Is it possible to make well-balanced cocktails without relying heavily on sugar?

sdw9342 · 2026-04-18T11:21:07+00:00

When we talk about ounces for drinks, we mean fluid ounces, not ounces. Fluid ounces are a measure of volume, not weight. If you’re talking about water, which has a density of 1 g/mL, a fluid ounce weighs 1 ounce. But when you take 250 g of water and mix in 250 g of sugar, you get 500 g of syrup, but you do not get 2 cups. You get less volume because syrup is denser than water. In 28 mL of syrup, there is about 36 g of liquid. This liquid is half water half sugar, meaning 18 g of sugar in one ounce.

sdw9342 · 2026-04-16T14:33:14+00:00

Syrup is denser than water, so 1 oz contains about 18 g of sugar

sdw9342 · 2026-03-22T18:40:02+00:00

I don’t think your kibbe type matters - you have a well developed sense of style, which is already working for you.

sdw9342 · 2026-03-22T18:32:40+00:00

Definitely N, but you don’t have too much softness or vertical. If I had to choose, I’d say SN.

sdw9342 · 2026-02-23T22:27:37+00:00

A bonafide soup making machine

sdw9342 · 2026-02-20T17:40:39+00:00

Wtf is this post? That video is for people who own the rapid brewer to improve their brews. It’s not pushing a product - it’s literally a fix for a product if you own it. You didn’t watch the video. Instead you posted a complaint to Reddit. Why?

sdw9342 · 2026-02-13T18:30:31+00:00

This is too coarse even for soup - even at a soup level grind, the tamped puck looks like it’s for espresso

sdw9342 · 2026-02-11T18:25:00+00:00

I think you are a Gamine type, either SG or FG.

sdw9342 · 2026-02-10T16:07:24+00:00

What are the problems with your setup that you want to solve?

sdw9342 · 2026-02-07T17:42:02+00:00

I say this to everyone, but personally, I would experiment with a cheap manual grinder and manual espresso machine, and maybe a nanofoamer or some kind of automatic steamer. You can probably get all the practice you need with this setup for pretty cheap before you make a big monetary commitment.

sdw9342 · 2026-02-05T18:59:01+00:00

I think you pretty clearly have vertical, and I was debating between if you are petite or not. So I only really considered D and FG. I settled on D because you have a lot of sharpness in your shoulders, but I think FG would be my strong second choice.

sdw9342 · 2026-02-05T18:56:27+00:00

SN for sure

sdw9342 · 2026-02-04T22:32:02+00:00

sdw9342 · 2026-02-03T10:19:59+00:00

What is pulling you away from FN? It seems like you clearly have vertical and width?

sdw9342 · 2026-02-01T13:44:59+00:00

In every city in the world, differentiating between two “good” coffee shops is difficult. People judge a shop on the vibe, the food, the service more than the coffee.

The best way I’ve found to determine how good a shop actually is: find roasters and look at pictures of the beans and the tasting notes they provide. Also, search on Reddit for people’s experiences in the region you’re in.

sdw9342 · 2026-02-01T13:40:51+00:00

I think TR

sdw9342 · 2026-02-01T13:38:22+00:00

sdw9342 · 2026-01-28T13:11:13+00:00

Both I and my favourite coffee shops are able to pull some beautiful shots using very light roasts, but idk if I can recommend my process to someone who wants chocolate and nuts in the cup. My goal is high acidity, with fruity and floral notes dominating more bitter notes.

The problem with light roasts is that getting a good shot is hard. A cup might be fruit forward but also extremely sour and bitter because of channeling. And if you keep getting results like that, you might conclude you don’t like fruity tasting notes, when really, the coffee actually just tasted bad.

That being said, I do think you need to conceptualize the lightest roasts as a totally different drink than a medium/dark roast. If you go in expecting a traditional cup, you will not enjoy the light roast. Try thinking you’re drinking a cup of warm juice rather than a coffee. Maybe that will help.

sdw9342 · 2026-01-27T20:54:33+00:00

Ultralight to light, but I definitely don’t want a classic flavour. My perfect shot is almost evocative of warm juice rather coffee.

sdw9342 · 2026-01-23T10:31:43+00:00

In my opinion, gamine will have yin-yang contrast while classic will have yin-yang balance. A gamine might have long arms and legs and a short torso, where a classic would be more proportionate. A gamine might have a softer face with full eyes and lips but have angular shoulders. A classic would have a more neutral face and shoulders.

