Thank you for your clear directions. My home coffee machine can do single shots or double shots. I would like to know the time and weight suggested if I have a double shot, please?
So great to hear! If you're within Australia check out my coffee next time you need more beans. Also make sure you watch the other eps in the series as they are released, you'll pick up some more tips no doubt 👌
I just started as a barista at Starbucks a little over a month ago, where all we do to pull shots is just press a couple of buttons on our fancy espresso machines, haha! I wanted to understand what the process of pulling a shot actually was, and I found this video incredibly helpful and interesting! Thank you so much!
Man thanks for the guide on how to make great coffee with this video, the guide is simple and very straightforward Can't wait to finish all the later episode Greetings from Indonesia 🙏🙏🙏
Cheers guys and thank you so much for your work in here! After dozens of other "how to" vids, this one (or the whole series respectively) finally has it all and in really undestandable way even for "rookie home barista" = me :). Especially the explanation of the main variables (and where to start adjusting the brew - i.e. which one to leave = dose, time and which one to amend = grind) made a huge difference for me! Thanks again and best wishes!
Hi. My machine (Isomac Tea Due) has a manual lever. (Half pull is "pre-infusion" & full pull is normal extraction). I normally let the pre-infusion last six seconds before the rest of the extraction. So my question is: When timing the shot, when should I time from? Thanks.
I have a couple of questions since you are the first person address two things. I’ve always heard timer starts at first drop from pre-infusion, but you are starting at pump on. Why? You’re also the only person to talk about brew ratios with a timer, which is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. I know espresso ranges from 2:1-3:1, but is the 26-32s only for 2:1 or is it whatever your desired yield is, i.e. 2oz in 25-35s like the common rule of thumb usually states?
Preinfusion is slightly different and when I talked about from the pump being on, I kind of made the assumption we were talking about an espresso machine that ramps straight to 9 bar. Having said that as I mentioned in the previous comment re preinfusion - I wouldn't just totally discount preinfusion time as not being part of the total flow rate time. When using machines that have preinfusion, I tend to use preinfusion just to saturate the puck, so that when I'm hitting the puck with 9bar pressure it's less likely to channel. With regards to your different extraction ratios - you'll find that the flow rate times of 26-32 stay pretty similar for different yields. How you'd increase the yield would be by making the grind size only slightly coarser. If you think about how fast the liquid is flowing through the espresso puck, as the extraction continues it's easier for water to flow through the puck. EG the amount of espresso extracted in the first 10 seconds is a lot less than the amount of espresso extracted in the last 10 seconds. So changing your yield from 40g out to 50g out (Ratio of 1:2 vs 1:2.5) maybe takes an extra 2-3 seconds. Hope this answered your questions! If you want to play around with Yield I'd recommend my coffees La Dorada Y Potrerito from Colombia or Rugoza Washing Station from Burundi, both can have really delicious but different tastes at different yields. Keep Frothin' Gary
Preinfusion is something that I'm exploring a lot more now that I have a Flair espresso brewer. In the past I would have said include the preinfusion time in your 26-32 seconds.. but you can have very long preinfusions it seems without overextracting your coffee. For example with the Flair I've been preinfusing for a good 10-15 seconds before ramping the pressure up and starting to see espresso drip out the bottom of the spout, with a resulting time of closer to 50 seconds total, without over extracting. My best advice when playing around with low pressure preinfusion would be to let taste dictate your extraction.. if your result is dry and bitter then lower your preinfusion time a touch or make your grind a bit coarser to speed up your flow rate for when you're brewing at pressure.
Hi! I'm so confused with the rates. 🤪 If I have a dose of 13g and a extraction of 46g and a flow rate of 24 seconds what should I adjust? I don't think more than 13g would fit into my filter. Would appreciate any help you can give. Thank you for these videos!
If you can only really fill 13g into your basket, then a 46g yield is tooooo much. I'd be trying for a yield more like 26-30g, which means that your grind setting is very coarse at the moment. Make your grind a fair bit finer, and it will slow down the flow rate to give you a yield of 26-30g in a similar time, you'll be extracting a lot better!
