Pursuit of a Perfect Pour

For generic information on making espresso alt.coffee, coffee geek, Sweet Maria's web site and many others excel at this tutorial level of information. However, if you've been there and done that but have specific questions and concerns about getting the best espresso on the S1/VII/Mini-VII/Dream/Dream T, post those topics here.
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BobG

Pursuit of a Perfect Pour

Post by BobG »

I wondered if anyone is getting text book style perfect pours where the espresso is coming straight down and is dark? If so, can you pass along what you have learned?

Here is what I use and here are my results so far:

My pours are pretty good, but they are a little light in color with lots of crema from start to finish. I am getting a 25 sec. pour with about 1.5 - 2 ounces (I use shot glasses), depending on my grinder setting.

I weigh my beans and am using 17.5 grams of Vivace Vita with the factory screen configuration. My pressure setting is 8.2 per the Schomer standard. I have a La Cimali Junior grinder and have found that in the range 3.75 - 4.25 works best to get the proper volume in 25 sec.

I have tried a little less beans or more beans to experiment (from 16 to 19), but the crema still stays heavy from start to finish.

I am not getting water on the puck and am seeing the slight impression of the screen bolt. No channelling.

Any suggestions/tips for further improvement?

Thanks,
Bob
Tim

Post by Tim »

It's been awhile since you posted and I wondered if your shots have improved. Do you have similar results with other beans or is it just when using Vita? Also, have you tried a bottomless pf to ensure no channelling? It is sometimes hard to tell by simply looking at the puck after the pull.
BobG

Post by BobG »

I believe that much of the variability depends on the coffee and blend as I typically use either Espresso Vivace beans, Zoka beans or Victrola beans. I try to optimize the grind for each of the blends.

I don't have a bottomless filter. I would like to try the triple basket based on the other positive feedback and the fact that several people said the shots don't blond like the double basket.

Bob G.
bobroseman

Post by bobroseman »

Bob,

A bottomless portafilter is worth the invesment in order to evaluate your pours.

This shot was pulled this morning with 16 grams of espresso that was roasted on the 6th. My point is that early blonding could be a symptom of channeling and not a symptom of coffee freshness or volume.

Bob
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padillatim

Post by padillatim »

Bob,

Since you are following David - I am a follower too ;) - you may want to consider not letting the beans popcorn in the grinder. I am assuming that since you measure the beans beforehand, that there is not enough weight to keep the beans from jumping around in the hopper as you grind.

Are you seeing the streams bend inward? - You mention the desire to have them hang straight down. Inward is a sign of loss of viscosity, or overextraction, so you may want to grind a little tighter - again the Vivace standard is closer to 1.25oz in 23 seconds and the crema s/b a rich reddish brown in the cup.

Hope this helps, I am probably telling you things you already know...

BTW, I had a 54MM Vivace Ero Packer turned down to 53.5MM and it is now the favorite for the S1.

Good luck...
bobroseman

Post by bobroseman »

This morning, I switched out the dispersion disks, installing the thicker star patterned one and immediately had problems with channeling. Three or four blond shots in a row and out came the star dispersion disk and back in went the thinner circular disk. Viola! No channeling!

Moral - for me and my way of packing and tamping, the original dispersion disk is a no go.

Others may wish to check this out for themselves.

Bob
BobG

Post by BobG »

Bob R,

I believe you also have a LaCimbali Jr. Grinder? Do you do anything to prevent popcorning? I have not done anything to prevent popcorning as Padillatim pointed out in the response above.

Sometimes I do get textbook pours. Pretty much whenever I use decaf. beans I find I am guaranteed of some blonding.

Thanks,
Bob G.
bobroseman

Post by bobroseman »

Bob,

I suppose that there is no way to separate technique from a discussion about equipment. After all that's why the most important of the 4 Ms is "mano del barista" or something like that. (I'm trying to say "hand of the barista", in case I butchered it. :)

So, let me tell you a little story. A while ago, my friend Dan Kehn (Home-Barista.com) convinced me to take the 2 day judges qualification workshop at the USBC in Charlotte. It was a wonderful learning experience for me. I even passed the certification. :) Anyway, a part of the course was a tasting workshop where we were served drinks by the best baristi in the United Stantes. Some were intentionally worse than others. We had to learn to distinguish between a "1" and a "5" score. What struck me was how little the Barista changed her techinque to get from a 1 to a 5.

When I came home, I happened to have 5 lbs of Counter Culture Booksellers Espresso Blend to play with, so I filled the hopper, ground and tamped exactly as they did and immediately got some of the best results I have achieved.

On th other hand, again while at the show, a friend pulled shots from a Versa Lab M3 grinder by weighing out the beans in individual doses of 18 grams and consistantly pulled 4s and 5s.

Bottom line the Cimbali is designed one way and the Versalab is designed another. I believe it makes a difference in taste if you do not use the machines the way they were desgned.

Having said that, I admit that this is conjecture on my part and I certainly can't speak to other grinders. But I now keep beans in my hopper.

BTW, I have even pulled some pretty good shots from some decaf that I have in my Capresso Infinity for FP But have found a tendancy toward channelng that requires some additional technique on my part to overcome.

I don't know how all this can relate to your experience. I would just suggest that you get a bottomless portafilter and experiment a bit with it.

Bob
Johan Lindroos

Re: Pursuit of a Perfect Pour

Post by Johan Lindroos »

BobG, what I consider to be most important in your case is:

- Freshness of the roast. A couple of days up to about a week is what I consider freshly rostad. In this way you always get more crema with more viscosity.

- The mixture of beans. For example a mixture with Ethiopian beans usually goes darker and also gives a good base for flow resistance. Difficult to explaing about it, but it seems as the whole process with tamping, etc, gives more "tiger streaks" (word/spelling?) and an easy tamping procerdure with less risk for channeling.
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