a pretty sweet poem I can take NO credit for…

The perfect shot. Not the click of a lens, not the falling of a heavy carcass, but the perfect shot. The heavy crema sitting atop the black liquid that can fuel you and warm you. The perfect pull from the beautiful silver gleaming beast, is it the best espresso you could ever have. The rush of caffeine filling your body and pulling you into a cup of warmth that smells like your Dad and your best morning at the park.
Everyday I give that shot out. I grind, tamp and wipe off the freshly ground beans and puzzle piece fit the machine. No pods or push buttons just pure time and precision. Testing my pull’s each morning. Testing before that scalding hot energy can even hit your lips.
The only thing that can upgrade the crema of an Americano is the beauty of a true macchiato. The beautiful dollop of velvet foam atop that abyss lake of black home, the foam that takes time to make. This foam that can be made beautiful and whipped makes your drink into a whole new experience. The pounding of stainless steel on a countertop to pop any unwanted bubbles of imperfection. Stirring this milk creation to give you the corduroy topping to this traditional doppio with a twist, this is satisfaction. The beauty of the perfect pull, the love and memory in just the scent can overwhelm your senses. You can smell, taste, hear and almost feel the memories come back as the black liquid pours out. The familiar scent of coffee, some ones boss, some ones dad, another’s teacher or mother; everyone knows a true coffee drinker and this smell will take you back to them. The sound of beans grinding, the blackening of palms and fingertips, and finally the pouring of a beautiful shot. The love I hand you in a double cupped 12 oz. It is so much more than you know, and I hope you enjoy.

-autumnb

Thermal Stability…check! What is next…

Before I jump into this topic, I just want to say that we make espresso with the tools we have, and for the most part a good barista can pull a fabulous shot with their tools…however, there are certain advancements in technology and knowledge for the extraction of espresso that have aided our understanding for how to do it. So with that said I’ll jump into the science we use to affect the art of pulling espresso…

The thermal stability of an espresso machine has been established. The synesso and gb5 have both applied PID heater control to limit temperature variance to within .1 degrees F. We can even retofit a Linnea (or any hx machine if you really wanted to) with the digital technology to heat water with less variance in temp. The thing I’m really surprised by is the the lack of discussion in regards to water pressure. Water temp. and pressure have such a close, mutually dependent relationship (something I should have learned in middle school instead of on the espresso machine) and the pressure the water is under when it hits the espresso has a major effect on the flavor of the shot. There is discussion about this, but it definitely is not nearly as pop (sub)culture as temperature stability.

Most espresso machines control pressure using a rotary pump. Line pressure is boosted to 9 bars (boiler pressure) during brewing. But what happens when you are pulling an espresso and your coworker hits wash on the dishwasher, your customer flushes the toilet and your brewer refills? The incoming line pressure to your machine drops by 10 pounds of pressure or maybe even more! If we are going to get excited about the stability of a tenth of a degree for water temp, then why not a half bar of pressure?

My prediction (and really, this is already being done by operators) is that espresso machine manufacturers will build a machine that has a static water tank built in. A small electric pump will pull water out of the tank and feed it to a rotary pump at +/-40 pounds of pressure that is then boosted to 9 bars. Set this up for each group and you have 100% pressure stability. (I think this would likely make actual brew temperature more stable too)

As I put together my workshop this is my plan…along with a mix if distilled and hard water (also a lot easier than plumbing my garage!) Although, I probably won’t enjoy drinking my espresso in a garage compared to the aesthetic of a downtown cafe sharing a table with friends! So maybe all this science is at a loss w/o a little perspective…

But back to the science!…As a barista I am trying to understand and control the varying factors that affect the extraction of my espresso. I can’t control the temperature, pressure and humidity of my environment, but if I can isolate, control and understand the variables that are manipulable (by hand/machine) then I can have a pretty good chance of pulling a great shot of espresso. I would argue that brewing pressure is the most over-looked variable.

It would be nice to see some cool ways that a manufacturer meets this undervalued variable.

Madison Coffee Fellowship

Hey…! My name is Ryan, I work for Ancora and I also fix some stuff, I like coffee and understanding the how and why behind it…

The more I talk to people in Madison who like coffee the more I think we need some kind of community forum and information cooperative. A place to share our thoughts, opinions and experiences to connect the community of coffee people in Madison.

Not a place to push product or market yourself directly, but a place to share our sincere interest for coffee…

It’s mostly conceptual and I started a group over at bx.com, but would like to have something more direct…therefore this site.

My thought is to make anyone interested an ‘author’ so they can post freely on this site.

Email me (help @ cadencecofffeefix . com) if you want to ‘join’ and get this idea moving along! Also, spread the word, the concept here is to connect and learn from others…!

-rp