The Boyfriend has some of the finest espresso pulling skills I’ve ever been privy to. He’s got it down to an art, really.
There is an espresso machine in the break room at work, as well as free freshly ground beans just up for the taking. I couldn’t begin to make a shot if my life depended on it. All I know is that you tamp down the beans once they are ground. That’s it. You think some of his knowledge would have at least rubbed off a little.
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I explained it to you in great detail once, but you were reading something and went deaf.
From my former life as a barista I can offer only the advice that it should take 13-17 seconds to pull, and that you need to put it in your drink before it goes completely black. Well, I could go into all the terms (such as the ever-popular “crema,”) but I won’t.
“Espresso pulling.” Is that what the young people are calling it now? ;-)
Based solely on Holly’s extraction time suggestion, I’m going to guess that she worked at Starbucks. I would pour a 13-second shot down the drain.
So how long should it take to pull it? And what exactly does pulling it mean? (In regards to the coffee, of course.)
^ I’m not trying to be a smart-ass, either, I promise. I really don’t know how it’s supposed to be done.
“pulling” comes from the older machines that had a lever that you would pull down to force the water through the grounds. Most modern machines have a pump to force the water through, so instead of pulling anything, the water comes out after you push a little button.
The “best” extraction time varies depending on the beans used, but at Portland Brew, for example, we aimed for 22-30 seconds. That’s the time it takes the pump to shove 2 ounces of 200 degree water through 18 grams of compressed grounds. You can vary the extraction time by changing the amount of grounds used (more grounds take longer), by changing the pressure with which you “tamp” the grounds down into the portafilter (the thingy with a handle that comes off of the machine), or by changing the grind level (finer grounds restrict the water flow more, giving higher extraction times).
The way we trained was to get very consistent at dosing (putting the right amount of grounds in the portafilter) and tamping (cramming the grounds down into the portafilter with about 30lbs of pressure), and to then only change the grind to get the desired extraction. Too many people “set it and forget it”, which is a shame, because extraction times can vary from something as simple as the room getting warmer or more humid during your shift. Good baristas will make small adjustments often, and will taste their shots often.
On those old-school machines, the operator can vary the pressure of the water during the extraction, which takes crazy skills that only someone like this guy has. Some of the cutting-edge espresso weirdos have modified modern pump-driven machines to be able to make these adjustments.
Holy shit—so that’s why those do-it-yourself espresso makers never make coffee that tastes as awesome as it does from a coffee shop.
Did you/do you work at the Portland Brew on Murphy Road? I saw a pic of you on Britney’s Flickr site and thought you looked familiar.
Kevin: guilty as charged. And now I know why I almost always like other coffee shops’ drinks more than the ones I used to make…
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