Please critique: shot pull, latte art

[jjue]

Hello all,

Well, I feel like I've grown a lot in terms of producing much better tasting espresso in the past month just reading what I've read at this web site. Thanks a lot for all the useful information...especially the latest post regarding flushing the machine before a shot.

I recently recorded a shot I pulled and felt it was very good in terms of taste (a slight sweet after taste and a hint of caramel); In fact I believe it was the best tasting one I've made. I would like to get your opinions on how my shot went by taking a look at some pictures and video of the pull. I know I'm not at the level of most of you, but would like to learn what my current mistakes are in pulling and creating latte art.

Some info related the the shot pull:
Equipment:
- Expobar Pulser (filled with faucet water that's been filtered with a brita like filter, and softened in the tank with the rancilio water softener)
- Single-holed steam tip (believe it's the original tip for the Expobar) replacing the two hole tip that came with it.
- Espresso Vivace Vita espresso beans (13 days old)
- Pasquini Moka grinder (setting of 3.5)
- Espresso Vivace Ergo-Packer 58 (tamped at 30lbs)
- Whole milk (that's been opened for about 5 days)

Here is the double shot pull.

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The pull ended up being 25secs long (started video when I started machine) and about 1.5ounces. I put around 7ounces of milk into a 16ounce pitcher and steamed the milk with a one-holed steam tip. Note the machine hiccups in the middle of the extraction. It doesn't normally do this.

The resulting espresso


Another angle, better lighting


Here is what the portafilter and puck looked like after pulling the shot and steaming the milk.


This puck was from a previous shot done right before, but it had the same consistency as the latter.


Here's the drink after my attempt at latte art.


I've only just recently been able to produce latte art. I'm still trying to figure out the correct amount of foam, milk volume to tip, and steam pressure ratios, etc. Whenever I seem to make a lot of foam, the foam breaks the surface of the crema, fills it (making a big round white circle), and makes it hard to 'paint' anything. When the steamed milk is too thin (less viscous), the milk foam seems to have a hard time breaking the surface crema. Resulting in no pattern to draw with.

Some questions:
1) Was the espresso coming out at the proper viscosity and color?
2) Did I shut off the machine at the right time? (I was checking for color and noticed it getting thinner and sucking inward).
3) From the puck pictures, does the espresso seem like it was packed and tamped properly? Too much, too little espresso?
4) Regarding latte art, is my microfoam small enough or is the bubbles still too big?

Thanks for all your help. Hopefully this will also help others...

-jason

[another_jim]

The pull seemed on the lungo side, a little fast and over volume; but the stop color was good. The taste will be on the bright and dry side compared to a slightly finer grind, longer pull, and less volume at the end. This is a matter of taste and experimenting with shot times and volumes, rather than changing technique.

Your puck looks fine, and it seems you got about 10 seconds from switching the machine on to seeing the first drops; which is correct for the Expobar group and indicates proper levelling and tamping. In this aspect, practice rather than technique changes is indicated.

Your latte art requires more practice in the pouring, but even a pattern like that shows your frothing is getting microfoam. You may need to keep your tip a very small amount lower, getting less bubbles, to produce a foam that will create more finely striated pours. However, at this point it's much more a matter of practice than technical changes.

Overall, congrats, you're doing well -- B to B+ I'd say.

[jjue]

Thanks for the comments. Funny, I always thought these shots that I was pulling were double ristretto because the ending volume would be around 1.5 ounces. I sometimes pulled shots that were 2.5 ounces large! Aren't lungo shots 2.5 ounces? Isn't that the golden rule? I feel if I grind any finer, the espresso will just drizzle out. Shouldn't there be a steady stream? Sorry, I'm confused.

Thanks for the comment on the latte art. I just started being able to mark the top of the espresso. Before, the steamed milk wouldn't break the surface of the crema and so I couldn't draw anything. I've learned that before I was putting too much milk into my pitcher. Now I just use around 7 ounces of milk with my one holed tip.

I'm glad I'm creating microfoam. Though, I feel it still can be more velvety and finer. I will experiment with lowering the steam tip lower.

Thanks for your feedback!

jason

[JonR10]

Thanks for the comments. Funny, I always thought these shots that I was pulling were double ristretto because the ending volume would be around 1.5 ounces.

