As the title says, what do you guys think?

Details:
Quickmill Anita at 199F (using EricS thermometer), approximately 9.5bar brew pressure. 14g of CC Espresso Aficionado. The shot was a little long because I wanted more volume - this was intended for a latte. I also noticed that the tamp might have been a bit skewed because it started on the closer end of the puck first.

looks alot like the pulls i get. im using a hon turkish mill with a highly modified set of delonghi boilers (one has a real filter basket, bottomless, the other is for steaming only). i think the grind in this pull is a tad fine, and it looks as though the distribution was off a little or the tamp was tilted ever so slightly. (gathered from how it starts at the back left and sweeps to the front right). do you "mound" you dose? i try not to do it, although it does not look like what you are doing as there is no "donuting". but i give it a 4-5.

Here's a 2nd attempt - this one was actually much better in terms of flavor. I don't allow my coffee to mound, I usually fill to the top, and swirl with a toothpick, and level off, which will roughly approximate 14g. I have a gram scale on the way, thanks to IDrinkItBlack.

The first extraction shows evidence of uneven distribution; the front half extracts more slowly than the back and the pour hooks to the right. The second looks more even, certainly well within acceptable limits. Not much else to say without taste descriptors.

FYI, Videos of espresso extractions has pages of more detailed extraction diagnostics.

Second pull look terrific. First one looks as though the distribution is off. The extraction is very dark in the center and lighter around the perimeter. How did they taste?

I'm trying to learn when blonding occurs. Is there any blonding in your second shot? It appears to me to begin at about 29-30 seconds.

Javacat wrote:Second pull look terrific. First one looks as though the distribution is off. The extraction is very dark in the center and lighter around the perimeter. How did they taste?

If I recall - the first one definitely tasted overextracted, even though it was partially covered up by the milk. Lots of bitter notes. The 2nd shot still had some bitter notes to it, but it was a big improvement over the 1st one. The aroma smelled like sweet berries, so I think it was quite a good pull, but it probably went for too long.

Mitch,

Generally, I stop the shot when the tiger-striping disappears and the shot starts to take on a translucent appearance (more water than espresso). Others may do differently.

The first shot did seem a bit slow on the pull coupled with some uneven distribution. The second shot ran great. It looked a lot like the better shots that i am pulling with my Anita.

Your second pull seemed to run just a few seconds long. That might be why it was a bit too bitter. I might have stopped the shot around 28-30 seconds into the video. I find that the tiger stripping continues well into the shot going "blonde".

mitch236 wrote:I'm trying to learn when blonding occurs. Is there any blonding in your second shot? It appears to me to begin at about 29-30 seconds.

Based on other videos, comments, and my own observation, you can usually count on the cone in the middle to tell the tale. In the middle of the shot, the cone is wide and extends downward. When it shrinks and collapses up to the bottom of the PF, you want to shut it down.

This is harder to gauge with not-as-fresh beans, because they don't always develop that big gorgeous foamy cone in the middle of the pour. It can be more subtle.

But the effect is the same -- the cone of the pour will still collapse up to the bottom of the PF when it's time. It seems very pronounced on my machine. There's a definite end point almost as if something reversed and the flow gets sucked up against the PF.

Others please correct me if this doesn't extend to other machines. But you will see this happening in the above videos around the time he shuts down the shots.

This of course is in addition to the simple observation of "The color goes away", which supercedes other measures.