If you ever decide to come this way, let me know and I'll gladly have an Americano ready for you. ;-)
I spent a couple of days wandering around in Amsterdam as part of a trip through Europe, but that was over 20yrs ago. I wasn’t so much interested in espresso at the time but as I recall the factory Heineken wasn't too bad, hahaha. My personal preference is for a double ristretto also, I don't pull over 1.75oz too often and I find I typically pull 1.25-1.5oz on average, but again it really depends on what the coffee is telling me to do at the time. I'm just about to go pull a blend of Fazenda Vista Allegre/Sanani/Elida Natural, the FVA and Sanani were pre-roast blended at 80%/20% and I will post-roast blend the Elida ratio depending on what I get from the first shot which I'm going to guesstimate at FVA 70%, Sanani 15%, Elida 15% (or something like that). It should make for a nice double ristretto pull then built into the 4oz latte. I don't want to speak for the entire US (I can really only speak for my own kitchen, haha) but it's been my observation that single basket is not typical on a semi-auto, now if we are talking about a super-auto like a Starbucks location as an example where they will extract a single, well that's an entirely different conversation but then it's not really coffee in my opinion. If you walk into a good independent café and see Espresso on the board is common to get a double basket loaded with approx 15-18gms and extracted to approx 1.75oz volume; some places you can just call "can I get an espresso" in some places it might be "can I get a double" or "can I get a shot" each indie tends to have its own character and definitions. It's also possible to order "can I get one espresso and a biscotti" and receive a double espresso or a single espresso and I will give you a recent example of a scenario I faced... Into a small independent café, chatted with the owner/barista who was a nice enough fellow, he convinced me to try his espresso and so I said "sure set me up" and paid. I watched him load a double basket with approx 16gms, because he wasn't working from a bottomless PF he pulled the shot into two shot glasses (which I thought was a bit odd) then he transferred one of the shot glasses into a cold demitasse and handed it to me. He picked up the other shot glass and put it into his under bar fridge and said "I'll save that for the next customer". My shot was lousy. I'm sure that shot that went to the next customer was lousy... and cold. Next time I drove past the place (with no intention of stopping in) I saw it was out of business. And so, there really are no fixed rules for terminology, standards or quality out in the retail space - but I do know my BII and I understand each other. ;-) I haven't tried the Wallenford Estate, it's a bit too pricey for my needs and so I don't see it making it into my greens collection. I always buy with an eye to espresso, with an occasional nod to a great bean for my wife's pour-over. I buy all my greens at a green bean buying cooperative called GCBC and they really do have a great thing going along with some excellent greens for a great price, plus some very knowledgeable coffee fanatics. If you find time you can go check it out: http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/ I'm off for a shot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Shaun Taylor http://shaundoreenevankeegan.blogspot.com/ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of E. Masseurs Sent: 28 January 2009 09:43 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Quick regular without changing the grind Thanks again shaun. Texas is still on my wish list. Seen the big apple and new jersey a couple of times, so I get the impression ;-) Just wanted to set one thing straight though... It's not me who likes this 5oz cup, it's an alternative developed for people who don't like americano's. Back here in Amsterdam we get all sorts of orders, which keep you going on experimenting, with a slight danger of getting confused sometimes. That's why it's very interesting (and helpful) to get in touch with people like you. As for myself, I'm used to much stronger stuff, like ristrettos. And actually come to think of it, your 18 gram 1.5 oz yield (if made in 25 seconds, is exactly what we call a double ristretto over here. We make single ristrettos out of 9 grm single basket yielding 0.75z in 25 seconds. If doubled I get your recipe! Hello... anybody home... sorry it took me so long. So there we are... probably another thing clarified. For my understanding... since you mentioned there's no single basket used anymore in the USA, do they now call this double ristretto a single espresso over there? Peace, Hybrid BTW, did you happen to have tried Jamaica Blue Mountain, Wallenford Estate (Washed Arabica) yet? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