Love this. Learn a stack just in this video alone. Looking forward to next week. One question I have is ramp pressure. Is there anyway to describe the pressure needed. I currently use an OCD before I tamp
Heya! Will be bringing up this kind of question in a later troubleshooting episode but thanks for asking it. For me with tamp pressure, the moment I feel like the coffee isn't collapsing any further beneath the tamper, that's my que to stop pushing any harder. Hope that is easy to understand!
Heya! The first 6-7 seconds or so where the pump is on but you don't see espresso, the water is still interacting with the coffee. So although you don't see something happening, things are happening. Hope that makes sense!
Nice videos! My first shot in the morning is consistently slower than the second and everyone one after. I've tried multiple strategies to minimise this: flushing group head, flushing water through the portafilter, adjusting grind. And if i do alter the grind Invariably the second shot is under extracted which is frustrating. Do you have any suggestions? I generally won't pull any shots until the machine has been on for at least 20-30min. I have a Rocket r58 and Mazzer mini. Cheers
Ah - I replied to your other comment as I saw it before this one. I have a mazzer mini too and potentially your problem is to do with grind retention in the section between the burrs and the grind chamber (or grind chute if you have a mazzer electric). The way it is probably effecting you is when it comes to adjusting the grind. When you adjust, there is grind retained in the grinder which needs to be cleaned out. Potentially you're creating this feedback loop where you get a shot you don't like, making an adjustment to the grind, but then the next extraction you see gives you an unexpected result. The only other thing I could thing of is that the machine isn't up to temperature and therefore pressure - so it is extracting but not building up the 9 bar pressure, therefore harder for the water to flow through the puck. Considering you're saying that your machine is on for 20mins+ before you use it, this would be unlikely. During your first extraction, do you notice that the gauge is reading 9bar?
Heya! Just shipping within Australia for now as it's too expensive to ship fast enough unfortunately. Might be able to look back into it in the future.
Any comments regarding digital timer grinders, do you think they're worth it? I know the principles would remain the same, dose/yield should remain the same. Just adjust the timer so that the dose is as close as possible to the basket gram rating? Also what about tamping pressure, how much is too much/too little? Thanks for these videos btw, as a fellow Aussie I'll definitely be looking into your coffee bean/subscription.
Ooh great questions - will be sure to use these in the last ep, appreciate it! Digital timer grinders - The key thing is that you need to dial in the grind setting, and then dial in the timer. If you adjust the grind finer, it's harder for the coffee to fall through the burrs, and as a result, less coffee will grind in the same amount of time. If you adjust the grind coarser, it's easier for coffee to fall through the burrs, and as a result more coffee will grind in the same amount of time. So the key is to dial in the grind using the same dose every time, and then after you're dialled in, adjust the timer so that it gives you the correct dose. Make sense? Regarding tamp pressure- the way I talk about it is is the moment you feel as though the coffee is no longer collapsing beneath your tamper, you've pushed hard enough.There's no need to put your whole body weight behind it etc. Hope these answers help!
@@brewbudsclub Thanks, it's been a nightmare trying to get the right grind but now it makes sense. Step 1 - Ignore the timer, use manual mode. Adjust the grind to get a decent pour with the scales. Step 2 - Adjust to the timer to get the right amount according to scales.
People who use preinfusion tend to have longer extraction times. I wouldn't say discount preinfusion time all together, but I'd say for most machines keep preinfusion to a max of 4-6 seconds, just allow there to be enough time to soak the puck. Then your total extraction time will probably creep closer to the 32 second side of things. Also again, use taste as your final indicator of a good extraction.
How did you calculate the time? The machine I have at the moment only has a basket for a single with it. Is the time then half or is the time always going to be 26-32s?
Hi! My scale is a little too big to use while brewing the cup, so I tried running a 15g dose for 26 seconds. The final yield was 75g! 😬 My grinder is already at the finest setting and the ground coffee is close to powdery, sooo, I don't really know what else to try. Any idea? Thanks 🙂
Sounds like you need a bigger dose to slow down that flow rate. If you want you can take a photo of your dose/grounds and send it to my instagram @thecoffeefusion, and I might be able to help more.
