# Blonding



## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Blonding or as autocorrect on the iPad says every time blending ,

i was was always under the impression this was a sign the extraction of an espresso was coming to end and all or most of the soluble content of the coffee had been extracted/exhausted , I am aware of the shot being made up of many parts and that if you separate the beginning middle and the end of the shot you can influence the outcome in the cup(s) .

it would be interesting to see if others used this an indicator or not and or if they thought this was a good or bad indicator of what the outcome may be .

i thing the variable here are immense as different types of coffee will have different colour characteristics and to rely on colour may be unreliable but never the less it is an indicator of the extraction and surely influenced by the amount of soluble 'stuff' ;-) that is removed/extracted.

be interested to see what others think so please chip in .

oh yeah and if you have bothered to read another one of my posts ...Levers rule!


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Thecatlinux said:


> oh yeah and if you have bothered to read another one of my posts ...Levers rule!


I concur


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

Yes, I'm just as perplexed over this. With bottomless PF and 18g VST dosed exactly, the extraction shows through after 4 or 5 seconds, dark and rich, and perfectly evenly distributed across the basket. But blonding starts far too early (about 5 to 10 secs later) and my shot invariably tastes bitter.

Actually, this isn't too big a problem for me as I don't take my coffee black and the bitterness busts through the sweet milk to provide an extremely nice balance. But it still oughtn't to blond that early.

Maz Royal/Verona.

Tony.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Thecatlinux said:


> Blonding or as autocorrect on the iPad says every time blending ,
> 
> i was was always under the impression this was a sign the extraction of an espresso was coming to end and all or most of the soluble content of the coffee had been extracted/exhausted...


Most of your extraction happens by about half your target weight of a good shot. An ideal extraction is when you have an ideal mass of solids in the cup (relative to dose)...if "most" of your ideal target is all you are after... then fine, but all your shots will be underextracted...some coffees will fare better than others in this state.

To extract "all" of the solids would mean pulling half pint shots...even then you probably won't get everything. Your shot will look like frothy urine for most of the pull.

The soluble stuff extracted is 'soluble coffee solids'...that's pretty much all we are focussed on at this point, whether beans vary chemically due to region/process/roast has already been set in stone prior to the time you ground them, at pull time we are past the 'point of no return' of influencing what the stuff is made up of...we can only really influence how much we get(under/balanced/over) out, how evenly we do it (which in turn delays the "over" point) & perceived acidity via temp.

If brewing by ratio, don't get distracted by blonding - aim for shot weight, taste & adjust grind - if the colour is massively different from one shot to another, then this may be an indicator of another problem.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

teejay41 said:


> Yes, I'm just as perplexed over this. With bottomless PF and 18g VST dosed exactly, the extraction shows through after 4 or 5 seconds, dark and rich, and perfectly evenly distributed across the basket. But blonding starts far too early (about 5 to 10 secs later) and my shot invariably tastes bitter.
> 
> Actually, this isn't too big a problem for me as I don't take my coffee black and the bitterness busts through the sweet milk to provide an extremely nice balance. But it still oughtn't to blond that early.
> 
> ...


Grind finer


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

I found blonding to be an imperfect science, this due to the consumers idea of when blonding has occurred to the exact second every shot. Unlikely to be an accurate measure.

Since the more used method of weighing dose and output has been adopted by many on this forum I would think blonding as a technique has been made redundant.

As always I'm open to correction

Ian


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

garydyke1 said:


> Grind finer


How fine is finer? I like to grind fine/tamp light anyway but I can get dark crema, which as I understand it is coffee sediment passing through the basket and into the cup. Trail and error I guess.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Rhys said:


> How fine is finer? I like to grind fine/tamp light anyway but I can get dark crema, which as I understand it is coffee sediment passing through the basket and into the cup. Trail and error I guess.


I wouldn't want a flow to be at 10 seconds never mind blonding


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> Grind finer


Comment accepted, but it still leaves me confused. My extraction is 1:2 in a 25 - 27 secs time frame. If the grind was finer, wouldn't that simply make the extraction take longer to achieve the target output? And I always thought that overly long extractions led to bitterness.

Tony.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

teejay41 said:


> Comment accepted, but it still leaves me confused. My extraction is 1:2 in a 25 - 27 secs time frame. If the grind was finer, wouldn't that simply make the extraction take longer to achieve the target output? And I always thought that overly long extractions led to bitterness.
> 
> Tony.


Newbie mistake. Darker roasts are super bitter when under extracted. The roasty flavours extract first


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

teejay41 said:


> And I always thought that overly long extractions led to bitterness.


My understanding of 'longer extraction brings more bitter components' is that the 'longer' is more related to the brew ratio than the time. I've tasted some shots during dialing in, where the grind is on the tight side and extractions around the 40 second mark. They are not necessarily bitter. So although I would coarsen the grind or down dose by half a gram if I was getting 40" shots, it could well be that if you follow Gary's advice and grind finer, it might well produce a taste you like at your 1:2 ratio, even if the time is beyond the notional 25-30". Of course I'm here to learn too and am interested in what others think, the above is only my (possibly wrong) interpretation of 'longer', and encouraging you to try the finer grind and see.


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

@hotmetal that seems to echo what I've seen in other threads. People mistakenly think that when they are told to "go longer" the shot should take longer to pull but result in the same ratio/yield, when actually they should go for a higher yield.

18 > 36 > 30 or however you like is only meant to be a guide, not a live or die by rule, which can become very apparent when you nail those numbers and the coffee tastes pants.


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## Taff (May 5, 2015)

The latest barista hustle is very relevant here..


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Taff said:


> The latest barista hustle is very relevant here..


Everyone should be forced to watch that like Blanka in the Street Fighter film


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

As part of the authentication process for the first login to the forum, perhaps


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## Swimmy (Aug 8, 2015)

Very useful video ... Thanks for posting


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

Swimmy said:


> Very useful video ... Thanks for posting


Video? Where?!


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

DoubleShot said:


> Video? Where?!





Taff said:


> The latest barista hustle is very relevant here..


this one.


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## NateChat (Aug 24, 2015)

Wow, very insightful. Newbie question, what's the best scale to weigh ones coffee? I read about the acacia (hope the spelling is correct)


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

@NateChat

Acaia is the correct spelling.

Cheaper alternative would be Brewista Smart Scale


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

NateChat said:


> Wow, very insightful. Newbie question, what's the best scale to weigh ones coffee? I read about the acacia (hope the spelling is correct)


Sell you my white ones for 90 posted


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## NateChat (Aug 24, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> Sell you my white ones for 90 posted


Two would be surplus to my needs I'm afraid.


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## coffeefalafel (Apr 26, 2015)

That video is brilliant. I just want to add that I wish i could drink his imaginary espresso he makes it sound fantastic.


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## AL1968 (May 3, 2015)

Latest info on Brewista Scales delivery by the 4th September, email confirming received today.


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