Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

[fruity1]

Ok. Fed up with making coffee the same way, merely adjusting grind and changing the speed of an extraction that way according to the age or acidity in varying roast/bean profiles...

I want to start getting into changing the dose for certain coffee profiles,
how can I go about figuring it all out?

I regularly taste my espresso throughout the day aswell, notice that it changes throughout the day even though flow rate will look the same, shots will extract at the same time...

At the moment Im using a Mazzer Robur grinder, have set the hopper so that it doses 20g with 3 clicks... everything going smoothly there.

Using a PB80, so i can time all the shots - this blend is best at about 34secs for a full 60ml doppio.

What i want to know is what taste characteristics should i be looking out for regarding the coffees age and acidity, and ways to adjust the dose to get the best TASTING extraction, not necessarily always the same LOOKING extraction....

ideas on this one much appreciated guys, havnt been able to find a post about this as of yet.

[muppet_man67]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

Younger coffee I find  can benefit from lower dose. I think this has to do with it resulting in a slightly finer grind and a fuller extraction but I havnt really experimented enough. My theory is that this helps because as coffee ages we adjust the grind finer anyhow.

I find younger coffee more acidic. Hopefully others will add to this.

[sco]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

As Ive become more of a experienced barista (with much more to learn) Ive become less less reliant on traditional quality indicators like time and crema and more involved with taste and aroma.

An unnamed cafe I went too were obsessed with time. Which on point level is a level of quality and consistently however I noticed their shots were pale and under-extracted.

I then noticed the excessive force each of the staff tamped the group handle.

I know this sounds incredibly geeky but one good way of improving your technique is by simple factorial elimination. Vary your tamp, record the results. Vary of your dose (the control being your time). So as you dose lower youll need to grind finer. Maybe youll discover something.

[Marnass]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

Good question fruity1, my understanding is that the younger the coffee is the higher the carbon dioxide content, leading to greater expansion. Therefore, by choosing a lower dose you allow more room for the coffee to expand which can help find the coffees sweet spot which would of otherwise remained elusive had you maintained your regular dose, and vice versa as the coffee ages. Coffee will lose its acidity as it ages and an increase in body can be found which can be useful in espresso preparation and not so useful in drip filter methods.
As for taste, it will be unique to each blend/origin age etc, and will require you each day to discover the day’s sweet spot. I use a log which helps keep track of the changes (after a heap of coffees I kinda get all confused ). A set of dosing tools could also be a worthwhile and fun investment as they allow for measurable and repeatable changes in dose.
Happy experimenting

[fruity1]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

Guys, never expected such an awesome response, will be checking up on more ideas as they come in.

God its fun making coffee.

Also good that I can rant about it online without my girlfriend noticing that Im even bigger caffiene geek than she believes...

keep your ideas coming peeps.

[Luke_G]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

You guys are spot on with your thoughts on young coffee(not properly degassed).

Here is a prime example. I have a Malkonig grind on demand grinder of which i added some Ethiopian Yirga to. The coffee was only 2 days post roast but me being me couldnt resist.
I knew i would have to make the grind a little bit courser but once i dosed(timer) and tamped i couldnt even get the handle on the group!
2 shots later and some fine tuning got me there in the end but it was all gone by day 5 meaning it never degassed properly at all. Tasty none the less
As for tamping..i rarely thought a lot about it other than to be consistant UNTILL i cut the bottom out of my group handle. I would recomend this to anyone that has a spare handle lying around as it will teach you an awefull lot about tamping and knocking down...even polishing your puck.

[Identity]

Re: Adjusting dose according to coffee acidity/age/flavours you want...

"degassed properly"?

*waits for someone more retentive than me to pick massive holes in this phrase*