# To improve an espresso shot?



## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

Copying in from the intro forum to the correct place.

I asked in the intros forum about improvement to my espresso shots. Currently using Gaggia Baby Class, and Iberital MC2.

Glen replied (Thanks Glen)



> You have a decent grinder,, capable of grinding fine enough to choke your machine so no issues there.
> 
> The Baby Class has enough oopmh to enable you to go a wee bit finer with your grind than you are at present, which should see an improvement in crema. (a broad assumption but I usually find that people are using too coarse a grind, resulting in less water contact with each coffee particle, therefore leading to more watery liquid)
> 
> ...


.

I have tried pre-heating cups with no significant difference.

Beans are quite old - at least 2 months. They have been sitting in the grinder hopper with the lid on. But to be honest the results were no different when they were fresh (from happy donkey)

I have been storing roasted beans in the fridge when I've opened a pack. I am about to open a 1KG bag of Lavazza beans, and would normally put some in the grinder hopper, and the remainder in the fridge - is this wrong?

I have tried taking the grind fine enough to choke the machine - then backed of quite a bit. Am I better going for fine grind with light tamp, rather than coarser/heavy?

I've been experimenting today with a (spirits) shot glass. The glass is roughly the same proportion (width to height, not overall size  as a pint guiness glass, and the resulting shot has a similar ratio of black to crema as guiness to head. It looks surprisingly like a mini pint of guiness, right down to the apparent downward flowing texture 

I'll see if I can post a photo tomorrow, if I get time.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

Tony


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

Ok. The iberital has a (uncalibrated) scale of 1 to 7.5. Normally I use about 6, or just below, with a fairly heavy tamp. This gives me a shot time of close to the ideal 25 seconds or so.

I just upped the grind to 7, and used a light tamp. This gave a shot time of more like 40 seconds. Amount of crema unchanged at a guiness head


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

I buy roasted beans as fresh as possible. I tend to only put enough beans in the hopper for my double shot and maybe a few more. I then use the tin (an old Gaggia coffee tin) on top of the beans to make sure they don't jump around too much. I keep the rest of the beans in the fridge or a cool cupboard in the Gaggia tin.

I also warm up the coffee machine for at least 15 minutes, with the portafilter in place. I pour hot water in the cups to warm them and then place them on the machine's hot plate.

Just before grinding I remove the portafilter and flush the brew head for a few seconds. I then grind fresh into the portafilter and reattach to the machine. The cups are emptied of their water and I am ready to go.

My preference is a finer grind and a lighter tamp. I am also experimenting with the quantity of coffee being used. I have a new set of electronic scales and so I am comparing 14g for a double to 16g.


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

Crikey, 2 month old beans and sitting in the hopper too? I'd also classify lavazza as awful, especially since these will have been roasted months before generally.

I'm afraid those are fit for the bin and there only. I'd recommend fresh beans from hasbean or squaremile or londinium or similar and fresh beans are vital.

You'd be looking to use beans within 7-12 days of roasting, but I never manage to keep them that long and personally I don't store them in the fridge, though some people apparently freeze them.

The usual tamp is 30lb and you should be aiming for the amount of time which generally produces neither a sour nor bitter tasting shot, typically around 25 seconds.


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

Try storing beans in an air tight jar in a cool place in the cupboard. Only put enough beans in the grinder to get your daily shot(s). Definitely try buying beans on line, that way you can buy little and often and they will be fresh.


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

RisingPower said:


> Crikey, 2 month old beans and sitting in the hopper too? I'd also classify lavazza as awful, especially since these will have been roasted months before generally.
> 
> I'm afraid those are fit for the bin and there only. seconds.


So room for improvement then









Having said that - while I wan't to improve, I don't want to drop £13 of coffee in the bin - it makes perfectly acceptable (at least to our taste) cappuccino.

Will use that up, then get some fresh roasted beans.

Main problem with online seems to be that the postage cost nearly doubles the price of the beans - are any of the online sources doing free postage?

Thanks for the advice so far.


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

Ah

I've just found out that a local deli roasts their own coffee. Looks like I'll be taking a trip to see them next Saturday.

http://www.godfreycwilliams.co.uk/About%20Us.html



> You can still watch as we roast your coffee


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

hi, dont grind your beans too fine when when using baby class, they can take the extra pressure, but dont like it ....... if grinding very fine, dont tamp too hard, let the pump make your crema


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

tonycollinet said:


> So room for improvement then
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You're in for a bit of a shock if you try freshly roasted single origin beans or an espresso blend from a proper roaster then







Lavazza really tastes vile iirc.

I don't think postage is that much really tbh?

Question is, how long does it take you to get through 250g of coffee? If it's a week, I'd rather spend £5 a week on coffee than have horrid beans at maybe a couple of quid less, if that.

I make it as £4.95 for the toba sulawesi from hasbean including delivery and they also often have some offers on (£1.45 for delivery, £3.50 for the beans)


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

I'll look forward to the shock then.

As pointed out above, I've found a local place that roasts their own. Anything I should look out for, or ask for there?


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

tonycollinet said:


> I'll look forward to the shock then.
> 
> As pointed out above, I've found a local place that roasts their own. Anything I should look out for, or ask for there?


I guess if they don't roast it whilst you wait you can ask when it was roasted and you can check to see whether they haven't turned the beans into starbucks style charcoal, but aside from that, without knowing what beans they are, hard to say.

Would be interesting to see what beans they have.

A little pictorial guide:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

Quick update. Went in yesterday, and got some "french roast" - no idea what beans.

I was assured they were roasted within the last few days.

Got home - tried it (still haven't got the grind quite right for it, shot too slow) but the crema is now at least 20-30% of the volume. Much better.

Now I need to learn milk frothign - I've been using a battery whisk type device until now.


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