So my machine the Solis perfect barista is taking 8 seconds of pre-infusion after i switch the waterflip to run, before the yield is really flowing in to my cup. So do i take that time in when in time the flow or not? Now i always count 8 seconds before i start the timer.
If you're talking about the pump being on full pressure and it just takes 8 seconds to see liquid, this is normal. In that 8 seconds, the water is slowly making its way through the Puck which is why you don't see it straight away. In this situation, start the timer the moment you turn it on. If you have a lower pressure preinfusion (not at 9 bar pump pressure) then it's a bit different. I'd probably shorten your preinfusion if thags the case but I feel like you're mistaking preinfusion for just the water making it's way through the coffee Puck.
Good question.. I think that in the past people have said EK43 shots tend to run a bit quicker. However, most of the time I use an EK43 to pull espresso shots and I aim for the same flow rates, and achieve balanced extractions in those times. One thing perhaps oversimplified in this video is the taste aspect of your espresso. The numbers are your guidelines to get you started and in the ballpark, then as your palate develops, taste for balance and make adjustments to your numbers accordingly. Hope this helps! Gary
Thanks for the tutorial. Please can you tell me how many grams in a single shot. I read 7-9 grams. But you said 20 grams. Is that then 2 shots you are making?
Sorry I missed this. You're correct - the basket I'm using here is a double shot basket. If you have a single shot basket, you're right in that it will fit more like 7-10g in it. If you're using a single shot basket, go for a similar ratio of 1:2 (so lets say you dose 10g, you'll get 20g of espresso out) and you're also run for a similar amount of time.. maybe slightly faster if anything.
my espresso always seems to extract with a lot of bubbles in it even when i rest the cup up higher on the shelf closer to the extractor. so when i go to pour art the bubbles all get in the way. any tips?
It could be a couple of things - it could be that the machine has a pressurised basket which gives this false, bubbly crema. It could be that your coffee is a bit too fresh (freshly roasted coffee needs about a week to degass, and then from there the crema settles down a bit). Before you go to pour, you can always give the cup with the espresso in it a gentle knock on the table to remove bigger bubbles, and also a bit of a swirl in the cup.. this should remove the main big bubbles. If you're using a pressurised portafilter it is a bit harder to deal with that big faux crema.
Heya! While I understand it can be frustrating if you don't get consistently great coffee, I don't think it's a good thing to tell someone how to do their job. You could however give feedback when you get a cup of coffee you don't enjoy. Crema is usually a biproduct of a fairly fresh roast (after 1 week old but less than about a month old), extracted under pressure. Whilst in the past, crema has been synonymous with quality, it isn't necessarily the case, especially as roasters experiment with different roast styles. Some coffees also have inherently more or less crema depending on how the coffee itself is grown and then how it is roasted.. When you get a coffee that you don't like, what about it don't you like? Ie if it doesn't have crema but it tastes good, there's no problem... right? Or if it doesn't taste good, is it because there is no crema, or is it something else that is going wrong?
Amazing video... So clear and explained with great analogy. Like the rocks and sand
I love the rocks and sand analogy. Made it easier for me to understand grinding. Thanks for this!
Legend! Glad you've been enjoying this and the Latte Art Bootcamp :)
Thank you for your clear directions. My home coffee machine can do single shots or double shots. I would like to know the time and weight suggested if I have a double shot, please?
I would like to know the same!
Brilliant! You make this so easy to understand and the improvement in my coffee has been immediate. Thank you so much. ☕️👍🏼
So great to hear! If you're within Australia check out my coffee next time you need more beans.
Also make sure you watch the other eps in the series as they are released, you'll pick up some more tips no doubt 👌
Very well explained. As a fellow coffee enthusiast, I'm really happy to hear this information. Thank you!
I just started as a barista at Starbucks a little over a month ago, where all we do to pull shots is just press a couple of buttons on our fancy espresso machines, haha! I wanted to understand what the process of pulling a shot actually was, and I found this video incredibly helpful and interesting! Thank you so much!
