My Consistent Espresso Routine

[Canuck]

I'm no expert and my espresso isn't perfect, but I've been using the exact same routine for more than six months now and I'm very happy with my espresso (using a brasilia club, doserless rocky, beans from mail order used within 2 weeks of ordering, stock double basket, filtered water via brita tap). I've seen many posts on people's routines and I've used snippets from those to form my own. I'm posting it here for those looking for a change or some ideas:

- fill reservoir, prime boiler, turn machine on
- wait time is 20-40 minutes (machine is read after 20 minutes IMO, I just don't always get to it at that time, though I don't notice a difference if 20 or longer)
- dose usual volume of beans into rocky (I don't have a scale)
- run some water through the brew group with PF attached into my espresso cup (2-3 ounces)
- remove PF, take double filter basket out, put PF back onto machine, dry the basket
- use a yogurt cup (see wdt) and grind directly into the basket (funnel with yogurt cup, fork-thing not used)
- stir using a long paper clip (attached to something so it's longer and more stable)
- remove yogurt container, lightly tap basket on counter
- using my pinky, a fairly quick sweep (s to n, n to s, e to w, than w to e...brushing the remaining grounds onto a paper towel
- a light tamp, wipe off edges of basket
- a nutating (sp?) tamp, fairly light, twice around
- a hard tamp, concentrating on it being even
- dump hot water from espresso cup (wipe cup)
- remove PF, wipe the shower screen with a towel, wipe the PF, but basket in PF
- lock and load

Fairly busy with a baby at home and I don't have as much time as before, so instead of relaxing and enjoying my espresso I usually have it while standing over the sink and cleaning things up. Not ideal, but my total time spent from preparing the espresso to a full (thorough) clean-up is 10 minutes (of course not including the machine heat up time or the less than one minute it takes to turn it on and prime it).

I'm sure many of you out there have this bested, but I thought I would share for whatever reason...

Good luck with your routines!

[Troll]

Long time lurker. Figured I should probably register sometime.

I've got a rocky/silvia combo as well and my routine seems alot like yours. Minus the yogurt container. The only thing I need to be more consistent with is my dosing and tamping. But all in all I couldn't be happier with my new setup.

[popeye]

I'm sure there's a better thread for this, but I've found a great WDT utensil: Take a pin and stick it into the eraser of a pencil. Ta-da! It's noticeably thinner than a paper clip, and looks OK too. But yeah, i'm still using a yogurt cup too.

[cannonfodder]

I am surprised you need to do that with a Super Jolly unless you made it doserless.

[Bertie Doe]

- a hard tamp, concentrating on it being even
- dump hot water from espresso cup (wipe cup)
- remove PF, wipe the shower screen with a towel, wipe the PF, but basket in PF
- lock and load

Your routine is very similar to mine, I also remove the basket and leave the p/f locked into the group, to reduce heat loss. The main difference is that I prefer a very light tamp. This means I am forced to put the loaded basket into the p/f and then tamp.

Bertie

[ajpace]

FWIW, I found the best tool for WDT is a stainless steel cake tester.
http://www.thehomemarketplace.com/homemarketplace/Shopping/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=1059778