I have been pulling a lot of shots lately while dialing in my new Cimbali Max Hybrid and comparing it to the Mazzer Mini.

I find a series of espresso shots overwhelms the palate rather quickly. In order to dial down the intensity and caffeine intake, I sampled the shots as short Americanos, which was pretty effective. Sweetness and subtlety were more apparent this way, and I imagine the ratio of dissolved solids was closer to what you find in a traditional cupping.

My process went something like this:

Pull shot into pre-heated cappuccino cup
Examine crema
Inhale wet aroma while stirring or swirling it in the cup
Add 3 oz of ~170F water
Taste several times as the coffee cools

You can't judge the texture/body of the shots this way, but I think it's a great way to experience the aromatics and flavor balance.

I'm obviously not the first person to do this; a forum search returned a similar recommendation by Dan Kehn.

Finally, I am using this method to judge changes in the extraction using the same coffee. It would be nearly impossible to judge different coffees at the same time unless you had several grinders already dialed in.

It's a time honored method for testing espresso blends.

I never got much from it, mostly because I dislike Americanos. I think for anyone who enjoys Americanos, this may be a good idea of reducing palate overload.

However, there is a certain timing to sipping espresso which is absent in Americanos. In a good shot, there's a nice harmonious and tight sequence of first smells, then crema flavors, then liquid flavors, and finally, a summary of the shot in the aftertaste. When I'm testing different grinders and machines, rather than different coffees, it is in how well this sequence parades down my gullet where I notice differences most often.

Two words: Cafe Crema.

You get the benefit of a "proper" extraction (although the ratio of the components extracted isn't quite the same, but "experienced cuppers corrections" can compensate) plus an excellent idea of crema and body. Reduces wear on the tastebuds, too. The extraction is somewhat more forgiving, but coffee faults are quite obvious.

Lets you reduce a bundle of coffees down to a couple of reasonable candidates which can then be adjusted down to straight espressos. At this point you know they work as coffees, you're just working out how well they're balanced.

Alan