My topic draws its inspiration from a very early HB thread, Levers and SO coffee started by Steve Robinson. A new HG one grinder added to my Olympia Cremina, Elektra Microcasa a leva and Hottop B-2K roaster has opened up a renewed excitement with taste. I especially have noted this the past two evenings with my usual 3 espressos. They are made with Yemen Mokha Sharasi from Sweet Maria's. This is the end of last year's Sharasi. It is 5-6 days after roasting, or at its peak from my tasting. What seems so central to this espresso is equilibrium between creaminess and stoniness. The first shot is dominated by the creamy taste in the front end with the earthy-stone in the background and middle to end of the taste. The subsequent two shots evolve to more pronounced earthiness and more subtle creamy taste / texture. I find these espressos quite stunning and think the hand grinding, manual lever pull of home roasted beans all contribute to this quality.

In terms of some production details, the beans were roasted into the beginning of rapid second cracks. The grinder is dialed in to make a 25-second, moderate-force, single pull on my Cremina. I am using the single basket with a dose measured by volume (3 scoops) that is ca. 7-9 g.

Thanks for the inspiring post and the link to Steve's old thread. Very interesting to look back over some old notes and experiences - ten years later we're still doin' that hand jive around here. And it just keeps getting better.

PC

I agree, and it's nice to see posts from the low digit LMWDP members.

I'm skeptical that hand grinding makes much of a difference in taste, at least if you have similarly well-aligned grinders with the same burr-set. My HG-one makes fantastic espresso, but I doubt it tastes better or different than what I'd get using a Robur. It is, however, quiet and beautiful in operation, making for a more aesthetic experience. Hand-grinding and pulling make the whole process more mediative, which is something I value these days almost as much as the taste of the beverage itself.

What I feel quite strongly about is that one needs to go way into the stratosphere of complex pump machine design before you can match what a simple, inexpensive home lever can do to bring out the delicate, clear flavors in a nice SO espresso. A Caravel single does more to capture what I love about a given coffee as a brewed cup than any other method I've come across, short of a very well driven Slayer.

wrote:
What I feel quite strongly about is that one needs to go way into the stratosphere of complex pump machine design before you can match what a simple, inexpensive home lever can do to bring out the delicate, clear flavors in a nice SO espresso.

That is also why I bought the very best lever, (at least that Pavoni custom makes). As to only getting a mediocre or less machine for the same or more money.

Mark,

before using the HG one I had the same skepticism as you. My experience to date does not support the skepticism. The experience of using it is indeed unique and meditative as you nicely suggest. Prior to getting my HG one I did use two "titan" grinders (Fiorenzato Doge 63 and Conico) daily for 5 years. While not Roburs they give me a base line of experience. Taste is one of those things that fascinate me immensely. I also write about wine and taste in other venues. Espresso from my current set of tools gives me much to pay attention to and to study -- at least as much as did the previous grinders, and maybe more.

KS

[creative nickname] wrote:I'm skeptical that hand grinding makes much of a difference in taste, at least if you have similarly well-aligned grinders with the same burr-set. My HG-one makes fantastic espresso, but I doubt it tastes better or different than what I'd get using a Robur. It is, however, quiet and beautiful in operation, making for a more aesthetic experience. Hand-grinding and pulling make the whole process more mediative, which is something I value these days almost as much as the taste of the beverage itself.

Indeed, it is possible that hand-ground espresso tastes better, experientially, even if it produces exactly the same composition of chemical compounds in the cup. Changes in our moods can influence many of our judgments, and for the sort of person whose mood is elevated by the process of hand-grinding, the resulting shot may taste superior to one produced by other methods. Also, lower speed grinding may influence the distribution of grind size in some way that is not well understood. So I overstated my skepticism.

What I ought to have said, if I was being more careful about things, would be this: If a good barista made two otherwise identical shots for me, out of sight, one using an HG-one and one using a Robur, I doubt I could detect a difference in the cups. That doesn't mean that I would be willing to trade my HG-one for a Robur, even if I didn't have to pay the difference in price! It is, for me and the way I make espresso at home, as perfect as any grinder I have ever used.

Had more of the Yemen Sharasi last night. One of the things that fascinates me about the first week of a new roast is the significant change that occurs from day to day. What was very clear on day 6 of the roast was the focusing of the taste more fully on the earth-stone components of classic Yemen SO espresso. There were fewer kinds of tastes, the creaminess was much diminished, but the stones were now in full display.

