Originally posted by talbashan link=1196920754/0#6 date=1196957938
It certainly is a balance:
* If your grind is too coarse the water will just run between the coffee particles without generating much pressure and itll blond very early
* If your grind is too fine, youll generate more pressure than you should and that pressure will find any weak points in the puck from poor dose or tamp operations, and cause the water to drill through those; these channels will be overextracted and produce blonding, even though perhaps 95% of the puck is hardly extracted at all. Also, since the pour is too slow, the coffee may get scalded.
After an even dose, distribution and tamp, the ideal extraction speed results in just enough pressure to extract the oils and flavours from the coffee and to keep the liquid moving through the puck. The espresso will always get lighter through the shot, but this should be a gradual and consistent lightening - you shouldnt be getting blond streaks running parallel to the otherwise relatively dark espresso. Stop the shot once they appear.
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1174123753/ is the thread TG is referring to, it might help out a bit.
Greg

;D..... The main aim of the game though is to have all aspects of the process as consistent as you can manage it, so that in the end, all you need to adjust to produce those perfect espressos, is the grind setting. Trying to muck around changing the tamp force or any other variable only leads one down the path of a disappearing spiral of frustration.... no fun in that
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