malachi wrote:Odds are good it's the coffee. This is a weird time of year for coffees due to harvest cycles. In addition, Blue Bottle is somewhat notorious for periodic significant roast inconsistencies.

Let's hope so. Tomorrow's market day so I'll be getting some new coffee. And in answer to you, Michael, I'd say some of the shots have been pouring faster than usual, but not all.

Which Blue Bottle coffee are you using?

malachi wrote:Which Blue Bottle coffee are you using?

Hayes Valley

It really sounds like beans. If the grind was off the drinks would be similar every time. Since your results are swinging wildly I would lay a very suspicious eye on the beans or very bad channeling/dosing problems.

cannonfodder wrote:It really sounds like beans. If the grind was off the drinks would be similar every time. Since your results are swinging wildly I would lay a very suspicious eye on the beans or very bad channeling/dosing problems.

Hmm... I have been having some channeling problems lately.... I've been dozing and tamping without leveling and it's been working fine til... til this week, as I said in the OP. Maybe some temperature or humidity factor is affecting the grind, thus leading to channeling, and so on.

1 - you're discovering one of the reasons why coffee pros don't do the whole "dose and tamp without leveling" thing. Trying to be consistent and in control and getting good extraction and flow under trying and changing circumstances is much harder.

2 - everyone is waiting for new crop Brazils to arrive. as a result, espresso that are heavy on Brazil are using old crop coffee. if this coffee is lower quality, low elevation green and/or is poorly stored it's going to be fading fast right about now.

3 - once you're working with fading coffee it's important to change your roasting and your prep. You'll need to change your prep - but that will only be moderately effective unless the roast is changing as well.