04.30.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 4:06 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Another round of competition is over. Another season passes.
I like how as a barista, my seasons are marked by competitions.
As competition time begins bean inventories take place, beans are picked and primed. The fires are stoked and the cauldron seasoned for a special burning. Then, like winter, a season passes hunched in front of the fire, while blending maps are drawn and redrawn, formulas pored over, tables groaned under the weight of stained demitasses. Nights passed with the rhythm of the brew switch flicks and the drone of grinders.
After the day of reckoning, the season passes. Cups, trays, and competition oddities are packed and stored. A spring clean reveals the floor is blue after all. The calendar fills with errands and appointments long overdue.
As I fly with the spring wind, I look back and I smile:
- that Kenya’s tamed; in summer it’s really nice to suck on ice cubes made with brewed Kenya coffee
- music is a lot more like espresso than I can ever imagine
- espresso blends like structure, and I like the structure of this one
- I need to do something about that grinder static
- it will help if one of my hands can transform into a shopvac or some kind of wet’ndry suckerupper
- almonds go well with blackcurrants
- fizz is good for the nose
- I got to make beautiful music with two very different espresso instruments, explore discord and resonate the harmonics
- the dose is much like a volume dial, some sounds register better soft while some are better loud (and some folks are deaf)
- my mazzer major screams like a slasher survivor.
A new blend blinks at me fresh and startled like a dragon hatchling…
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04.09.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 4:09 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Extracting espresso has never been a matter of estimation.
It is a matter of utmost precision.
It is no surprise that those who take espresso seriously are also very familiar with a myriad of measuring instruments like manometers, thermometers, scales, tds meters, ph meters, moisture meters, hygrometers, gas spectrometers…the list goes ever on, and these are only for quantitave data.
For qualitative data, tools of assessment abound. There’s the SCAA Flavour Wheel, the Le Nez du Cafe scent kits, cupping protocols, tongue maps…this list also goes ever on.
In the exciting world of specialty coffee, the path seems to go ever on with regards to technology and standards being developed and adopted. Just as you thought you’re finally getting a hang of something then some newfangled technology pops up offering novel and exciting perspectives.
So it is with great surprise and consternation that I’ve come across many commercial espresso machines, on the bench and working, that had not encountered any calibration since they were installed. Twice I’ve seen the espresso steam up the spouts coming out at goodness knows what scalding degree even after flushing an insane amount. The times I’ve felt comfortable enough to whip out my temperature probe I measured temps ranging from 97°C - 101°C at the group head. Yikes!
According to several people and bodies, brew head temps should read:
88°C ± 2°C - Italian Espresso National Institute;
90°C ± 5°C - Illy, Espresso: The Chemistry of Quality 1998, pp7;
90.5 - 96°C - The World Barista Championships.
Andueza et al writing on “The Influence of Extraction Temperature on the Final Quality of Espresso Coffee” in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture found that:
“…the contents of pyrazines were significantly increased with a water temperature of 96°C and these could be the origin of the highest burnt/roasty flavour…
The best profile of key odorants and flavour notes…were obtained for 92°C Arabica espresso coffee.” (pp245)
Sure, there are many parametres not considered in this experiment like the origin of coffees in the blend, the density of the beans, roast degrees, roast profiles etc. that affect the organoleptic properties of the espresso coffee, but 97°C + is slipping towards the too hot side.
At the other end, machines can also run too cool. Sometimes measurements are taken from a probe within the boiler without consideration for temperature loss as the water travels to the group head. My own machine suffers a 5°C discrepancy between boiler temps and temps at the brew head.
So I make adjustments. And what determines my adjustments? The cup! The cup! Always the cup!
The cup aided by a cheap device:
This
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