That's so great to hear! All the best with your barista journey :)
Man thanks for the guide on how to make great coffee with this video, the guide is simple and very straightforward
Can't wait to finish all the later episode
Greetings from Indonesia 🙏🙏🙏
Cheers guys and thank you so much for your work in here! After dozens of other "how to" vids, this one (or the whole series respectively) finally has it all and in really undestandable way even for "rookie home barista" = me :). Especially the explanation of the main variables (and where to start adjusting the brew - i.e. which one to leave = dose, time and which one to amend = grind) made a huge difference for me! Thanks again and best wishes!
So great to hear! This is exactly what I created this series for, so I'm glad I was able to explain everything in a way that made sense to you!
This may be a stupid question, but is a double shot the same with double all of the levels? e.g. 2:4 dose to yield (40gms in 80gms out)?
Hi. My machine (Isomac Tea Due) has a manual lever. (Half pull is "pre-infusion" & full pull is normal extraction). I normally let the pre-infusion last six seconds before the rest of the extraction.
So my question is:
When timing the shot, when should I time from?
Thanks.
When I use my rocket (which has the same system) I count from the start of preinfusion.. but I'd probably aim for more of a 28-32s flowrate.
I have a couple of questions since you are the first person address two things. I’ve always heard timer starts at first drop from pre-infusion, but you are starting at pump on. Why? You’re also the only person to talk about brew ratios with a timer, which is something I’ve been wondering about for a while. I know espresso ranges from 2:1-3:1, but is the 26-32s only for 2:1 or is it whatever your desired yield is, i.e. 2oz in 25-35s like the common rule of thumb usually states?
Preinfusion is slightly different and when I talked about from the pump being on, I kind of made the assumption we were talking about an espresso machine that ramps straight to 9 bar. Having said that as I mentioned in the previous comment re preinfusion - I wouldn't just totally discount preinfusion time as not being part of the total flow rate time. When using machines that have preinfusion, I tend to use preinfusion just to saturate the puck, so that when I'm hitting the puck with 9bar pressure it's less likely to channel.
With regards to your different extraction ratios - you'll find that the flow rate times of 26-32 stay pretty similar for different yields. How you'd increase the yield would be by making the grind size only slightly coarser. If you think about how fast the liquid is flowing through the espresso puck, as the extraction continues it's easier for water to flow through the puck. EG the amount of espresso extracted in the first 10 seconds is a lot less than the amount of espresso extracted in the last 10 seconds. So changing your yield from 40g out to 50g out (Ratio of 1:2 vs 1:2.5) maybe takes an extra 2-3 seconds.
Hope this answered your questions! If you want to play around with Yield I'd recommend my coffees La Dorada Y Potrerito from Colombia or Rugoza Washing Station from Burundi, both can have really delicious but different tastes at different yields.
Keep Frothin'
Gary
What a great video, thank you. In terms of flow rate, do you include pre-infusion time?
Preinfusion is something that I'm exploring a lot more now that I have a Flair espresso brewer. In the past I would have said include the preinfusion time in your 26-32 seconds.. but you can have very long preinfusions it seems without overextracting your coffee. For example with the Flair I've been preinfusing for a good 10-15 seconds before ramping the pressure up and starting to see espresso drip out the bottom of the spout, with a resulting time of closer to 50 seconds total, without over extracting.
My best advice when playing around with low pressure preinfusion would be to let taste dictate your extraction.. if your result is dry and bitter then lower your preinfusion time a touch or make your grind a bit coarser to speed up your flow rate for when you're brewing at pressure.
Nice video
Any chance on doing a video on single shots too? Cheers mate.
Hi! I'm so confused with the rates. 🤪 If I have a dose of 13g and a extraction of 46g and a flow rate of 24 seconds what should I adjust? I don't think more than 13g would fit into my filter. Would appreciate any help you can give. Thank you for these videos!
If you can only really fill 13g into your basket, then a 46g yield is tooooo much. I'd be trying for a yield more like 26-30g, which means that your grind setting is very coarse at the moment. Make your grind a fair bit finer, and it will slow down the flow rate to give you a yield of 26-30g in a similar time, you'll be extracting a lot better!
@@brewbudsclub Thank you so much! You have helped me tremendously!
Easy to understand vid. Good work.
Great to hear you got a lot from this one!
Great work mate
Thanks so much, glad you're loving the content!
