Most people new to espresso, whether at home or in non-Italian bars, are taught to dose the basket by filling it loosely with grinds, then swiping their finger across the top. My guess is that more often than not this leads to sub par shots.

This is not a discussion of how much to dose, but how much head space to leave between the puck and the shower screen. The puck absorbs water and expands during the shot. Experts like Petracco in the Illy book, as well as many people's experience, suggests that the puck should have enough room so it doesn't hit the shower screen. This is particularly apparent on some groups like the Elektra's, but is somewhat true on almost all groups.

In most cases, finger swipe dosing doesn't leave enough head space, and the puck does contact the shower screen. It may be that in some cases finger strike dosing produces optimal shots, but more often, it does not. It is certainly not the way newbies should be taught to dose. Instead, they need to know about the need for some head space.

Despite its fatal flaws, finger strike dosing is both simple and consistent. Is there any proper method of dosing below the top of the basket that is just as simple and consistent?

I have recently raised the importance of headspace beyond all other dosing tips and suggestions. While doing my weekly cleaning I noticed that the dispersion block of my machine protruded further into the basket than I was really allowing for. I was trying to pull 17 and 18 gram updosed shots seeking a sweeter result in the cup. What I was getting was a much higher occurrence of early shot channeling and not enough consistency to tell if the results were truly what I was looking for. After looking at the dispersion block compared to my tamper I realized that the base of the tamper was slightly thicker than the dispersion block. I decided that I would downdose until I found something that with a modest tamp would leave the top of the piston just below the rim of the basket. What I have found is that 14 to 14.5 grams is the limit for this with an LM ridgeless double and my machine. I have seen a dramatic increase in shot consistency. I am now working on dialing in the grind at this dose to alter the flow in an effort to chase after a sweeter more balanced result. I don't think I can go much higher than 14.5 without getting a deeper basket.

Darn I posted a reply without fully reading and now I am editing to offer an answer to the final question. I think the only way to dose below the rim of the basket consistently would be to pre weigh the dose, grind and clear the chute completely, and then WDT until you had an even surface, then tamp.

Gus

another_jim wrote:In most cases, finger swipe dosing doesn't leave enough head space, and the puck does contact the shower screen....Is there any proper method of dosing below the top of the basket that is just as simple and consistent?

Sort of depends on the grinder and the density with which it delivers grinds into the pf, no?

For instance, the Versalab produces particularly fluffy grounds. If one finger swipes those grounds, then tamps, there will be lots of headspace. Similarly if one WDTs and finger swipes.

Rat-tat-tat doser flicking (as the coffee is grinding) also helps with fluffiness, in my experience.

Perhaps the finger swipe is OK if the grinder and/or grinder technique is appropriate?

Also, you don't mention those french-curve tools that swipe below the rim. Have you tried them and not liked them?

another_jim wrote:Is there any proper method of dosing below the top of the basket that is just as simple and consistent?

On my QM Alexia, the best most consistent shots are obtained with the finger swipe. I actually slightly concave into the basket with my finger, then tamp. I have never weighed the result, but this gives me a tamp that is slightly below the ridge in the QM double basket. This (for me) gives the optimum head space.

I think that answers your question.

Bill

I was looking for something so simple and so by the numbers that it would please even Schomer.

More generally, go back to 1998 to 2002. People bought their Silvias and Classics, MDFs and Rockys, went to alt.coffee, and got the shot making drill. It was adapted from Schomer, could be communicated in a few paragraphs, and was easily learned.

The only problem is that it was wrong in several details.

Should we come up with a new drill?

Perhaps: weigh your dose (start at around 15 grams, adjust to taste), use a bottomless (learn to pack and level right), cut shots when they go blond (latest when they put a pale spot on the crema), adjust the grinder for the right shot time (so the shot blonds at 25 to 30 seconds) .

Or should we give up on drills?

edwa wrote:How does that French tool work for below the rim? You wouldn't be able to swipe it across like the photos show

Sure you can, try it with your doser lid.

You could taking a piece of dense cardboard, like back of a writing tablet, cutting out a piece around 70 mm across, and then cutting the sides so there is a 58 mm section that extends down a couple mm or so.
try spinning this in the basket. Haven't tried it, just had a thought.

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another_jim wrote:Should we come up with a new drill?

Perhaps: weigh your dose (start at around 15 grams, adjust to taste), use a bottomless (learn to pack and level right), cut shots when they go blond (latest when they put a pale spot on the crema), adjust the grinder for the right shot time (so the shot blonds at 25 to 30 seconds) .

This is exactly what works for me, paired with this:

another_jim wrote:being able to pull shots -- use a bottomless PF and get good extractions using whatever technique you like. The second is to pick a good coffee. It should taste good to you brewed, and should smell good to you when ground. The third is to find the dose which gets the espresso as pleasant as what you brewed and what you smelled.

as to the "use whatever technique you like" part, let me repeat that I level with a needle. No yogurt cup - just stir the grinds a bit in the basket until they're level. I tried to use some tool to level inside the basket but it doesn't work well for me - finger is better.

EricL wrote:You could taking a piece of dense cardboard, like back of a writing tablet, cutting out a piece around 70 mm across, and then cutting the sides so there is a 58 mm section that extends down a couple mm or so. try spinning this in the basket. Haven't tried it, just had a thought.

A good idea, but it will move the grounds around, not out of the basket. The curved tool will work much better, although you may want to sweep from a few different directions to make it uniform. It would be easy enough to make one from a piece of plastic or cardboard cut along a radial curve traced out from a pie plate or using a protractor. That would be a lot cheaper that $120 for the retail product.

