Ken Fox wrote:It is my opinion that 12 or 14g of coffee is more than enough to make a balanced concentrated 1.0 or 1.5oz beverage...
Ken,
I am admittedly coming in on this very late and as a complete newbie. I am completely onboard with what you have presented in this thread, but I am unclear on something. Throughout this discussion you have talked about dosing for "doubles" with ~14g of coffee, yet the above quote implies that you are regularly only pulling 1.0 to 1.5 oz (a single shot volume) from that quantity of coffee. If that is true, then are you not, in fact, still overdosing by 100% as compared to what is defined as true espresso normale (7g for a 20-30ml drink)? I am not asking this to be in any way confrontational. I am completely onboard with the concept of using classical dosing and techniques. I am just looking for clarification, and I am not sure that you have actually taken this concept quite far enough. In your experimentation, have you pulled a true double volume (2.5 or 3.0 ounces total) from your ~14g dosed double baskets? If so, what is your opinion regarding the results? Please do not overlook the fact that when you refer to the Italians dosing with 12-14g or so that they are also most likely pulling two shots of volume through that dose, whereas people in the US cramming 20+g into a basket may typically be pulling one shot volume or less through it (it sounds like you yourself may only be pulling a single's worth of volume through your ~14g doses).
I have had the privilege of taking multiple trips to Italy and I love true Italian espresso and the whole culture that goes with it. That is what I try to replicate at home. As you have so correctly pointed out, the stuff that typical American cafes produce is not espresso (nor are soup bowls filled with milk cappucini). It is something different that reflects the never-ending tendency of Americans to take everything to the extreme and ruin it; the same tendency that causes most of the rest of the world to despise us. Americans may like the stuff, but it is not true espresso in the same sense that grappa is not wine. You previously hinted at people needing to use a different name for that stuff to differentiate it from true espresso. I humbly propose that it be referred to as "excesso" to reflect its uniquely American origin.
Anyway, I would appreciate it if you could provide clarification regarding the total volumes that you pull using you ~14g dosing. As you can guess, I typically strive to pull two shots (a good 2.5 oz) from a normally dosed (14 or 15g) double basket and I have been very pleased with my results as compared to true espresso as served in Italy. I have been puzzled on multiple occasions when I have seen people on forums refer to single baskets as something along the lines of "a cruel joke" because I have had great success in pulling true espresso singles using a single basket dosed with approximately 7 or 8g of coffee. After reading this whole thread it is now clear to me that those "cruel joke" comments about single baskets are coming from people who like making something that is upwards of five or six time more concentrated than true espresso is supposed to be (i.e. - a short single shot using 20+g of coffee). "Excesso", but to each his own.
by cafeIKE on Thu May 15, 2008 1:01 pm 
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