Im trying to run a night for a handful of coffee geeks and people in the industry itself on my workplace's synesso hydra. The idea is to serve half a dozen or so shots to each person and each shot will be brewed on a specific 'pressure profile'

for this ill need:
-Single origin coffee that's well balanced. Not a blend as the slight differences of beans that make up each shot can lead to irregularities that will change the flavour, which one might assume is a result of the given profile. 'well balanced' so that it's easier to taste any differences that each profile has to offer.

-extreme care in preparation and consistency. I plan on weighing every shot so they're accurate to .1 gram before brewing, and stop the brew so each shot weighs the same amount. again, consistency so that we're all tasting the same thing and the different profiles have a chance at showing us what they have to offer. (possibly even WDT, though a rubur-e kinda makes this part a little redundant)

-a 'score sheet' as such, like you'd get at a well run cupping session, so each person can write down differences in each brew and compare them to previous brews/profiles

can anyone see anything that i might be missing here?

I'd like to experiment a bit before i run this so im trying to figure out what kind of profiles i'd like to run. The hydra is still a bit limited in what it can do profiling wise so i'll have to work around this. i'm thinking:

shot 1 - straight 9 bars, fast ramp up and fast ramp down in pressure - a typical espresso machine profile

shot 2 - pre infusion only then full pressure and fast ramp down - 5-7 seconds at 3-4bar then a 'standard' brew.

shot 3 - slow ramp up and fast ramp down - same pre infusion as before but a further 5-7 seconds at 7-8bar before full pressure.

shot 4 - fast ramp up and slow ramp down - no pre infusion, start the brew at 9 bars then ramp down to 7bar after 75% of the shot is brewed

shot 5 - slow ramp up and slow ramp down - 5-7 second preinfusion, 5~ seconds at 7-8bar, 5 or so seconds at full pressure then ramp back down to 7-8bar after 75% of the shot is brewed

Any other profiles i can try out here? These are all i can think of off the top of my head. i'm sure there's more but they escape me for now. I'm trying to get hold of an extractmojo to take readings on each shot to see how the profile alters the tds and to keep a more accurate account of each profile.

Now my question to you is if you were to go to an event like this, what would you like to see? How would you like it to be run etc?

Yes, you are missing something: the actual reason for pressure profiling.

• A "well balanced" coffee, either single origin or blend, makes well balanced shots on regular machines. This is by definition, otherwise you wouldn't call it well balanced.
• No brewing method, no matter how cool and magical, can create flavors that aren't in the coffee itself
• Therefore, it will be impossible to show any decisive improvement over regular machines using a well balanced coffee

Pressure profiling makes sense if it does two things: first, it has to make great tasting shots from coffees that are impossible to pull well on regular machines, that is, from unbalanced coffees. Second, these impossible coffee shots have to be at least as desirable as good shots from regular gear.

I'd suggest using a light roasted Kenya or similar coffee that brews great, but is too light and acidic for regular machines. If you can make good shots with such an "impossible" coffee, and your audience thinks they are a worthwhile change of pace, you'll have an audience for pressure profiling. If instead you get a score of 89.5 instead of 89.0 from some regular coffee, then shrug, nobody cares.

My focus for this really isn't to brew good coffee. It really is just for me personally and others to get a grasp on how different profiles affect the taste of the final cup. I figured it would be easier to taste the difference with a balanced coffee rather than one that's heavy on the acidity? I personally am still trying to get my head around the concept of pressure profiling.

Zaneus wrote:It really is just for me personally and others to get a grasp on how different profiles affect the taste of the final cup.

Yep.

You may want to try a blend or SO that you know is easy to get good results from. See if the pressure profiles have a significant effect or not. If the results are all similar, then start pushing the limits on the profiles.

Then as Jim suggests try a bean and roast that you wouldn't normally think would make a good SO espresso and see if you can get something stellar out of it.

Zaneus wrote:My focus ... is really is just for me personally and others to get a grasp on how different profiles affect the taste of the final cup...

You're saying that you want to see how pressure profiling affects the taste, and Jim's point is that the most effective purpose for pressure profiling will be the ability to address problem coffees. My advice is to follow his advice since doing so will give you exactly the experience you seek.

As an analogy, try (this can be a thought experiment or a real one) changing the color balance of a pure white field in Photoshop to make it more blue. Spoiler alert: you won't get any traction since you have no color to start with that can be bent. However, if you had a photo with an overall yellow cast, Photoshop can rebalance the yellow/blue easily.

Similarly, if your coffee has really good balance to start with, the pressure controls will act more or less neutrally upon that starting neutrality. But as Jim suggests, by starting out with something that, if treated normally, will come out skewed, then your experiments with the pressure profiles will show some real effects. Some results will improve, some will exacerbate the problems, while others do nothing, and a few may run you off an entirely new and different set of rails.

Working from that basis will much more successfully highlight what pressure profiling can affect, and show you the differences you hope to see.

I think approach original poster proposed is good one if he wants to learn how pressure profile affects taste. He is not seeking way to address problematic coffees.

Anvan wrote:Similarly, if your coffee has really good balance to start with, the pressure controls will act more or less neutrally upon that starting neutrality

I did enough pulling on levers to know that brewing exact same coffee, at same temperature, same grind and same dose to same final espresso weight with different pressure profile gives different taste and mouthfeel. And some profiles you can differentiate by mouthfeel alone.

So David, I'd love to hear what your group finds out after testing...

Assuming a shot is not too bitter or sour, there will be a complex mix of flavor components, and everyone will have their own preferences as to which compounds are expressed. If pressure profiling can influence extraction rate of these components, I would think it possible to emphasize desirable notes, and de-emphasize less desirable ones. Thus I think it would be worthwhile to explore different pressure profiles on balanced coffees. This is a different goal than getting great coffee from problematic beans/roasts.

another_jim wrote:Therefore, it will be impossible to show any decisive improvement over regular machines using a well balanced coffee.

Not necessarily.

Preinfusion and/or slower brew pressure ramp up will reduce the likelihood of channeling; if the barista's technique is not spot on, you may end up indirectly measuring improved consistency of the cafe's stock blend and attributing it to pressure profiling. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's different than the "problematic coffee" approach, which will more definitively point to pressure profiling as the causal action versus masking shortcomings in barista technique one might find with the "balanced blend" approach.

tekomino wrote:I think approach original poster proposed is good one if he wants to learn how pressure profile affects taste. He is not seeking way to address problematic coffees.



I did enough pulling on levers to know that brewing exact same coffee, at same temperature, same grind and same dose to same final espresso weight with different pressure profile gives different taste and mouthfeel. And some profiles you can differentiate by mouthfeel alone.

So David, I'd love to hear what your group finds out after testing...

Same here. Because I find it unlikely, even with forgiving coffees, that they won't see differences in the results of the different profiles. Nowhere did the OP state that his goal was to "show any decisive improvement over regular machines..."

Definitely looking forward to hearing about the results.