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When it comes to brewing coffee, many people like to ask how many grams of coffee powder are used and what is the ratio of powder to water. At the end of the day, what people care about is the extraction rate of the coffee. You need to know that 70% of the substances in coffee beans are insoluble in water, and the remaining 30% only requires a small amount of ideal flavor substances.
Compared with Pour over(V60) coffee, the flavor of espresso is more concentrated, which means that the defective flavor of coffee beans will be magnified to the maximum extent. This is also a characteristic of espresso. Therefore, if you want to drink a cup of latte or cappuccino with excellent flavor, in addition to using the correct milk, almost perfectly extracted espresso coffee as the base is also indispensable.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) once explained espresso as follows: Extract 45 ml of single-serve espresso coffee at 9-10 atmospheres of pressure, 7-9 g of coffee powder, 88-92 ℃ water temperature, and 22-28 seconds. However, if you go to a specialty cafe and ask the barista about the extraction parameters of espresso, you will find that the amount of coffee powder used and the amount of extraction are different, but there are huge differences with the above interpretation standards.
In the old way of making espresso, the amount nearly matched the capacity of the powder bowl, and the ratio of powder to water was closer to 1:2. However, such data is for reference only.
The degree of roasting of coffee beans in the past and consumers' understanding of coffee flavor are very different from today. In the past, people were more inclined to darkly roasted espresso beans and nutty, cocoa-flavored espresso, and even applauded the burnt bitter flavor.
Nowadays, as the third wave of specialty coffee is booming, people are more eager to taste the aroma of flowers and fruits in coffee. The coffee beans are roasted to a lighter degree and the same water temperature is used, and there will be a gap in taste. The extraction parameters of espresso are closer: 18 g of coffee powder, extraction liquid weight of about 30 g, water temperature of 92-94°C, and extraction time of 25-27 seconds. It can be noted that the judgment is converted from the volume of the coffee liquid to the more accurate actual weight of the coffee liquid. This is because various factors such as brewing pressure, roasting depth, and freshness of coffee will affect the amount of crema. If judged by volume, it is very unreliable.
In recent years, the manufacturing technology of coffee machines has advanced rapidly. Coffee machines with variable pressure and pressure profiling have been invented one after another. The brewing pressure is no longer fixed at 9 atmospheres, whether it is the introduction of pre-infusion or the gentle ramp out of extraction. pressure), various pressure curves that exceed the old rules have been continuously experimented and tested. Even the same coffee beans exhibit different flavor profiles under different pressure curves.
When making espresso coffee, Front Street needs to consider factors such as grinding degree, extraction pressure, water temperature, amount of powder, time, and extraction volume.
[Amount of powder] Generally, the amount of coffee powder is determined based on the capacity of the powder bowl. For example, the capacity of the powder bowl used by Front Street is 20 grams. Front Street will make slight adjustments to the amount, but it will not exceed the capacity. If there is too little coffee powder, it may be under-extracted; if there is too much coffee powder, the brewing head will not be able to close.
[Water temperature] The higher the water temperature, the more and faster the substances in the coffee will come out; vice versa. The water temperature for espresso extraction is generally hot water that is about to boil.
[Time] The sour and bitter substances in coffee are the most obvious, and the sour substances precipitate faster than the bitter substances.
[Extraction Pressure] In ancient espresso production, the extraction pressure was extremely close to atmospheric pressure. The extracted espresso had a thin taste and no trace of oil. With the improvement of espresso coffee making technology, since the emergence of Faema E61, there has been a pressure of 9 Pa and rich oil.
[Grinding Level] The grinding level is a pain point for every barista. With different times, the air humidity will also change. If the coffee powder particles are too fine, the contact area between the hot water and the coffee powder particles will increase, and more substances will be extracted, which may easily lead to over-extraction.
When Front Street produces espresso, it adjusts the extraction parameters based on the temperature, humidity and roasting date of the espresso beans on that day, thereby extracting nearly perfect espresso. The extraction parameters are as follows:
Front Street concentrated extraction parameters:
Grinder: Galileo Q18
Grinding degree: 2.1
Coffee machine: Pegasus E98
Pressure: 9 bar±2
Temperature: 90.5~96°C
Time: 20~30 sec
Amount of powder: 19.7g (double espresso)
Extraction volume: 35ml
The coffee concentrate extracted by FrontStreet Coffee after parameter adjustment shows a rich whiskey aroma, with rich flavors such as vanilla and cream, with berry acidity in the entrance, long dark chocolate aftertaste, and a viscous and smooth taste.
It has such a strong wine aroma because the espresso beans used in FrontStreet Coffee stores are a carefully blended Sunflower Warm Blend. This blend of coffee beans is composed of 70% Honduran sherry and 30% Ethiopian sun-dried red cherries.
Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blended Coffee Beans
Origin: Honduras & Ethiopia
Varieties: Kaduura, Kaduai, Pacas, local native species
Treatment method: Washing & Sun-drying
Seventy percent of the Honduran sherry is carefully washed and then placed in sherry whiskey barrels for low-temperature fermentation for dozens of days, allowing the aromatic substances in the barrels to penetrate into the green coffee beans. Thirty percent of Ethiopian sun-dried red cherries bring the unique berry acidity of Ethiopia to this blended bean. The whole bean blend has a very pleasing flavor.
Some friends who have tasted the latte from FrontStreet Coffee find that the espresso from Front Street has a strong aroma of wine, and they can't help but want to drink espresso to find out. When Front Street serves espresso, it will be equipped with a small spoon and a glass of ice water. Friends who see this may want to ask, why is it served with ice water, and how to drink espresso correctly?
Front Street is here to explain to you the correct way to drink espresso. The existence of ice water is to allow friends to clean their mouths before tasting espresso, so as to better experience the flavor and taste. Before entering the coffee liquid, you can use a small spoon to check the grease or stir the whole cup of espresso to fully integrate the upper and lower layers of the coffee liquid, so that the touch is more balanced.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
