I took a stab at my own version of the "how to adjust taste by grind and dose" plot. I am not claiming it is any better than what others have created. My goal was to highlight the two variables, which are flow rate and grind size, that the barista could adjust to achieve the desired changes in taste.

Let me know what you think and how it could be improved.

Note that the barista is always adjusting at least two parameters.

To maintain a constant flow rate in order to adjust the aggressiveness of the taste, he or she needs to adjust both the grind size and the dose.

To maintain a constant dose while adjusting the grind, which affects the level of acidity, he or she needs to adjust the grind size and the amount of time the grinder is running to achieve the same dose. That may not be important for someone with a vario-w-type of grinder, but with my mazzer mini-e, if I only change the grind and don't also adjust the timer, I will end up with a different dose.

fizguy wrote:I took a stab at my own version of the "how to adjust taste by grind and dose" plot. I am not claiming it is any better than what others have created. My goal was to highlight the two variables, which are flow rate and grind size, that the barista could adjust to achieve the desired changes in taste.

Let me know what you think and how it could be improved.

Note that the barista is always adjusting at least two parameters.

To maintain a constant flow rate in order to adjust the aggressiveness of the taste, he or she needs to adjust both the grind size and the dose.

To maintain a constant dose while adjusting the grind, which affects the level of acidity, he or she needs to adjust the grind size and the amount of time the grinder is running to achieve the same dose. That may not be important for someone with a vario-w-type of grinder, but with my mazzer mini-e, if I only change the grind and don't also adjust the timer, I will end up with a different dose.

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Very cool. Do you have link to a higher-res image of the diagram? The compression of this forum's attachment feature is making the text fuzzy.

The "Barista" would only correct one parameter. No time when the queue is lining in front of the counter to start to mess up with all the parameters.

This graph shows lower flow attributed to more bitters and aggressiveness, how do you get those"sweet" ristrettos then?

fizguy wrote:To maintain a constant flow rate in order to adjust the aggressiveness of the taste, he or she needs to adjust both the grind size and the dose.

Nice chart but I wonder, why is a constant flow rate a target? Isn't flow rate just a byproduct of output over time? Therefore smaller shots have a slower flow rate & longer shots a faster flow rate, for a given shot time.

And throughout the extraction, the puck is giving up solids, leading to less resistance over the time of the shot. Without control of the pressure hitting the puck, the flow will accelerate. Flow profiling capable machines can compensate for this. One reason I love my levers.

Thanks for the replies. I agree the resolution is poor. Maybe I don't need all the fancy colors.

In terms of the theory, I was trying to take what I understood of the pinned post by Jim and plot it in a different manner that was more in line with how I think. I am afraid I may not be able to answer some of the questions above, but I bet someone else can!

Absolutely. I will try to improve the quality, and perhaps send you the original.

dhb wrote:The "Barista" would only correct one parameter. No time when the queue is lining in front of the counter to start to mess up with all the parameters.

This IS Home-Barista.com, not pro-barista.com, no?

Regardless, don't professional baristi need to dial in the shots? Don't professional baristi need to understand how to tweak the shots to acheve the desired result in the cup? Shouldn't professional baristi be tasting shots periodically thoroughout the day and making these adjustments? To say you don't have time to make a good product is a load of bs (IMO). Really, this merely says you don't care enough to monitor your product and maintain its quality. I certainly don't want to drink anything coming out of a cafe that doesn't have the time or desire to make the best drinks possible.

Strong work Justin! Thanks for sharing.