Singles?

Tips and Tricks you have discovered with your S1, VII, Mini-VII, Dream, or Dream T that lets you do any aspect of coffee making, steaming, maintenance, etc better.
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Endo

Singles?

Post by Endo »

There's been some interesting discussion on HB about the recent DB machines (like the Dalla Corte Mini) being designed for singles. Since my Mini Vivaldi is essentialy the same machine, I decided to give it a try and here's the result:
Naked Single
Naked Single
single.jpg (41.93 KiB) Viewed 13207 times
It worked surprisingly well and the taste was very good (although a bit different compared to doubles). As Jim Schulman was pointing out, it seems to work well at low temps (90C) for Yergs (you hearin' this JohnB?)

The machine was really designed around these 7g singles for the Italian market. Give a try and tell me what you think.
JohnB

Re: Singles?

Post by JohnB »

Never tried one but I do have the Sidamo. How many grams? 7-8g? How much finer did you go from your typical double setting on the SJ? Are you shooting for 1 oz in 25-30 seconds?
Endo

Re: Singles?

Post by Endo »

JohnB wrote:Never tried one but I do have the Sidamo. How many grams? 7-8g? How much finer did you go from your typical double setting on the SJ? Are you shooting for 1 oz in 25-30 seconds?
I've only done a few so far and haven't yet weighed. I'm simply using the single basket and tamp to just below the ridge (same as the double). I'll weigh it tomorrow.

You can keep your grind the same as the double for the first shot and adjust from there, but it doesn't seem to need much adjustment at all. I'm aiming for 1oz in 30 sec.

Seems the shots are clearer and you can taste a lot of the fruitiness you like at low temp and without the tannins at the end. You can experiment from 88C to 92C and see what it gives you.

I was scared away from the singles so I never tried it before....but I'm glad I did. It was much easier than I thought and may even be MORE consistant than the doubles.

I'm not sure I'll stick with it yet, but it's a nice change.....and it sure saves $$$ on coffee.
Endo

Re: Singles?

Post by Endo »

Tried some more singles this morning and was disappointed. I don't think it was the shot, I think I just need a double in the morning.

On the other hand, the single is very nice at the end of the day when you want something a little lighter. The lower caffeine at night is also a plus.
JohnB

Re: Singles?

Post by JohnB »

I read through Jim's write up in the DC review & he does mention them being "lighter" in flavor which certainly makes sense. I'll try some today but I would think you would have to tighten up the grind noticeably going from 16g to 7g. The lighter roasted Sidamo I got in last Friday (roasted 2/18) is just hitting its prime now. In the Vac Pot its much sweeter then on Saturday when the primary flavor was grapefruit (tasted better then it sounds). The darker espresso version should be peaking Thursday thru Sunday.
Endo

Re: Singles?

Post by Endo »

JohnB wrote:... I would think you would have to tighten up the grind noticeably going from 16g to 7g.
I found I only needed to tighten up a couple of notches. But this might be simply because I haven't worked out the dose yet and ended up with less headspace for the first few singles.

Let me know if you need to grind much finer.

I'll try some more singles tonight, but my morning belongs to doubles. :shock:
JohnB

Re: Singles?

Post by JohnB »

Endo wrote: I found I only needed to tighten up a couple of notches. But this might be simply because I haven't worked out the dose yet and ended up with less headspace for the first few singles.

Let me know if you need to grind much finer.

I'll try some more singles tonight, but my morning belongs to doubles. :shock:

That's about what I was thinking but I consider a couple notches to be a fairly big change espresso wise. Haven't gotten to the singles yet as the Sidamo was so good in the V/C I made a second pot!
JohnB

Re: Singles?

Post by JohnB »

Tried a couple late this afternoon & they were ok but I won't be giving up doubles. Kind of like drinking strong brewed coffee.
JohnB

Re: Singles?

Post by JohnB »

I've had about 7 of the little buggers so far today. Pretty tasty actually but I ended up going with 9g doses weighed in the basket so I could get a good tamp. Only one of my tampers fits the single basket well; the Coffeelab of course. All of my pucks were very soupy with 2 even sticking to the screen, a first. Typical of singles??
Endo

Re: Singles?

Post by Endo »

JohnB wrote:I've had about 7 of the little buggers so far today. Pretty tasty actually but I ended up going with 9g doses weighed in the basket so I could get a good tamp. Only one of my tampers fits the single basket well; the Coffeelab of course. All of my pucks were very soupy with 2 even sticking to the screen, a first. Typical of singles??
I'm not getting the soupyness. I'll try weighing my next dose, but basically I'm not a weigher. I prefer to aim for the same headspace instead (I'm lazy I guess). I only got a "screen sticker" on my first bad attempt (overdosed). I think the single is more prone to this due to the basket tapered shape which makes the puck slide out easier.

Did you read what Jim was saying about dose versus hole area ratio. That was kinda interesting. He also said the taste would be the same as a double or triple if you use the same headspace! Yeah right :roll:
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