# Espresso - Grooming



## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Side by side testing last year, with a naked filter & lots of coffee, led me to the conclusion that a convex tamper and a decent grinder is as much faffing as is needed for an even extraction, not even a tap down of the portafilter needed to settle the bed.

When I say decent grinder I mean either 1) A doser to declump the grinds or 2) a high-end 'on demand' model. Both 1 or 2 requiring a central , even mound of coffee.

My experimenting was based on an e61 group-head (by default very lengthy pre-infusion) and the very top of the tree Mazzer 83mm flat burr grinder with new-ish titanium burrs & heavily modified doser....this is single dosing too.

Dosing was always 18g in a VST basket +/- 0.5g. WDT if anything created channelling. Leveling the coffee bed appeared to have created donut extractions & didnt suit convex quite as much. I noted my easy technique required a pretty fine grind..

So I was happy , tasty coffee, minimum fuss, lovely extractions...or was I....

The last coffee to grace my portafilter was the coffee used by Colin Harmon in the world barista championships (placing 4th). Being a pacamara and a fairly light roast decent extractions might have the odds stacked against you. I found the extraction would start evenly and then after about 8-10 seconds of steady pour it would suddenly blonde and gush uncontrolably. I noted this coffee did sit a little high in the basket and adjusted to 17g, pours looked a little better but lost out on flavour and mouthfeel. i was about to give up and resign the coffee to brewed duties....

Counter-intuitively I decided to up the dose to 18.5g and make the grinder loads coarser. Then a thought occured to me, I could pack more coffee in the basket without hitting the showerscreen by grooming...yes grooming the coffee bed. Knowing what I had witnessed before I didnt want a completely flat bed, so decided to groom in a circular motion as per Maxwell in the UKBC finals. I did this purposely leaving the centre higher than the edges but the edges still filled in with coffee. I then tamped as normal and noted the 18.5 sat in the basket to the same degree as 17g had done previously.

So I pulled the shot...first drips hit the cup 2-3 seconds later than normal...but then a steady flow, which went on, and on, and on and blonded more gradually. Result in the cup was better too.

Ive decided to employ this from now on:

-start with 18g MINIMUM in an 18g VST not quite as fine

-start the grinder and rapidly thwack with doser

-even central mound of coffee

-groom in circular motion with forefinger and thumb leaving centre higher than edges

-single tamp, polish.

So far so good, results have been excellent.


----------