Fuck yeah I love these videos! Going to make the best coffee using these steps
Love this. Learn a stack just in this video alone. Looking forward to next week. One question I have is ramp pressure. Is there anyway to describe the pressure needed. I currently use an OCD before I tamp
Heya! Will be bringing up this kind of question in a later troubleshooting episode but thanks for asking it. For me with tamp pressure, the moment I feel like the coffee isn't collapsing any further beneath the tamper, that's my que to stop pushing any harder.
Hope that is easy to understand!
Good day from Chicago. I thought you started timing after the espresso starts coming out of the portafilter but you started when you turned it on.
Heya! The first 6-7 seconds or so where the pump is on but you don't see espresso, the water is still interacting with the coffee. So although you don't see something happening, things are happening. Hope that makes sense!
Nice videos! My first shot in the morning is consistently slower than the second and everyone one after. I've tried multiple strategies to minimise this: flushing group head, flushing water through the portafilter, adjusting grind. And if i do alter the grind Invariably the second shot is under extracted which is frustrating. Do you have any suggestions? I generally won't pull any shots until the machine has been on for at least 20-30min. I have a Rocket r58 and Mazzer mini. Cheers
Ah - I replied to your other comment as I saw it before this one. I have a mazzer mini too and potentially your problem is to do with grind retention in the section between the burrs and the grind chamber (or grind chute if you have a mazzer electric).
The way it is probably effecting you is when it comes to adjusting the grind. When you adjust, there is grind retained in the grinder which needs to be cleaned out. Potentially you're creating this feedback loop where you get a shot you don't like, making an adjustment to the grind, but then the next extraction you see gives you an unexpected result.
The only other thing I could thing of is that the machine isn't up to temperature and therefore pressure - so it is extracting but not building up the 9 bar pressure, therefore harder for the water to flow through the puck. Considering you're saying that your machine is on for 20mins+ before you use it, this would be unlikely.
During your first extraction, do you notice that the gauge is reading 9bar?
I would like to order but live in the USA. Do you ship here? Thanks!
Heya! Just shipping within Australia for now as it's too expensive to ship fast enough unfortunately. Might be able to look back into it in the future.
Any comments regarding digital timer grinders, do you think they're worth it?
I know the principles would remain the same, dose/yield should remain the same. Just adjust the timer so that the dose is as close as possible to the basket gram rating?
Also what about tamping pressure, how much is too much/too little?
Thanks for these videos btw, as a fellow Aussie I'll definitely be looking into your coffee bean/subscription.
Ooh great questions - will be sure to use these in the last ep, appreciate it!
Digital timer grinders - The key thing is that you need to dial in the grind setting, and then dial in the timer. If you adjust the grind finer, it's harder for the coffee to fall through the burrs, and as a result, less coffee will grind in the same amount of time. If you adjust the grind coarser, it's easier for coffee to fall through the burrs, and as a result more coffee will grind in the same amount of time. So the key is to dial in the grind using the same dose every time, and then after you're dialled in, adjust the timer so that it gives you the correct dose. Make sense?
Regarding tamp pressure- the way I talk about it is is the moment you feel as though the coffee is no longer collapsing beneath your tamper, you've pushed hard enough.There's no need to put your whole body weight behind it etc.
Hope these answers help!
@@brewbudsclub Thanks, it's been a nightmare trying to get the right grind but now it makes sense.
Step 1 - Ignore the timer, use manual mode. Adjust the grind to get a decent pour with the scales.
Step 2 - Adjust to the timer to get the right amount according to scales.
Does preinfusion count towards the time? I have a breville barista pro
People who use preinfusion tend to have longer extraction times. I wouldn't say discount preinfusion time all together, but I'd say for most machines keep preinfusion to a max of 4-6 seconds, just allow there to be enough time to soak the puck. Then your total extraction time will probably creep closer to the 32 second side of things. Also again, use taste as your final indicator of a good extraction.
So the time starts when water starts running through, not when coffee actually starts flowing right?
Nice work Gazza
How did you calculate the time? The machine I have at the moment only has a basket for a single with it. Is the time then half or is the time always going to be 26-32s?
