Hello to all,

I'm new as a poster on the HB forum... but I've been reading it for the past 6 months now. This is absolutely great!
I've been reading all kind of stuff, particularly to make a good choice to buy a grinder. I did not want compromise, so I choose the Mazzer Mini. Heaven on earth!

My question is the following. I went naked the past month and I'm experimenting a lot.
One of my paranoid friends zoomed one of my naked extraction photo and saw small brown particles. He told me I was grinding too fine and that coffee particles were going out of my filter into my espresso.

Does anyone else experienced the same?

light_french wrote:Hello to all,

I'm new as a poster on the HB forum... but I've been reading it for the past 6 months now. This is absolutely great!
I've been reading all kind of stuff, particularly to make a good choice to buy a grinder. I did not want compromise, so I choose the Mazzer Mini. Heaven on earth!

My question is the following. I went naked the past month and I'm experimenting a lot.
One of my paranoid friends zoomed one of my naked extraction photo and saw small brown particles. He told me I was grinding too fine and that coffee particles were going out of my filter into my espresso.

Does anyone else experienced the same?
<image>

If you time your shots ( 22-32 seconds / 1 oz. espresso ) your grind is ok. You will need to replace the filter.

Regards from Mexico,


Alex.:

If what you're seeing really is coffee grounds I wouldn't worry unless it's resulting in a lot of them in your cup and altering the taste of your coffee.

Remember to make sure the bottom of your basket is clear of loose grounds before you pull your shot (i.e. if you're tamping on a bar towel that's contaminated with lots of coffee grounds some can stick to the bottom of the basket).

Dave

light_french wrote:One of my paranoid friends zoomed one of my naked extraction photo and saw small brown particles. He told me I was grinding too fine and that coffee particles were going out of my filter into my espresso.

Those look like crema bubbles to me, not coffee grounds. What does your friend think of the espresso's taste?

This was my first attempt with one of my friend home-roasted coffee.
The taste was really good. The shot pour time was about 30-32 seconds.
There's was no coffee in the bottom of my cup, I really doubt this was coffee.
My friend saw the small particles on the photo only, he did not taste the coffee.
I think he is just jealous of my naked portafilter!
thanks for your comments!

light_french wrote:One of my paranoid friends zoomed one of my naked extraction photo and saw small brown particles.

I've had seen similar things quite often in my extractions. like this one:



But since i saw them quite often on espressoporn pics, i assumed it would be normal; and I didn't note a difference in the cup. For example in the WDT article you see, something I considered to be fine particles

http://www.home-barista.com/weiss-distribution-technique_files/vetrano-wdt.jpg

in contrast to the pic in the article further down, on which it looks more like there were bubbles in the stream

http://www.home-barista.com/weiss-distribution-technique_files/image037.jpg


I wondering if perhaps it could be because I spoiled my basket (by increasing the hole sizes) from using a rather sharp needle for wdt!

I actually tried to 'grind' away the needle pike, but since it's made out of steel its a pain

greets from another newb

marco

Is that not just some "flecking" which is generally considered desirable? I get them all the time, and I do not have an overabundance of fines in my espresso cup. I know I do not contaminate my shot. I have gotten in the habit (with the naked at least) of popping out the basket after dose/distribute, and knocking off grounds from the PF, instead of just wiping the PF ears and rim.

I agree, that just looks like flecks or bubbles in the crema. If you look to the left and up from the one you have circled, you can see a dark dot with a tail leading to the cone. It is just dark striping in the crema, which is a good thing. I would be more concerned with the light spot peeking around from behind the right side of the cone. That may be light reflecting off the crema, or a small channeling 'sprite' developing.

An occasional fine in the bottom of the cup is normal, if you have a fingernail sized blob of them in the cup, then you have a problem.

You know, a couple years ago these photos would have been considered potential Barista Magazine cover material. Today we look at them and wonder about a few odd flecks. The bar has really moved up when self-proclaimed newbies worry about (visual) extraction quality that a pro barista would have been jealous about only a few years ago.

That's a good thing.

jesawdy wrote:Is that not just some "flecking" which is generally considered desirable?

I thought that flecking was tiny particles of ground coffee that had made it through the PF and were indicative of a good pull. It appears like that is what is going on here.

Then again, I could be misunderstanding flecking.