Any espresso enthusiast who goes online and doesn't know what WDT stands for isn't paying attention. Named after John Weiss, the Weiss Distribution Technique solves one of the most common grinder problems and barista technical errors: Clumpy grinds and uneven distribution, which leads to channeling. But John's contributions aren't limited to his "needle stir" technique. He also offers succinct, no nonsense advice to new and seasoned home baristas alike. Below is a sample just from the last week.

I've wanted to invite John to join Team HB for awhile now, but judging from his irregular posting, I assumed he wouldn't be interested. However, thinking about the coming year, I figured "What the heck, all he can say is 'no, thanks' right?" To my surprise, he agreed without hesitation to be lead barista for the popular HB forum, Espresso Gear. John, welcome to the team!

RapidCoffee wrote:You need to develop the barista skills regardless of your equipment. It may be easier to produce consistently good espresso on a pricier machine, but crappy technique will get you a crappy espresso on anything... (cont'd)

From your post, I'd say the opposite: rotaries are in danger of being underhyped. I'm not going to argue any differences in espresso quality, although IMHO this hasn't been adequately tested (La Cimbali Junior results do not automatically generalize to all HX machines)... (cont'd)

You're not out of the loop; single boilers just put you in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation... (cont'd)

Thanks Dan. It's an honor to be invited, and I'm delighted to accept. Please bear with me while I learn the ropes. For starters, my goal is to limit myself to one foot in my mouth at a time.

Happy New Year to all - John

Welcome, John

Welcome to the team.