Trying to put my "money" where my mouth is, I've been doing updose experiments, trading off shots between 18g of coffee in a LM ridged basket and 18g of coffee in a generic triple basket. The coffee is Barry Jarrett's Decatur Street Blend pulled at 199F in the GS3.
In the LM basket it feels like a mildly "updosed" extraction. In other words, it's fairly close against the shower screen, but not crazy tight. In the triple basket, the 18g is a significantly underdosed extraction, requiring a finer Mazzer Mini grind setting by about 1.5 notches to maintain the same (~25 sec) shot timing.
I'm using a bottomless PF, cutting the shots off manually, getting about 28g of liquid espresso from the 18g of coffee. This makes the extraction ratio 28/18, or about 1.55. For you old-timers still measuring shots volumetrically, they're about 45ml (1.5 fl. oz.)
The nice thing about this experiment is that I'm pulling the same amount of liquid espresso from the same amount of ground coffee. The major variable is the clearance underneath the shower screen. What I'm NOT doing is increasing the amount of ground coffee in order to updose, because doing that will obviously result in a richer-tasting cup with a different balance.
Bottom line is, the "updosed" ("pressed") shots taste better to me.
Here's what Instaurator says about what I should be tasting: "A cup of espresso that has not been 'pressed' will have a slightly ashy characteristic and will be much thinner, more watery and slightly more astringent."
I taste the ashiness in the triple basket shots for sure. It has a harsher, negative impact on the shot. I really DON'T taste "thinner, more watery." Is that because:
1. my biological "tasting apparatus" isn't as good as Inny's?
2. Inny's updosed shots used more coffee to extract the same amount of liquid (ie, changed the extraction ratio)?
3. other factors (coffee, roast, northern vs. southern hemisphere, etc)?
4. I'm incompetent?
It'll be real interesting to read the second updosing article in the new Barista magazine. You know, the "Crying Game Issue" with Jay Caragay wearing a wig on the cover:
Andy,
ReplyDeleteDid the journalistic board offer you an incentive package... Publish X# of articles in 2 weeks and you get 12 minutes on the radio show?
Keep it up...(just a few more...)
Nick swore that, with a steady stream of posts, I'd be a contender for his 2006 "Most Overexposed Coffee Personality of the Year Award."
ReplyDeleteJay, Nick, you might want to check the audio levels on your podcast, they seem too low, and I've listened on multiple players.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting approach to this very same question might be to do this experiment with two very different coffees. Vivace Dolce and Stumptown Hairbender come to mind. In my experience Hairbender tastes like booty in a triple (18g) and Dolce tastes bland updosed in a double. The key is that they have both been optimized for the opposite methods.
ReplyDeletekyle
disclaimer:I have not tried this experiment, yet.
ReplyDeleteSince you should be able to bring the top of the espresso grinds inside the PF basket closer to the shower screen simply by tightening the PF in the group head- what seems like a more accurate way to test if "updosing" really works is by using the same amount of coffee •and• using the same grind setting and tamp pressure for each test. First, put the PF in the group head so that the handle is at 6 o'clock. Use a double filter basket and enough coffee so that the top of the puck is below the bottom of the shower screen. Taste that shot. Next, use the same amount of coffee and same tamp and same grind. But this time tighten the PF so that the top of the puck is touching the shower screen- now maybe the PF handle will be at 5 o'clock. Taste this shot.
It sounds like you are getting different flavor profile due to the change in grind coarseness. If you don't change the grind and simply tamp with more pressure to get the same shot time the variable of more pressure will be involved and ruin the experiment. I wish I would have read the original article in Barista Magazine but the term "Updosing" sounds to me like "correct dosing".
kyle, great suggestion, gives a possible insight into how blends are "optimized" for particular extraction conditions. Based on Schomer's writings, it would appear that he felt 3mm headspace was optimum, then worked with his blend under those conditions to make it taste best. I don't know what the Stumpies did, but perhaps it was a similar process, starting with a tendency towards less headspace.
ReplyDeleteSeems like, within limits, the blend can be tweaked to taste best under fixed conditions, or the conditions can be changed so the blend tastes best. Maybe roasters do the first, baristas do the second. If you're both a roaster and a barista, it gets complicated. :-0
isaac, I like your idea, a lot, although I'm not sure it'll yield enough of a headspace difference to test the updose method. My group gasket would need to be considerably softer in order to seal at 6 o'clock and still manage to tighten up to 5 o'clock. (Two gaskets of different thicknesses would work, though). Measurements on a LM pf show that an additional 1/12 turn should reduce headspace by 1 to 1.5 mm.
ReplyDeleteSome people say yes, the change in flavor is definitely due to the grind change, and that the whole point of updosing is to get the conditions right so that you can use a coarser grind.
I love this article.
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