col. Fitzroy ("too dark for my taste, good in milk") a couple other coffees and then the Olympia Big Truck ("nice, interesting").

After a little playing with milk, we decided to swap to a new tip and discovered it was a big improvement. Both Kyle and I were able to produce really pretty prototypical microfoam right away.



I'm hoping to source a couple other tip options (including the LM "acorn" tip) to try out.

The Briccoletta is sweet. I'm digging it so far.

It totally shocks me how good the espresso from these newer, high-end home machines can be. Honestly, I think that pretty much any skilled professional barista would be blown away by the quality of the coffee from this machine. For the very, very top baristas there are going to be things about the machine that would become limiting factors - but for the other 99.9% of us the gating item will be barista skill.