Hi Andy - great idea

"Double-Espresso"
18 grams of coffee, 48.5 grams total beverage weight (before milk of course).

Eric S.

erics wrote:"Double-Espresso"
18 grams of coffee, 48.5 grams total beverage weight (before milk of course).

Well the idea is to also report the brewing ratio - 37% in this case

erics wrote:Hi Andy - great idea

"Double-Espresso"
18 grams of coffee, 48.5 grams total beverage weight (before milk of course).

Thanks, Eric.

That's a pretty long shot! I think it takes skill to pull that big a shot without getting watery at the end.

Well, it is only one data point, and I want to play with this some more...

On Silvia, this AM, 20.1g (in a 14g ridgeless, can you say overdosed , coffee came up to showerscreen, no headspace), beverage weight 40.4g, equals brew ratio of 49.8%.

Just by visual observation and feel, this was not my typical morning shot on Silvia... my guess is that I am more typically at 17-18g of coffee and just slightly more volume. That may but me closer to to erics's 37%.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pull another.

Here is what I think to be an interesting little tidbit. Every once in a while I will stray from my usual bean and buy something special - like a few weeks ago I bought some of the SERBC beans from Murky - nice treat. Anyway, MM electronic (timed running) dosed those grinds out 10-12% above normal dosage weight.

My normal procedure is to use 18 g (weighed) of beans and tamp in a LM ridgeless basket with Silvia. I do think I tend to run a little blonder than most (at least from what I've read) but I'm happy with the product. I make the same drink all the time (yea I know,boring, but good) and will average a weeks worth and send that in now that I've discovered that my one and only cappy cup won't overload the scale (242.5 g's).

Eric

jesawdy wrote:On Silvia, this AM, 20.1g (in a 14g ridgeless, can you say overdosed , coffee came up to showerscreen, no headspace), beverage weight 40.4g, equals brew ratio of 49.8%.

Just by visual observation and feel, this was not my typical morning shot on Silvia... my guess is that I am more typically at 17-18g of coffee and just slightly more volume. That may but me closer to to erics's 37%.

I play around all he time, but lately I've pulled a bunch with 16g coffee and 28-32g beverage: brewing ratios of 50%-57%. Seems to give the flavors more room to "breathe" compared to ristretto pulls, but the coffee is still reasonably sweet and heavy in body.

Okay, I have a few more datapoints... with Paradise Roasters Espresso Classico, Silvia, and an "LM" ridgeless 14 gram basket I pulled the following over the last few days (when I could be bothered to weigh stuff )

grams coffee / grams beverage / brew ratio
19.5 / 43.3 / 45.0%
20.6 / 58.1 / 35.5%
20.3 / 33.3 / 61.0%
19.9 / 46.3 / 43.0%
19.1 / 38.9 / 49.1%
19.0 / 42.3 / 44.9%
19.0 / 38.0 / 50.0%
20.1 / 38.0 / 52.9%
20.3 / 41.4 / 49.0%

In doing this process, I was surprised by two things: First I was using more coffee than I would've thought (I dose by volume to basket edge now), and second that my beverages weigh less than I would've initially guessed. With an average of 47.8%, I am clearly in the middle of your double espresso range of 40-60% with two outlying shots... the 35.5% shot I ran long because it was a slow pouring shot to start, the 61% I'm not sure what my deal was.

I was also pretty happy with my dosing consistency, a level distrubution to the basket edge was ~20g, and a slightly less than full basket was ~19g in this case.

I will be curious to see if things change with a new blend... I finished up the PR Espresso Classico this AM. I am thinking that as light at this roast is, the bean density is higher than a lot of other blends I typically use.

Nothing fancy or earth shattering, but this is what I am using to take my brew and tasting notes right now while I play with AndyS's idea.

brew_ratio_log.pdf

I use the Notes section to record temp, grind, tasting notes, problems, ideas, etc.

jesawdy wrote:Nothing fancy or earth shattering, but this is what I am using to take my brew and tasting notes right now while I play with AndyS's idea

I'm tempted to convert your PDF to an Excel (Open Office) spreadsheet, where the calculations (only a couple) are done for you as you enter the data -- I've always been a lazy-smart-a*s. It just seems like the next logical step upward. Why fetch your calculator when the machine you're typing on can do the math for you?

Just a thought.
t++

Jeff, thanks for taking the time to record the data.

It is interesting what you may find when you start to measure and compare. 19-20 grams of coffee in a 14 gram basket! So much for "nominal" basket dosing.

I would agree that your shots are smack in the middle of the traditional espresso range. These are much "longer" shots than the ones I sampled recently at high-end cafes in NYC. Not that anyone there weighs their shots!