# Does this espresso look 'correct'?



## jryans10 (Nov 16, 2012)

Hi,

Just received my un-pressurised basket for my Gaggia Classic today and went to pour a double shot. Took some photos, just wanted to get your feedback on if it looks correct or not.









Thanks







.


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## tribs (Feb 21, 2012)

Hi jryans10

What was your dose weight, shot duration and beans?

First thoughts are crema looks quite dark (camera lighting?) and presuming you used a double shot dose 14-20g I'd expect to get nearly half the volume you did. How did it taste?


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## jryans10 (Nov 16, 2012)

tribs said:


> Hi jryans10
> 
> What was your dose weight, shot duration and beans?
> 
> First thoughts are crema looks quite dark (camera lighting?) and presuming you used a double shot dose 14-20g I'd expect to get nearly half the volume you did. How did it taste?


As for dose weight I'm not too sure because I have a doserless grinder. Basically I was grinding into the filter and shook, then filled it up and overfilled a bit then used my finger to distribute the excess and push the excess into the bin.

The duration was around 25 seconds, but the thing I noticed was that it took much longer to actually start pouring after I flicked the switch. The crema did have some dark black stripes though.

As for the taste, it tasted slightly bitter, not as much as I used to get with a pressurised basket though.

Thanks.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

input?

output?

taste?

It looks ok to me


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## jryans10 (Nov 16, 2012)

Sorry the beans are freshly roasted Jailbreak from Has Bean.


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## jimrobo (Aug 5, 2011)

Thats way too much volume than I'd extract. Unless you have a huge basket hiding under there


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## jryans10 (Nov 16, 2012)

jimrobo said:


> Thats way too much volume than I'd extract. Unless you have a huge basket hiding under there


Aaah right. I just thought a double basket would do 2 ounces? How much would you do with a double basket?

Thanks.


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## jimrobo (Aug 5, 2011)

It depends what your dose in is but typically I would fill just under one of those hasbean shot glasses


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## jryans10 (Nov 16, 2012)

jimrobo said:


> It depends what your dose in is but typically I would fill just under one of those hasbean shot glasses


Okay thanks







. Could that explain why my shots have a bitter taste to them?

Thanks.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

jryans10 said:


> Could that explain why my shots have a bitter taste to them?


Check the delivery temp of your water. Bitterness can suggest you need to use a lower temp. However before you do that do try the advice about 'weighing in' - 'weighing out'.

You seem to be delivering a lot of espresso in the pictures.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

I always thought the Has Bean glasses were single shot (roughly ~30ml)?

It doesn't look too bad considering you've only had the machine for a few days! When you say fresh how fresh are the beans, a few days, a week, a few weeks?

The advice about scales is good, you can pick a set up for under £5 on ebay and then easily weigh your dose in for consistency and your shot out.


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## jimrobo (Aug 5, 2011)

you really need to do a short video of your extraction and measure your weight in and weight out and time.


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## jimrobo (Aug 5, 2011)

aaronb said:


> I always thought the Has Bean glasses were single shot (roughly ~30ml)?


There is a 40 ml line towards the top with some headroom so I would say they are 50 ml


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

I think it looks about right, crema could be even darker though. I thought 2oz for a double ~19g is about right?

Waiitt.. Is that 20ml or 30?


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

May well get shot down in flames but this was union aceh sumatra.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

looks nice to me!


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## origmarm (Mar 7, 2012)

My recollection in ML is that a double should be around 40-50ml (i.e. approx 1.5-2oz). I remember there is a table out there used in a variety of books...

EDIT: This one:


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

If it tastes bitter then the most likely cause is that too much of the coffee has been dissolved into the brew water (it is over extracted). This can be caused by any combination of a number of factors including high water temperature, long brew ratio (too much water to ground coffee) and the grind fineness. Looking at the photos, the crema looks a bit pale (sometimes indicates the extraction is not quite right). At what point did you stop the pour - were the glasses full? The glasses look like 2 Fl. Oz. capacity so each glass should hold a double espresso. Most people on here usually aim to produce a double espresso weighing around 1.65 times the weight of ground coffee used which can be anywhere between 1-2 Fl. Oz. by volume depending upon the crema produced.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

I really don't understand this fixation with doubles. It got to the point it is almost suggested that if someone pulls two singles they are doing something wrong.

Anyway, the coffee looks fine. (which doesn't say anything about the taste of it, as others have already explained)

Nothing wrong with making two singles with a double basket. That is what it is for.


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

Wando64 said:


> I really don't understand this fixation with doubles. It got to the point it is almost suggested that if someone pulls two singles they are doing something wrong.
> 
> Anyway, the coffee looks fine. (which doesn't say anything about the taste of it, as others have already explained)
> 
> Nothing wrong with making two singles with a double basket. That is what it is for.


Nothing is wrong with singles, just it's much harder to get the distribution, dose, time right.

That and I can't think why i'd want a single in the first place.


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## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

Wando64 said:


> I really don't understand this fixation with doubles. It got to the point it is almost suggested that if someone pulls two singles they are doing something wrong.
> 
> Anyway, the coffee looks fine. (which doesn't say anything about the taste of it, as others have already explained)
> 
> Nothing wrong with making two singles with a double basket. That is what it is for.


We're not saying splitting a double into two singles is wrong, at all.

Using a single shot basket to pull one single espresso is more difficult than pulling a consistent double espresso due to the nature and design of the single basket. You've misunderstood.

Michael

Fun in a Cup Coffee Training


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

Iirc it's why they pull singles in the wbc, because it's bloody difficult to pull consistently great shots? Or so I seem to remember, may be wrong though.


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

The Crema colour should be a hazelnut brown to red chestnut if you follow the traditional guidelines and crema can solve all your coffee ill's!! https://www.sweetmarias.com/library/content/espresso-almighty-crema but that would seam to be the old school version of how it should be because the more i read the more it becomes apparent there is no perfect crema colour/ weight to extraction ratio or in-fact any figures that if rigidly adhered to will produce the perfect coffee, there are only good starting points to work from, because every bean is different. here is a bit more insight to what crema can & cannot do.http://coffeegeek.com/opinions/barista/10-14-2006

if you spend to much time worrying about what it looks like you could miss out on some lovely shots, and learning what it should taste like and how each variable can subtly change the extraction is more important, i still weigh the beans occasionally but i have found that if i set the grinder timer about right and just fill to the rim of the 22g VST its is around 21.6g to 22.3g over about an eight day period and with three different beans, the only one this has not worked with was Indonesia Sulawesi Kalossi as the beans are about 50% bigger then normal and my pore little MC2 was struggling with them.

Grind, Temp, yield and extraction pressure, as from some of the threads on this suggest that if your pressure is over 11bar you can over extract that way.


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## rmat (Aug 25, 2012)

If it's too bitter try increasing dose a little. That said without weighing you won't get any consistency at all. Another thing is to look at the pour as three stages, ASB - acid, sugar and bitter (everything happening before blonding). You can then avoid the portion of the pour that is giving you trouble.


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