If you are working in a café, restaurant, office or a coffee enthusiast at home chasing the perfect cup of coffee being able to get your espresso shots pouring nicely can be a challenge. After all no one wants a coffee that lacks full flavour and potential, as without a great shot no latte art can hide its taste. So, what really is needed to understand how we get that perfect shot?
In coffee, there are variances that affect how our coffee pours from the correct dosage, ground particle size, tamp pressure and heat to name a few and all these play a role in how our coffee pours out. But what are we looking for to make sure we get the perfect coffee shot? Here are a few things we need to understand first:
- The Size of the Coffee basket we are using – this can range from 9 grams to 21 grams
- The roast type of the coffee – which ranges from light to dark
- The grind particles – from coarse to fine
- Your grinder – On Demand or Lever
- The Blades of your grinder – Burrs of Conical and this size of the blades
By understanding these key elements these variables, it will provide the foundations to being on the path to making a great espresso shot! Though how do we know when we need fix one of these variables? A place you can start is if your coffee is pouring too fast, this could be that your grind is too coarse or you aren’t dosing enough coffee. The best way to check is to weigh how much coffee you are dosing in your basket based off the parameters that you have set eg: dosing 23 grams of coffee. If this weight is off you can increase the dosage to the correct weight, this could be by uping the dosage time if it is an on-demand grinder or the amount of coffee dispensed from a lever grinder; however, it is the correct weight then we may need to look at the grind which would need adjusting to a finer setting but only by minor adjustments until you get the correct pour time. A some of the grinders I have found that are simple and easy to adjust are the Eureka Range of grinder with their micrometric adjustment system making it easier to control grinder adjustment changes whether it is coarser or finer based off the needs. Making sure we have the correct grind gives us the opportunity to make sure we are getting the optimum out of our espresso shot and work on getting the perfect shot!
By following these simple easy steps we are able to understand what makes a perfect coffee shot and the steps we need to take in the right direction to achieving this.
Next week we will cover the different beans qualities and age and how they affect our coffee shot
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