It's my habit to taste my sinks. I started this as a way to bracket my shots. If it's really fast, or really hot, or really blonde, whatever, I taste it to see what barely fast, or barely hot, or... you get the idea. If it tastes a lot like this with a lot of that, a little too much of that will make it taste a little like this. That way when I have a sniggling little taste issue, I have an idea of where to push what to correct it.
Anyhoo, to make a long story short (too late), I was dialing in a new blend the other day, and the first shot nearly choked the machine. A few drops in twenty-five seconds, so I stopped it and dumped the puck, loosened up the Major, and took another stab at it. It started slow, and was really gloppy, and then started this beautiful tiger striping, It was all auburn and golden and wonderfully pretty, so I let it go. At sixty seconds, it went from gorgeous to blonde, in a split second. I cut it, and there was just the tiniest drop of blond in the center of really beautifully thick and viscous crema. On my way to the sink, I took my traditional taste before I dumped it, and it was good. Really good. Remarkably good! It really didn't have the complexity of the usual shots I'd been getting used to from this blend, but it was basso profundo in the warm, comfortable, sweet and chocolatey.
So I pulled another this morning. Same thing. I'm going to pull another one right now. I do miss the complex taste of the normale that I usually pull, but I think I'll be drinking these 'til I get bored of them.

Although i think it was useful when I started, I gave up keeping time a while ago. Especially with the lever machine, I've found it better to focus on the taste of the espresso than the clock. Never looked back

PC

Psyd wrote:It started slow, and was really gloppy, and then started this beautiful tiger striping, It was all auburn and golden and wonderfully pretty, so I let it go. At sixty seconds, it went from gorgeous to blonde, in a split second.

My running joke at our Friday get-together is that an extraction becomes nuclear fissile material at 42 seconds (or Mike's preferred drink, if he's in attendance). It's hard to imagine an extraction running 60 seconds not being badly overextracted, but as the saying goes, proof is in the cup.

BTW, you're not the only one... below is Tim's 60 second ristretto:

I tend to "draw the line" around 45 seconds. That is, I will change my grind after the shot if it takes more than 45 seconds. I usually still drink the 1 minute pours, and I like them. I feel like in the low 40's, you get a shot that has that nice heavy body, and the sweet chocolate (depending on the beans), but still has a decent amount of complexity. That's what I shoot for, usually. I have a Synesso 18+ gram basket and I am pretty consistently winding up with 19-20 gram doses, with ~2.5 oz., 38-45 second shots--that's my favorite window.

Mind you, after 3 years I still haven't "graduated" to straight shots. I will occasionally try straight shots for the heck of it, and of course when sampling a new blend or dialing in I drink all straight shots till I feel like I am where I want to be with it. I still like those short cappuccinos/"lattés" (5.5 oz) better than straight.

That's me. I hesitate to even bother tasting pours at or under 20 seconds. I have never liked one of them.

I have pulled some out to the mid 40's before and gotten good results, but I have never gone that long. A 45 second one ounce ristretto is like drinking syrup, deep, goopy, mahogany crema bomb.

Have yet to venture into the 60sec extraction period. Like PC after converting over to the Lever Only world of espresso the concept of the 8-10sec preinfusion, 28-30sec total extraction time has been shelved along the the E61/HX machine. Whatever works to yield an acceptable shot have become my new guidelines.

On a machine with a 3-way (I have a Brasilia Club) is a water backflush after these shots (if the drinking session is over) a necessity? Also, would more frequent backflushing with cafizza be recommended?

I've recently started aiming for ristrettos because I enjoy them more than the taste of shots in the 25-35 sec range, so I've been doing a water backflush after each session (usually one double in a session, so I've been flushing afterwards) and every few weeks with cafizza, and I want to know if this makes sense.

shadowfax wrote:I tend to "draw the line" around 45 seconds.

That's me. I hesitate to even bother tasting pours at or under 20 seconds. I have never liked one of them.

Like I said, the complexity does get a little smothered by the creamy smoothness, and the overwhelming chocolaty, and I'm sure it would suffer a bit more in milk, but I really expected it to be way over-extracted and to get sinked. I was amazed that it was even palatable, much less really tasty!
I'll probably bore in a handful of these, especially since I traded a half-pound of beans to Nick's kids in Arlington this week, and start something else, but I'd thought I'd share.
And, I only taste the under twenty-five's to punish myself with the education! ; >

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I have been experimenting with 40 second short ristretto's and I've got to say they have been very very good. Intense, sweet, and thick like honey.

Now I'm intrigued about what happens if I go longer? 50 seconds? I'm feeling nervous. 55? the thought is frightening. 60 seconds ... *gulp*

Now do I have the guts to venture beyond 40 seconds? And if not, can I still consider myself a man? These are the questions I must ask myself.

hmmmm....I've been getting similar extractions by accident too. I basically choke my machine either by not setting my grinder correctly (sometimes it's hard to tell where the adjustment nut is really) or dosing wrong...usually when I switch coffees. But instead of depressurizing to take out the portafilter and start over I just keep a moderate pressure on the lever...it hardly moves but drops of goopy syrupy thick coffee start coming out from the portafilter and slowly turns into thin streams...and it's actually good! But the next shot I try to coarsen the grind just a bit so I have less resistance on the lever and it's usually better.