As we all know! The condition of coffee beans and the weather are constantly changing every day, which directly affects espresso extraction and causes the coffee's taste to vary from day to day because of these changes. If we want to keep the coffee tasting equally delicious, we have to correct the coffee's flavor by adjusting parameters. And this is the essential lesson for baristas working the morning shift every day—adjusting the taste of espresso.But dialing in espresso is not a welcome task for most baristas, especially those who have just entered the industry not long ago, because one careless move can waste more than half a bag of coffee beans. Sometimes, not only is the coffee not dialed in well, but they also end up giving themselves coffee poisoning(wanting to throw up)and complaining endlessly.So, is there any method or technique that can help us quickly dial in espresso without wasting half a bag of coffee beans or time on adjusting espresso?Of course there is! Most of the time, we actually have techniques to quickly find the corresponding parameters for espresso and dial in a satisfying taste with just a few simple steps. And the method is also very simple: we only need to use "tasting" to identify the problems in the espresso, then prescribe the right remedy, and we can dial in the espresso in a short time, achieving the so-called three-grind adjustment method, or even fewer~What are the problems with espresso?Front Street mentioned earlier that the reason we need to dial in espresso is that its taste changes under the influence of its own condition and the weather, becoming less delicious than the day before, so we need to adjust it. The problem we need to identify is where it tastes worse than the day before. Once we know why it does not taste good, we can know how to adjust it!When the ratio remains unchanged, there are only two reasons that make coffee taste bad:under-extractionand over-extraction. And their corresponding manifestations in coffee are: sharp acidity, thin body/bitterness, and a heavy muddy taste.Under-extraction means that we have not extracted enough substances from the coffee grounds, and there are not enough sweet and bitter substances to balance the acidity, so the coffee's flavor is mainly sour and rather sharp. Then, because there are not enough substances, the coffee's concentration decreases and the body becomes somewhat thin;Over-extractionmeans that too many substances have been dissolved out of the coffee grounds, for example, a large amount of bitter and muddy substances has been dissolved out, which leads to the coffee being too bitter and having a heavy muddy taste.So when we taste any negative condition in the espresso, we only need to prescribe the right remedy to easily correct the coffee's flavor! For example, if the problem shown by the coffee is under-extraction, then we can increase the extraction rate by improving extraction efficiency; and if it is over-extraction, then we reduce extraction efficiency to prevent excessive dissolution of bitter and muddy substances~Of course, saying this is one thing, but in actual adjustment there is still a certain degree of difficulty. Many friends often find that when dialing in, either there is no change, or there is an extreme large shift, going directly from under-extraction to over-extraction. So next, Front Street will share how we can quickly dial in a cup of espresso.How to dial in a cup of espresso?Before dialing in espresso, we need to first set an approximate extraction formula, and then use this formula as the target to adjust the coffee parameters. The purpose is simple: to establish a reasonable baseline range in advance, which can effectively avoid resource waste caused by blind adjustment.Taking Front Street as an example, when adjusting espresso, Front Street uses a "1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio" and a "30-secondextraction time." That is, if 20g of coffee is used, then the liquid weight needs to land at around 40ml, and the extraction time needs to be around 30 seconds.(These parameters are not fixed and can fluctuate slightly.)A time of around 30 seconds can provide a certain guarantee for the espresso's extraction rate, so that the espresso produced will not be too far from delicious. At the same time, this ratio allows the espresso to have a certain concentration and can be used as a base to make all kinds of rich and delicious specialty coffee drinks. Front Street's approach to dialing in espresso is to first adjust the parameters into the range set by the formula, and then make fine adjustments based on the coffee's taste. This is the secret of the three-grind adjustment method!Dose, grind, and liquid weight are the three variables we need to control when extracting espresso. But because the former and latter are both restricted—for example, the filter basket used limits the dose you use, and concentration limits your ratio—the main object we adjust is the grind. Of course, Front Street is not saying that dose and liquid weight cannot be adjusted, only that the range within which they can be adjusted is relatively small, making them more suitable for changes when fine adjustment is needed.And thecoffeegrind sizeis related to extraction rate and time. When other parameters remain unchanged, the finer the coffee is ground, the longer the extraction time will be and the higher the extraction rate will be; the coarser it is ground, the shorter the extraction time and the lower the extraction rate.Combining the above two points, Front Street believes everyone should now know how to quickly dial in a cup of espresso! Here, still taking Front Street as an example, the coffee beans used by Front Street for espresso are theFront Street Classic Blendfrom the bean list. The perfect espresso extracted with it should perform with just the right high concentration, balanced flavor, and prominent butter cookie, chocolate, and caramel notes.When adjusting it, Front Street will first extract a cup of espresso completely according to the golden ratio of 1:2 to make a preliminary measurement of whether the grind size is appropriate. Because grind size is related to extraction time, the standard for judging includes not only taste but also time.It is easy to understand: when the dose and liquid weight are both fixed, see whether the extraction time can fall within the 30-second range we set (±3 seconds). If it can, then it means this grind size probably has no problem, and next we only need to make fine adjustments to the dose or liquid weight based on whether the taste is appropriate! But if it goes far beyond this range, then we need to judge based on taste whether to adjust the grind.The dose used by Front Street here is 20g, the extracted liquid weight is 40ml, and the extraction time is 23 seconds, greatly deviating from the set target. And the taste performance is also like the under-extracted coffee described by Front Street, with a sharp sour taste and a thin body. So, after tasting this cup of espresso, Front Street adjusted the grinder two notches finer.(You need to taste it first—what if the coffee extracted with this parameter is delicious~)Because espresso extraction is relatively extreme, for every notch finer the grind is adjusted, with other parameters unchanged, the extraction time will increase by 3~4 seconds. After adjusting the grind, Front Street then used the same dose to extract the same liquid weight, and this time the extraction time reached 31 seconds, within the formula time range that was set. And the coffee taste was not much different from what Front Street considers the ideal espresso performance: balanced taste, prominent flavor, with only a tiny bit of bitterness felt in the finish.In this kind of situation, the coffee is slightly over-extracted. We do not need to make a big fuss and adjust the grind; we only need to suitably reduce the liquid weight by 1~2ml, or reduce the dose by 0.2~0.3g, to lower the coffee's extraction rate and get a relatively perfect espresso!The above is the thinking behind the three-grind adjustment method. You can refer to it, and then in actual extraction you can more simply and quickly pull a delicious cup of espresso~Finally: Front Street's coffee bean flash sale is about to begin, so everyone can pay attention to the time~
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
