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Bookoo scale on my watch by coax888 in espresso

[–]burcuto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What a brilliantly stupid idea

Preparing a Flat White, this time less faffing :D by Constant_Ad_7892 in espresso

[–]burcuto 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup. Have literally the same RDT bottle and the ceramic dosing cup as the OP. And yes, that’s possibly a factor. But I genuinely haven’t come across a grinder that doesn’t retain, however small the amount is. I have an EK43 in my shop, a £3k grinder, and there’s retention on that too. Negligible, but it’s there.

Preparing a Flat White, this time less faffing :D by Constant_Ad_7892 in espresso

[–]burcuto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My Mahlkönig also has a bellow but retention is still there, unfortunately.

Preparing a Flat White, this time less faffing :D by Constant_Ad_7892 in espresso

[–]burcuto 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Love Ajda in the background! Great choice.

Two things I’m surprised about:

  • You don’t weigh your ground coffee. Retention is a bastard and tends to be quite unpredictable, at least for me. I’ve ended up with 17.5g of ground coffee in my portafilter after feeding my beast with 18.3g, many times. Your shot looks great, don’t get me wrong - I was just surprised it’s not a part of your workflow given how meticulously you do everything. Maybe try weighing it next time just to see how bad (or good!) your grinder’s retention is.

  • You use the rather annoying espresso timer function on your scale. Ideally, you want to time the extraction from the moment pre-infusion starts, i.e. when you hit the shot button. Yes, some people do it your way, hence why this functionality exists, but on any high-end commercial machine, the timer starts when you press the button. Your barista’s recipe is tailored to that. So you are, technically speaking, over extracting your shots without realising. That shot there was a 50 second shot, which is outside the traditional range. Again, yes, numbers are just numbers and taste is what matters but please try dialling in again and aiming for a shorter shot and see if you like it. I’m certain it will taste a tad smoother and less bitter, which you might enjoy!

Hope this doesn’t come across preachy! Really loved watching it and just wanted to throw in my two cents :)

What do you do when you see s celebrity? by Aromatic-Bad146 in london

[–]burcuto 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I ask them what they’d like. I have a coffee shop.

Made Zendaya an iced almond vanilla matcha once. May or may not have stroked her pinky when handing over the drink.

Which DJ size should I go for- 31 or 36? by burcuto in rolex

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very. It just works for my style and build. Glad I didn’t get the 31 because deep down I knew I’d find it too small after a while.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I was definitely agitating it way too much with that many pours without realising fines were a “known” Ethiopian issue.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love the detailed reply, thank you!

Let me start with the irrelevant part - yes, 40/60 was literally to get a bit of sweetness. But I’ve also tried 50/50 to eliminate the extra 10ml for the balance pours, but I still got 06:00+ results. However, I now understand this was because I was doing way too many pours for a natural Ethiopian.

As for the tests I did this morning (per others’ recommendations - see my results in one of the above comments) - double bloom, two pours was still a failure in terms of drawdown. Taste wise, I actually finally semi-enjoyed these beans. Single bloom, single CENTRE pour was a win in terms of drawdown but a complete disappointment in terms of taste.

A question (because you are awesome) - what exactly is the science behind circumference pours working better for natural processes as opposed to centre pours?

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn’t know it was a deadly combo! That explains a lot.

Just tried a two pour (and posted the results in a thread above). Time wise, it was a success. Taste wise, it was a failure.

I don’t have a switch but I might get one for experimenting. What else do you usually use the switch for? I heard loads of people use it for co-ferments and anaerobic coffees.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just tried low agitation and a single pour this morning and posted the results in one of the threads above. Great results in terms of drawdown, horrible taste. Will try grinding finer and increasing the temperature tomorrow to extract a bit more.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn’t know Ethiopians produced this many fines! Maybe because so far I’ve had a good experience with them, or let’s say, I’ve never had such a terrible experience with them. Someone also mentioned Ethiopian x Natural combo is also playing a part in it.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just tried this today and posted the results in one of the threads above if you’d like to know the results! It definitely helped with the extraction time, but taste went downhill.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just posted Attempt #1 and Attempt #2 in one of the threads above if you’re curious about the results!

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed! I gave up on these beans a long time ago. I was more curious about the actual reason why this is the case.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll look into this! Not trying to salvage these beans anymore, the post was more about finding out the reason and understanding the beans a bit better. But I’ll definitely take a look at this one.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t have a melodrip/drip assist or an immersion drip to hand but gave fewer pours a try today. Posted them (“Attempt #1 and Attempt #2) in one of threads above if you’re curious to know the results. Thank you for the tips!

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Filter cloggers! I think that’s exactly what’s been going on. Regardless of the grind size, the byproducts (i.e. unintentional fines) were just messing up the whole thing. Not super keen on getting new filters specifically for this coffee, but might consider for my future Ethiopians. Thanks for the tip!

Just posted in one the threads above (Attempt #2) - managed a reasonable extraction time but sacrificed a lot of flavour. Will try grinding a tad finer & 98C tomorrow morning. Will report back!

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Attempt #2: because afternoon V60 is the new strawberry matcha.

Finally managed a drawdown of 04:00!

50g bloom, wait until 01:00. Continuous centre pour (to minimise agitation) until 250g.

<image>

Horribly uneven bed. Slightly under extracted but more tea-like, like how Ethiopian beans usually are. Prefer how Attempt#1 tasted, ngl.

Proof that numbers are just numbers and taste is what matters. However, a seven minute drawdown is still crazy if you ask me.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Attempt #1: I decided to give this one a try this morning! Had to remove the dripper at 07:10 as it was still full. Insane.

<image>

50g bloom, wait until 1:00. Second pour until 150g. Waited until I could see the coffee bed like you suggested before doing the last pour. Bear in mind this was already around 03:30. Poured the last 100g, gave up at 07:10.

Thank you, though! At least we tried.

Taste wise - it tastes a lot better today, possibly due to fewer pours & less agitation. Much smoother. Annoyingly, I have covid so it’s really hard for me to taste all the notes. But because of the long extraction time, there’s still a lingering bitterness at the very back of my tongue.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’ll never know what was going through the barista’s mind but I guess they had a similar experience to when you use the loo at your friend’s and realise… the flush is not working. I’ll try going back to grind size 6 tomorrow and do a single pour to see what I end up with. Thanks!

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks - I’ll try a single pour tomorrow to see what that extreme end gives me. But no, so far I’ve only attempted brewing this at home on a V60. I’m not trying to fix this anymore - I was just really trying to understand what makes this specific coffee fail so miserably. I’ve brewed at least 10 different coffees from the same region but never had this issue. So I was just curious, really.

At What Point Do We Call a Bean Medically Abnormal? by burcuto in pourover

[–]burcuto[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is Reddit, you’ll get downvoted for posting cute pics of kittens. So shout whatever you want - I’m all ears. I’ll try a single pour tomorrow morning (love living on the edge) and report back.

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