In making espresso, some seemingly unimportant details are often overlooked, but they can gradually affect the taste of the coffee. Today, Front Street Coffee will talk about those details that are often forgotten, and you can count how many you have missed..- Forgetting to flush water before locking in the portafilterIf there has been a long interval between this espresso extraction and the previous one, the temperature of the dispersion screen on the group head will be very high. If you do not release some water to cool it down first, the surface of the coffee puck may get scorched after locking in the portafilter. The espresso extracted this way is then very likely to have a burnt, bitter taste.
Therefore, Front Street Coffee suggests developing the habit of releasing some water before locking in the portafilter.- Forgetting to knock out the puck after extractionThis is also a detail that is very easily overlooked. After finishing extraction, many people get their espresso and then move on to making latte, americano, or similar drinks, and afterward completely forget that there is still an extracted puck in the portafilter.
In a sealed, high-temperature environment, the puck will be dried out and stick to the filter basket and dispersion screen. In serious cases, it can even develop a burnt smell. After a few minutes, the puck becomes harder to knock out, and there is a high chance that some small particles will block the outlet holes of the filter basket, making them very difficult to clean. If the puck is not knocked out promptly over the long term, the filter basket will soon be ruined, which is completely not worth it.
- Forgetting to clean the dispersion screenAfter extracting coffee, some coffee residue will stick to the dispersion screen. If it is not cleaned, it will be baked dry by the high temperature of the group head, and by then cleaning it will become even more difficult. Not cleaning these coffee residues will also affect the flavor of the next espresso.
So it is likewise necessary to develop the habit of flushing water over the dispersion screen while removing the portafilter after extraction is completed.
- Leaving the portafilter locked on the group head for a long timeWhen not extracting, leaving the portafilter locked on the group head for a long time causes the narrow, high-temperature environment inside to accelerate the aging of the gasket, while the hot portafilter also causes the aroma of the coffee grounds to dissipate quickly. There is another point corresponding to the second one: if the portafilter is left locked on the group head for a long time, it becomes difficult to judge whether the coffee puck has been knocked out. If the portafilter is usually taken down, then the frequency of forgetting to knock out the puck will be reduced.Some people think that locking in the portafilter is for heat preservation, and that if the portafilter is not preheated, the temperature during espresso extraction will be too low, affecting the coffee flavor. But we can preheat the portafilter by turning on the group head and releasing hot water before preparing to extract, which also conveniently completes the detail of “flushing water before locking in the portafilter.”
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