That would be COMBINED volume (so you'd have 0.75 ounces per cup for ristretto)

[another_jim]

Thanks for the comments. Funny, I always thought these shots that I was pulling were double ristretto because the ending volume would be around 1.5 ounces. I sometimes pulled shots that were 2.5 ounces large! Aren't lungo shots 2.5 ounces? Isn't that the golden rule? I feel if I grind any finer, the espresso will just drizzle out. Shouldn't there be a steady stream? Sorry, I'm confused.

It was hard to tell the volume from the movie. I assumed it was on the long side since the pull flow blonded rather quickly. This could be old coffee or some channeling not apparent without a naked pf.

I did forget to mention that the easiest way to assure yourself that your tamping leveling are correct is to use a naked pf. You're probably fine on technique; but even so, a naked pf will sharpen you up like it did everyone else.

[roblumba]

From the movie, those streams look very thick and fast compared to the ristretto streams I see coming out of my double portafilter. It usually comes out about half as thick and much slower. When I put to 1oz shot glasses under each spout, they only fill about 3/4 to the line for 3/4 ounce in each shot glass. I usually let the crema go to the 1 oz line because it will settle to about 3/4 ounce.

[HB]

Single-holed steam tip (believe it's the original tip for the Expobar) replacing the two hole tip that came with it... 4) Regarding latte art, is my microfoam small enough or is the bubbles still too big?

I've tried the one-hole tip and found it very easy to produce microfoam, but bigger visible bubbles will occur if you "play" the tip across the surface of the milk. A quick correction is to dump off the top layer with a swish before starting to thunk and swirl.

I also would be tempted to try the modified Gold Pro II:

The solution was to modify the Gold Pro tip. I went to a good hardware store and found a bit that is the same size as the holes in the Gold Pro tip. I found that a #58 wire bit is nearly exactly the same size (note: these bits are even smaller than the smallest standard sized bit, which is 1/16 inch). I used my neighbor's drill press to carefully drill one more hole right in the center of the tip. So now it is a three hole tip. The power is much better than the two hole version of the Gold Pro and it is much more controlled than the stock tip. With the tip modified in this way it is easy to create a good whirlpool in the milk and create excellent froth.

I recommend this to anyone who has a Gold Pro tip and is still having difficulty. Note that you can't do this with the stock tip since the existing holes are already quite large and adding another hole would probably be too much. Not sure about the Espresso Parts NW tip either since I haven't seen that one. Be careful drilling since you only get one shot, probably best to use a jig to line everything up just right. Overall, it's a big improvement for $2.29 for the cost of the drill bit.

[jjue]

Hm. I set my grinder .5 setting finer (from 3.5 to 3.0 on moka). Did a double shot with my usual technique and it dripped mostly out to around .75 ounces total volume after 30 secs. Additionally, it took longer than 10 secs to first come out of the PF. In my opinion, this grind setting is too fine. Though when I set the grinder back to my original 3.5 setting, it gives me around 1.5 ounces total combined after 25 seconds, which is what happened in the video. In the pics and video, the cups are 2 ounce cups and since the shots filled up less than half those cups in each, I came to conclusion it's 1.5 ounces combined.

I'm not sure what to do since if I set my grind setting lower (can only go in .5 increments), it seems too fine. Setting it at 3.5 everyone seems to think it is running too fast. Though statistically it sounds like a good pull.

Also, does anyone measure the amount of humidity in the air when they make shots? Do you just use a hydrometer?

Additionally, with a single hole steam tip on the Expobar, how many ounces of milk do you steam for a latte? For a cappuccino?

Thanks!

- jason

[roblumba]

Makes sense. I guess the video was a little hard to accurately judge the scale of things. I thought those cups were more like 6 ounce cups. Anyhow, 1.5 ounces in 30 seconds sounds reasonable.

[HB]

Also, does anyone measure the amount of humidity in the air when they make shots?

No. I did however have a tough week at the beach due to humidity, as recounted in More signs of ECD.

Additionally, with a single hole steam tip on the Expobar, how many ounces of milk do you steam for a latte? For a cappuccino?

For the one-hole tip, the operative phrase is "as little as possible." I used a twelve ounce pitcher and about five ounces of milk. Anything greater than 8 ounces was over a minute to heat to 160F. My cappuccino cups run from 4.5 to 6.5 ounces. The largest latte-sized cups I have are 7.5 ounces and a huge 12 ounces.


4.75oz: Forgot to settle the "crema bubbles" before pouring


12oz: Stopping short and rummaging around to find the camera led to the fallen appearance

[Kristi]

Dan, you've got some great shots there - any videos of you or someone doing latte art? To preclude your asking, I found this and a few others using [latte AND art AND video]