There is a saying about old wine that you can call an old wine anything you want. An old Margaux tastes like old wine as does an old Volnay. The sequence is to taste like a wine from a single vineyard / producer (Montille Volnay Champans) to tasting like a wine from a specific town (Volnay) to old Burgundy to old wine. Coffee can follow the same path. Yemen Sharasi on the fourth day after roast to Yemen Sharasi, to Yemen to old coffee. I see the trajectory of this roast at the end of the first week. It will be gone long before it reaches generic Sharasi.

My morning Hawaii Kona from Smith Farms makes a remarkable Americano. The wonderful balance and full complexity of Kona is present here, again at the end of week one of roast. I use my Elektra Microcasa a leva exclusively for Americanos. Nothing matches it for clarity and delicacy. Kona comes out superbly in these shots made using 12-13 g and a double basket and a double pull. I then top it off with ca 6 oz hot water.

Here again I am tempted to say the whole (Kona + HG one + Elektra) is greater than the sum of its parts.

KS

[creative nickname] wrote: What I ought to have said, if I was being more careful about things, would be this: If a good barista made two otherwise identical shots for me, out of sight, one using an HG-one and one using a Robur, I doubt I could detect a difference in the cups. That doesn't mean that I would be willing to trade my HG-one for a Robur, even if I didn't have to pay the difference in price! It is, for me and the way I make espresso at home, as perfect as any grinder I have ever used.

Mark,

I would like to dwell a bit on your phrase, "...the way I make espresso at home..." I think about this regularly. Your comparison between a barista making a shot with a Robur etc. and what we do at home is worthy of thought. While the basics are the same I would suggest the differences are very significant and perhaps outweigh the similarities. Among the many reasons I so much prefer my HG one to the three doser grinders I used for the previous 12 years is that it is designed to grind single doses. Doser grinders are essential in a café where volume production is required. I worked around the problems of the doser and single dosing because they gave the best quality grind. Now I have a grinder designed to make espresso as I make it.

I take my time dosing, distributing and tamping. These are essential in what I do at home while the slowness of what I do would be unacceptable in a café.

Like a barista I want consistent high quality. However, unlike a barista, I do not want uniform output and look for subtle nuances between shots. Tonight, for example I am looking forward to what I call solera espresso. I am at the end of a batch of Yemen Sharasi and have a new roast of Yemen Mokha Ismaili. I will make 3 consecutive shots using first 100% week old Sharasi then a blend of 66% Sharasi / 34% (day old) Ismaili, then a 33% Sharasi / 67% Ismaili. The progression is delightful.

For these reasons and more I have never thought of myself as a barista. I see what a barista does as essentially different. I do not have a name for what we do at home. My best term so far is that we make artisan espresso.

The experience for me is very similar. Except when I have small parties (and I can manage those adequately with my gear), my typical routine involves making a single coffee beverage every few hours, over the course of the day. Usually this is when I am taking a break from my writing or other work, so I want to stretch out the experience, not speed it up. There is only so much caffeine I can drink each day, so I make singles with the goal of taking more coffee breaks, rather than fewer.

Single dosing is critical because, even roasting in small batches, I do not want to drink the same thing day after day for a week! I like to do a few different roasts over the weekend, and switch between them freely as my mood dictates.

There is a beautiful middle ground between pushing buttons and letting machines do all the work (too fast, too boring) and using gear like an unmodified Pharos or a machine that requires very complicated temperature management, in which the effort dominates the experience (too slow, too frustrating). The HG-one and a temperature stable lever make for a perfect moving meditation. I can go into a smooth flow where I only have to think about the key variables I'm playing with (dose, grind, temperature) while my hands smoothly and automatically execute each step. The sound of the burrs grinding, the bell-like ringing of the blind tumbler when I clack its stopper against the side to release any stray grinds that are stuck to the sides, or the quiet gurgle as the piston chamber fills, each of these sounds are soothing signposts along the way to a delicious beverage. I even enjoy my clean-up routine.

The whole process takes about five minutes, which would be unbearable if I was trying to run a cafe. But I'm not, and I feel no desire to speed up my workflow.

p.s. I like the "solera" espresso idea. I'm going to steal that! Enjoy those ismaili shots -- those have been some of my favorites this year.