Re: Throw away the espresso "rules"...

Joe.Heide@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

| > Except when they are not!
| >
| > - David R.
|
| ------
|
| I'm a barista in training...so I'm really new to this, but I would
| think that if your grounds are perfect, you tamp it evenly, the shot
| takes around 25 sec and the puck comes out nicely (not muddy) that you
| are pretty much guaranteed a good shot. What am I missing? Thanks!

For example, what is the definition of "perfect grounds"? It is
tautological that if all the parameters are exactly right then the shot will
be optimal, but you can't know what is "exactly right" without tasting and
adjusting. For example, the coffee beans you use on Friday are either a day
older or a different batch than the beans you used on Thurday, and the
atmospheric conditions might be different, so that you need to grind finer
or coarser to get the best shot. You might get a good *looking* shot with
the grind slightly wrong, for example by dosing a bit differently or just by
chance.

There is a shop I used to go to that used a Marzocco machine, a Swift
grinder, Metropolis beans, and the shots looked beautiful. To my taste they
were usually terrible (so I got in the habit of getting iced or milky
derinks from this shop). A few degrees difference in brew temperature, a
slightly finer or coarser grind coupled with a change in dose, any number of
slight changes could have made a big difference. In this particular case,
they were pretty much all beyond the control of the barista, but in general
I don't see how someone who does not know how a good shot should taste can
have any success in making the adjustments to get the espresso better when
the shot looks good.

- David R.
--
Less information than you ever thought possible:
http://www.demitasse.net
.

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