Is it better that just weighing out a lower dose and doing a WDT? Hard to say.

Adrian

Tonight I have been trying out this new technique, and it works perfectly. I simply use the lid of a large jar or a circular Tupperware container and swipe it across the top of the basket after filling with fresh coffee grounds. Measuring the grounds removed, I found that with the 53 mm basket:
2.5 inch diameter lid = 5 grams of removed grounds
6.0 inch diameter lid = 2 grams of removed grounds
so it should be very easy to adjust the dose consistently.

Because of its circular profile and the circular nature of the basket cross section, a single swipe is sufficient, but I used four swipes (up, down, left, right) just to be compulsive. Then tamping and everything else was performed as usual.

Well, it worked like a charm. The effects of lower dose were as expected and there were no issues. Watching the bottomless portafilter carefully throughout, the extractions were all perfect with even distribution and no channeling whatsoever.

There were no issues substituting the "lid swipe" step for the finger swipe (actually I usually use a toothpick to make sure it is perfectly even across the top). It seems to work great.

This is a great, easy method to adjust your dose and dose below the rim of the basket in a simple consistent fashion.

Are we all so sure that the "must have Xmm headspace" argument is both correct and universal?

I think you'd get an argument from a number of people on it being correct (George Sabados for example). And you'd get an argument from a LOT of people on it being universal.

I am puzzled by headspace. Many baristas at the 2008 WBC didn't seem to care about it. They were overfilling big time and then using the Stockfleth's move. Also, when beans start aging, you'll have to updose cause you cannot keep grinding finer indefinitely. It seems to me that dose, grind and temperature are the variables to play with when finding a sweet spot for a particular coffee. Headspace is either there or not after this routine.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers,

Bas

It will be interesting to see how the baristas will do dosing in this years WBC finals. The N.S. Aurelia, with its SIS pre-infusion system, does not like updosing. At least that is my experience. With a coarse grind and no headspace it is a big challenge to avoid channeling. If you give it some headspace though, and a bit finer grind it is brilliant. With a grinder with timer this is no problem, but how do one consistently conceive this with a traditional doser?

another_jim wrote: Is there any proper method of dosing below the top of the basket that is just as simple and consistent?

Yes, there is. Once the coffee is dosed into the pf, use a cake-tester/needle/toothpick/etc. to stir the grounds (just the WDT without the yogourt cup). After stirring to create an evenly distributed pf, use the cake-tester/etc. to sweep across the top of the pf to remove the excess coffee.

The WDT stirring action fluffs the grounds such that fresh coffees that have been ground to achieve an extraction in the typical volume and time range will not touch the screen.

It's very easy, produces an even extraction, and provides a consistent dose.


Mark

Adrian,
When using your tupperware lids, did you do the WDT first? Did you weigh your coffee? Finally, does you Viv 2 have the preinfusion chamber (which is supposed to cut down on channeling)? Michael

another_jim wrote:Should we come up with a new drill?

Perhaps: weigh your dose (start at around 15 grams, adjust to taste), use a bottomless (learn to pack and level right), cut shots when they go blond (latest when they put a pale spot on the crema), adjust the grinder for the right shot time (so the shot blonds at 25 to 30 seconds) .

Or should we give up on drills?

This is basically what I have come up with as a routine. The purists may not like it but I take only a few seconds longer to make my two shots in the morning and the consistency is better (for me). I grind into alittle meta ramakin and weigh the dose. I WDT, distribute with my finger and tamp. Funny but my results were better with about 14-14.5 gm for some time but now I have been experimenting with updosing from that point and finding with some blends really fantastic results up to about 16 to 16.5 gm. Maybe my technique and temperature control are more precise now.

mgwolf wrote:Adrian,
When using your tupperware lids, did you do the WDT first? Did you weigh your coffee? Finally, does you Viv 2 have the preinfusion chamber (which is supposed to cut down on channeling)? Michael

Okay, so first of all, I will review my complete routine, but it does not have an impact on the fact that using the "lid sweep" yields a symmetric even surface of grounds in the basket.

In addition, here is some further refinement: using a lid from a jar or Tupperware container, take a basket which has been filled with coffee grounds and sweep outwards from the center of the grounds in four directions. The bottom of the lid should be facing downwards, and you should PUSH the lid away from the center, rather than dragging it toward the edge. In this way, the outer edge of the lid simply pushes accumulated excess grounds out; if you drag the lid across the surface, the grounds build up inside the inner lip of the lid and disrupt the even distribution.

In answer to your question, here is what I do. And, yes, my Vivaldi II has the pre-infusion option.
1. Weigh the fresh coffee beans to exceed the desired dose.
2. Grind the beans to the desired grind fineness, into a small bowl.
3. Pass the grounds through a small mesh screen to break up clumps, allowing the grounds to distribute into the basket(s). Alternatively, one can grind into the basket and use a technique like the WDT to improve distribution. I have found using the mesh screen superior to all other methods. Every extraction with my bottomless portafilter is uniform every time with no channeling.
4. Use the "lid sweep" method, as described above. In preparation, I have previously filled the basket and used the "lid sweep" method with different grinds and different lid sizes, after which I measured the weight of the grounds remaining in the basket. In this way, I know for a particular grind, what size lid to use to achieve the dose (weight) I want. Alternately, you can weigh the basket before and after, but I feel that this increases the number of steps involved and risks disrupting the distribution as well as adding time to the process.
5. Tamp as usual.
6. Remove excess grounds.
7. Extract as usual.
8. Enjoy.