Yeah Barry, they are super hard to pull but that Gethumbwini keeps dragging me back, because I do enjoy the challenge and the killah' shots are so worth it. well that and I've got approx 10lbs more of that particular green. ;-)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Shaun Taylor http://shaundoreenevankeegan.blogspot.com/ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Barry Luterman Sent: 27 January 2009 12:21 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Quick regular without changing the grind Shaun I have given up trying to pull any shots with Kenyans. Too many sink shots looking for the one g-d shot. On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:15 AM, onemoreshot <[email protected]> wrote: Haha, if you think everything is bigger in the US, you need to know I moved from Canada 1.5yrs ago to...Texas (and this state redefines big). ;-) Glad to hear you compared the 18gm against the 10gm. I'm not surprised the 10gm tasted like it had more "flavor", it was probably "punchier" and "bigger". I think the over-extraction would show through as a more forceful bevie. Now, if you want to turn this into a full experiment you could work at extracting that 18gm (or 14 - 21gm dose depending on the bean/s and or the grind setting) so that you are drawing out the full capacity of the coffee. If you pull the best out of the coffee I think you would be surprised how much better the double shot plus water can be as compared to the 5oz water flow-through that you currently like. The problem with my suggestion is that it might take you a while to find out what you like about a particular coffee and then tweak it so that you are amplifying that characteristic for the Americano. Example, when I pull an S.O of Gethumbwini Peaberry I try to highlight the blackcurrant notes, but with this bean any minor variations in technique or variable choices can swing the shot dramatically, I find it a hard shot to nail down on a day to day basis, but when I nail it this shot is so memorable you can remember it all year long. My point is that I think you should experiment for a couple of weeks with the double basket and a double dose of coffee to see if you can improve on the flavor profile. I bet you might be surprised. Shaun "E. Masseurs" wrote: Very interesting... so indeed for clarity's sake it's common in the USA not to use single baskets anymore. Always good to learn about these things. We use double baskets a lot too but then to fill 2 separate glasses (actually small coffee cups) with espresso, not one. Doesn't surprise me though, because almost everything is used bigger in the states ;-) (j/k!) Anyway, now I finally understand your point of view and this definitely proves we were both comparing different things here. Glad we got that out of the way. So, I've made a new Americano with double basket, 18grams, yielding 1.5oz espresso in 30 seconds and topped it off till 5oz with hot water... For the alternative I've also used a double basket, 10grams, yielding 5oz espresso in 30 seconds (obviously due to the lack of back-pressure or extra head space, if you like). I'm honest enough to admit the Americano based on 18 grams tasted better, but then the funny thing happened... I tasted the 10 grams alternative and it still had more flavor pallets compared to the Americano. Isn't that amazing! For me it's got nothing to do with saving on coffee... I don't care about that. But it's just amazing that using this 'wrong' method actually yielded more taste pallets. Of course I'll never do this with a naked portafilter, it goes without saying that I'll turn black instantly :-) That's pretty obvious. The extra (large) headspace is necessary to yield that 5oz in 30 seconds, due to a lack of resistance. Yet again my theory proved correctly; despite the over extraction, having the water go 'past' the grind results in more taste with less amount of coffee. Isn't that interesting? The other thing you might have noticed too, the Americano crema is severely damaged by pouring water over it, while the alternative still looks 'acceptable' for the receiver. Not trying to prove anybody wrong at all... these are just my findings and I invite anybody who's interested to give this a try. Actually I'm very grateful we've had this discussion, cause it always brings 'new' data abroad to think about... The result spoke for itself (to me) and if the financial crisis keeps hitting 'the fan', it might be considered a (nice to have) money saver too. ....at least 7 grams vs. the americano recipe, yet still maintains a satisfied client. But that's more commercially thinking, which wasn't my point at all. So, again, my sincere gratitude for this respectful discussion. It's been a pleasure 'thinking out loud' with you. Peace, Hybrid --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
