Espresso Standards
Serving at SCA Standards.
Espresso is a method of extraction/brewing the coffee to dissolve the best bits of the coffee into the water.
Generally, the best espressos are made with a ratio of one-part water, to two-parts coffee, ie. 1:2. So if you are putting 18g in, you want to have 36g of espresso in your cup after its poured. For optimum flavour we recommend the espresso brewing in 20-30 seconds.
Bridge Coffee is roasted to perfection, to suit the tastes of our customers, but if you aren’t enjoying it as much as you expected, maybe you need to amend your brewing methods.
Here are our top tips:
Pouring too fast!
Is your espresso flowing through the portafilter much too quickly? Total shot time is less than 20 seconds?
The problem with this is the water doesn’t have enough time in contact with the coffee- it just blasts through. This means that only the most soluble parts of the coffee are dissolved, and those are the acidic parts! This espresso will have a really thin body, be extremely sour and not be pleasant to drink. It hasn’t had any time to dissolve the more bitter parts of the coffee to balance out the acidity and give a really sweet and balanced flavour!
How can you make it slower?
· Make the grind size finer (make the particles smaller) – this will slow down the flow of the water passing through the coffee giving them more time to dissolve parts of the coffee which will improve the flavour!
Note: when you adjust the grinder with the collar, grind two doses and throw them away to allow the grinder to catch up with your adjustment. Also use scales to check how much the grinder is dosing as it might be different when the grind has changed. Ensure the amount you put into your machine every time is consistent!
Pouring too slow!
Is your espresso flowing through the portafilter too slowly? Total shot time is over 40 seconds? Maybe even a minute!?
The problem with this is the water has TOO MUCH time in contact with the coffee- it is soaking it all up. This means that too much of the coffee is dissolved, which includes too much of the bitter compounds of coffee and they overpower everything else! This espresso will have a really thick, oily body, be extremely bitter, burnt and not be pleasant to drink. It has dissolved too many of the bitter parts of the coffee and it’s all you can taste. You need to reduce the contact time with the coffee
How can you make it faster?
- Make the grind coarser- the particles bigger! This will give the water more space to flow through and less contact with the coffee, hopefully enabling the water to dissolve just enough of the coffee compounds to make a sweet and balanced flavour!
Note: when you adjust the grinder with the collar, grind two doses and throw them away to allow the grinder to catch up with your adjustment. Also use scales to check how much the grinder is dosing as it might be different when the grind has changed. Ensure the amount you put into your machine every time is consistent!
What about single/double espresso?
We advise that you only offer double espresso – if someone wants a weaker coffee, offer them one half of the double espresso and extract it into 2 espresso cups and get rid of the other half.