How much coffee powder is needed for espresso? How to drink espresso powder? How much coffee liquid can be extracted from 20g of powder?
When brewing coffee, we all know that the thickness of the grind is very important. If you don't pay attention, the grind size is not correct or the grinding is uneven, the coffee will easily be under-extracted or over-extracted. Compared with hand brewing, cold brewing and other methods, the grinding degree of espresso is much finer and requires more precise adjustment to grasp the taste of espresso.
How fine is the grind for espresso coffee?
Regarding the thickness of Pour over(V60) coffee, Front Street will borrow China’s No. 20 standard sieve, which can be calibrated by how much coffee powder particles pass through a fixed size mesh. Since espresso coffee is extracted under pressure for a short time, it also means that it will amplify all the characteristics, the positive flavors will be amplified, and the defects will also be amplified, so the grinding requirements are even more stringent. Coffee powder is finer than fine salt. The thickness and uniformity cannot be observed with the naked eye, and it is even more unrealistic to use a sieve.
If the grind is slightly finer, water will pass through the powder layer more slowly, making it easier to over-extract. If the grinding degree is slightly coarser, water will easily pass through the powder layer and the extraction will be insufficient. Such a deviation may only be a difference of 0.1 grinding scale. Therefore, we usually observe the flow rate and taste of espresso during the brewing process to determine the appropriate thickness range.
Choose the right coffee beans
In fact, in addition to grasping various parameters when making Italian coffee, Front Street believes that choosing the right coffee beans is also very important, because it is the key to determining whether the coffee tastes good or not. If you want to replicate the same style of Italian coffee in a coffee shop at home, it is recommended to use the Front Street Classic Italian Coffee Blend. This is a recipe composed of three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam, so it has the caramel aroma of American coffee and the wild tonality of Asian coffee. In order to maximize the contrast, To bring out the mellow aroma of coffee, we also hope that everyone can easily extract the rich and dense coffee oil. Front Street Coffee uses dark roasting, which is very suitable for making American style diluted with water or latte with milk. You can purchase and place orders at Front Street Taobao store or Front Street Tmall flagship store.
How to first determine the appropriate grinding range?
When we get a pack of unfamiliar coffee beans, the first thing we need to do if we want to make delicious coffee is to determine the grind size. If our grinding equipment has not been used before and we don't know how to determine the suitable scale range, we can first use a small amount of coffee beans to debug it in different scale ranges. When the coffee powder is ground to a thickness that feels like flour, you can feel the coffee powder with your hands. It should be soft and not rough.
At this point, we can apply the common formula for espresso extraction. Front Street recommends using a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2, that is, 1 gram of coffee powder extracts about 2 grams of coffee liquid, and the time is between 20 and 30 seconds. For example, Front Street uses a powder bowl with a capacity of 20 grams, which means it holds 20 grams of coffee powder and extracts 40 grams of coffee liquid. If the time is less than 20 seconds, the flow rate is too fast; when the concentrate flow rate exceeds 30 seconds, the flow rate is too slow.
A fast flow rate means that the water has too little time to pass through the coffee powder, and the taste of the coffee is often bland or sour. At this time, fine tuning is required. Adjusting the grinding scale usually relies on daily accumulated experience. If the difference from the target time is less than 5 seconds, you can adjust it in 0.2 steps at a time. If the time difference is too large, you can be bolder and adjust it in 0.5-1 steps. Even if the time changes from too long to too short, you can lock the grinding scale range and slowly reduce the range. In the same way, if the flow rate is too slow, it means that the coffee powder is too fine, and it is difficult for the water flow to pass through the powder layer. The coffee will easily taste bitter, so it needs to be coarsened.
How to find the correct grinding scale?
The applied formula mentioned above by Front Street is just to allow us to quickly find the suitable grinding range, but it does not mean that the espresso extracted in this way will taste good. In the end, we still need to combine the characteristics and taste of the coffee beans to judge whether the extraction is qualified.
If the espresso tastes obviously burnt and bitter, but the concentration is moderate, it may be because the time is too long, resulting in excessive release of bitter substances, and the grinding degree can be slightly adjusted. If the oil on the upper layer of the coffee liquid is lighter in color and thinner, it may be that there is too much extraction in the tail section. You can reduce the weight of the coffee liquid, that is, extract less. It is recommended to increase the powder to liquid ratio to between 1:1.5 and 1:1.7. When the espresso has a rich flavor but a short aftertaste, you can extract more coffee liquid and try adjusting the ratio to 1:2.5.
Finally, the extraction formula is just a reference. If you are framed by it, it will be difficult to adjust the good flavor. In the end, you will have to constantly adjust the grinding degree and waste coffee beans. The ratio of 1:2 is not the golden ratio that is completely suitable for this kind of coffee beans. Sometimes it may taste better at 1:1.7, and sometimes it may taste better at 1:2.5. The time is not necessarily limited to 25-30 seconds. Sometimes 36 seconds or 24 seconds is the best state for this coffee bean. Front Street is a daily product produced by the store, so the adjustment of parameters will be based on daily experience accumulation. If the cup volume at home is low and it is difficult to grasp, Front Street recommends recording it and summarizing the relationship between extraction parameters and flavor performance. This will help us adjust quickly and save unnecessary waste.
How to drink espresso?
Before the formal tasting, we'd better take a sip of ice water. Because the taste of espresso is indeed too concentrated, taking a sip of ice water before the formal tasting can clean your mouth and increase our perception of the flavor of the coffee.
After rinsing our mouths with ice water, we first took out a spoon to stir the espresso! There are two reasons. One is that the concentration of coffee is not the same during the dripping process. We need to stir the coffee concentration to evenly disperse it. Otherwise, the coffee liquid at the bottom will be very rich and the surface will be very thin;
The second step is to let the fat be incorporated into the coffee! The reason why many friends feel a very bitter taste when drinking a sip is because there are certain fine powders hidden in the oil. These fine powders not only make the coffee bitter, but also make the coffee mellow. By stirring, not only can the advantages of oil be better integrated into the coffee liquid, but the bitter taste brought by the fine powder can also be dispersed.
Of course, it’s okay not to stir, so you’ll have a richer layered experience. But if you are just getting started, Front Street recommends stirring to reduce the bitter taste in the oil.
Then, we need to take a big gulp and let the evenly stirred espresso rush into the mouth, filling and wrapping the tongue. This allows us to fully feel the silky touch brought by the oil, which is very comfortable! If you use lightly roasted SOE instead of dark roasted beans, then because the beans are roasted shallowly, less oil will be extracted and the taste will be relatively thin.
Then start feeling the aftertaste of the coffee. After swallowing, we closed our mouths and breathed back, enjoying the taste that came back from our throats and the aroma of coffee that kept blooming in our mouths! Finally, take a sip of water and feel the sweetness of the coffee on your taste buds. Don’t be too comfortable! !
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