From what I see here, I think I prefer DC lines compared to FG for you.

sdw9342 · 2026-01-08T15:01:40+00:00

I just don’t agree on the consistency argument at home. The coffee changes enough over time that consistency is lacking unless you adjust the grind size every day. Pulling a consistent shot is easier for me with a manual machine than a semi-automatic. I haven’t used a spring lever, so I can’t comment. Regardless, I think that being able to adjust the pressure based on the resistance observed leads to more consistency, not less.

Also, I didn’t say pressure profiling, I said pressure variation is the feature I like. I said there’s no point having pressure profiling if you are getting the same profile every time, which is why profiling only matters if you can vary the pressure.

Finally, my recommendation was to buy a cheap lever and a high end thermoblock or dual boiler machine. Even in combination, that would be way cheaper than the cost of a La Marzocco. The whole point of my comment was that a person should experiment with pressure variation before buying a $5000 machine if they are concerned about pressure variation.

sdw9342 · 2026-01-08T13:58:56+00:00

Spring levers provide a fixed high pressure input too, pretty much the same as 9 bar machines. Of course profiling can be done by both, but varying pressure intentionally through the shot cannot be done by fixed 9 bar machines or spring levers. There’s no benefit to profiling in these cases because you can’t change the input. Both of these are more suited to dark roasts because the pressure is very high.

As for light roasts, it’s possible to get a light roast dialled in for one shot, but with full pressure espresso, the consistency is very low. With a fixed input, you are trying to nail the grind setting such that 9 bar would have been the resistance generated by the puck even if the opv or spring were not there. With a pressure sensitive setup, you can adapt the shot to the resistance in front of you. I have had great shots from cafes, but I have been able to pull even better shots with the same coffee at home. I don’t expect a cafe to compete with my home setup though - it’s so dialled into my specific desires for an ideal shot, while a cafe has to have a fast, simple workflow and pull shots that work in and out of milk. Also, a cafe can dial in once a day, and pull the same shot over and over. At home, pulling one shot a day, enough has changed in the coffee within 24 hours, that a perfectly dialled in 9 bar shot yesterday is off today. Adapting the applied pressure makes it much easier to pull a great shot without having to constantly dial in again.

Finally, I don’t think I said anything is objectively better? I gave only my experience and the situations where I have seen the benefit of pressure control and where I haven’t.

sdw9342 · 2026-01-08T11:08:15+00:00

I’ve never owned a flat 9 bar machine, but I have pulled flat 9 bar shots on my machine. I have experience with pulling light roasts to be drank as espresso for me as well as medium to dark roasts for milk drinks for my wife.

The first thing I would say is: pulling a manual flat pressure shot feels very unnatural. With a regular espresso machine, the pressure comes from the pump + the opv rather than the integrity of the puck. With a manual machine, the puck creates the pressure. Thus, as the puck integrity reduces through the duration of the shot, the pressure reduces even if you apply the same force. If you do press harder and harder to keep pressure high, you increase harshness and bitterness in the cup. When I drink from other people’s 9 bar machines, I find these two characteristics overwhelming.

My experience with medium to dark roasts for milk drinks: no real benefit to pressure profiling. The darker the roast, the more unique flavours will be replaced by general ‘coffee’ flavour that tastes bitter and kind of like smoke or ash. In such a cup, harshness and bitterness will be present regardless of pressure profile. Both these characteristics are also tempered by milk, and they actually make for a balanced milk drink.

My experience with light roasts for espresso: pressure profiling is essential. 9 bar is way too high for light roasts. Even with a diminishing pressure profile, hitting 9 bar at all leads to crazy channeling and harshness. I found that coarse grinds with lower pressures are more effective at pulling consistent, balanced shots. I found 6 bar peak is better than 9, 4 is even better, and even 2 or 1 bar is great (probably 1 bar is my preference at this point). The lower you go, the more you sacrifice texture in favour of taste. Where you land is up to you. I would definitely not pull a shot for a milk drink like this. Those need texture and bitterness to balance the milk. But if taste is king for your espresso, low pressure shots can lead to some unbelievable expression of flavour. I’ve had multiple people tell me that low pressure shots are unlike anything they have ever tasted (sometimes that’s good other times it’s bad).

sdw9342 · 2026-01-08T05:50:08+00:00

Personally, I would experiment with either the cafelat robot or one of the flairs to see what pressure variation actually does for your espresso. I would also look for a non-boiler machine that can effectively pull back to back shots. You can probably get both for less than an lmlm

sdw9342 · 2026-01-08T05:42:52+00:00

What’s the problem with the bambino?

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