Single shot baskets still run for a similar amount of time, maybe slightly faster but certainly not half of the extraction time. Taste for balance :)
Hi! My scale is a little too big to use while brewing the cup, so I tried running a 15g dose for 26 seconds. The final yield was 75g! 😬
My grinder is already at the finest setting and the ground coffee is close to powdery, sooo, I don't really know what else to try. Any idea? Thanks 🙂
Sounds like you need a bigger dose to slow down that flow rate. If you want you can take a photo of your dose/grounds and send it to my instagram @thecoffeefusion, and I might be able to help more.
So my machine the Solis perfect barista is taking 8 seconds of pre-infusion after i switch the waterflip to run, before the yield is really flowing in to my cup. So do i take that time in when in time the flow or not? Now i always count 8 seconds before i start the timer.
If you're talking about the pump being on full pressure and it just takes 8 seconds to see liquid, this is normal. In that 8 seconds, the water is slowly making its way through the Puck which is why you don't see it straight away. In this situation, start the timer the moment you turn it on.
If you have a lower pressure preinfusion (not at 9 bar pump pressure) then it's a bit different. I'd probably shorten your preinfusion if thags the case but I feel like you're mistaking preinfusion for just the water making it's way through the coffee Puck.
Do you think these time window apply equally to coffees grinded in EK43?
Good question.. I think that in the past people have said EK43 shots tend to run a bit quicker. However, most of the time I use an EK43 to pull espresso shots and I aim for the same flow rates, and achieve balanced extractions in those times.
One thing perhaps oversimplified in this video is the taste aspect of your espresso. The numbers are your guidelines to get you started and in the ballpark, then as your palate develops, taste for balance and make adjustments to your numbers accordingly.
Hope this helps!
Gary
Thanks for the tutorial. Please can you tell me how many grams in a single shot. I read 7-9 grams. But you said 20 grams. Is that then 2 shots you are making?
Sorry I missed this. You're correct - the basket I'm using here is a double shot basket. If you have a single shot basket, you're right in that it will fit more like 7-10g in it. If you're using a single shot basket, go for a similar ratio of 1:2 (so lets say you dose 10g, you'll get 20g of espresso out) and you're also run for a similar amount of time.. maybe slightly faster if anything.
my espresso always seems to extract with a lot of bubbles in it even when i rest the cup up higher on the shelf closer to the extractor. so when i go to pour art the bubbles all get in the way. any tips?
It could be a couple of things - it could be that the machine has a pressurised basket which gives this false, bubbly crema. It could be that your coffee is a bit too fresh (freshly roasted coffee needs about a week to degass, and then from there the crema settles down a bit).
Before you go to pour, you can always give the cup with the espresso in it a gentle knock on the table to remove bigger bubbles, and also a bit of a swirl in the cup.. this should remove the main big bubbles. If you're using a pressurised portafilter it is a bit harder to deal with that big faux crema.
Would an Ikea espresso maker do good extraction?
For the cheaper espresso machines, I'd be more likely to go with a Breville or Sunbeam.
How to I tell my barista what grind I want to make crema? Many of the baristas at my local shop are fairly new.
Heya! While I understand it can be frustrating if you don't get consistently great coffee, I don't think it's a good thing to tell someone how to do their job. You could however give feedback when you get a cup of coffee you don't enjoy.
Crema is usually a biproduct of a fairly fresh roast (after 1 week old but less than about a month old), extracted under pressure.
Whilst in the past, crema has been synonymous with quality, it isn't necessarily the case, especially as roasters experiment with different roast styles. Some coffees also have inherently more or less crema depending on how the coffee itself is grown and then how it is roasted..
When you get a coffee that you don't like, what about it don't you like? Ie if it doesn't have crema but it tastes good, there's no problem... right? Or if it doesn't taste good, is it because there is no crema, or is it something else that is going wrong?
What type of grinder do you use in this video?
It's a Mazzer Mini manual.
Great information but more B-Roll and may be if you were a little slow. i dont know what was the rush
Thanks for your constructive feedback - always appreciated!
Having a grinder that has a worm gear allows you to adjust your grind on a continuous scale rather than an incremental scale.
correct. :)