HB wrote:What I find interesting about this video is the enormous expansion of the cone! In fact I sent a similar video to Matt Riddle at Intelligentsia commenting "I've never Black Cat do anything like this, what do you think?" He helpfully offered, "I have no idea..... that looks terrible. I've never seen shots pull like that."

Without knowing how it tasted, I'll suggest that you try Black Cat served Intelligentsia's way: Ristretto and a longer pull. Jon's How to make a beautiful "naked" triple espresso gives you the blow-by-blow. The cliff notes version is updose a bit more, tighten the grind, let it flow longer.

Interestingly, the shot I pulled immediately before:



was updosed slightly (while I'm dosing by volume, I'm still weighing them to see how consistent I'm being) as I tapped to settle the grind after WDT and before leveling, something I normally don't do. The first posted shot was 17g, this one is at 18g and ran about 5 seconds longer. Being caught up in thinking the optimum time is around 24-27 seconds, I took the shot posted above down to 17g at the same grind and got the shorter extraction time and large cone.

This shot had a slightly smaller cone, but a bit of uneven extraction and bubbling about 22 seconds into the video.

However, I'd say you're exactly right about updosing helping the result. Both were very drinkable shots for me (better than anything I've had locally to be sure), but the updosed shot here was sweeter. REALLY like the Black Cat, and am willing to put some of the unusual results not only to my inexperience, but also to the shipment sitting in a UPS truck in Chicago for a week, then arriving in Colorado in the midst of another storm, then frozen and thawed. Not optimum, and certainly not how Matt's beans should be treated by caring baristas. Of course, the effects of being at about 5,500 ft can't be discounted as well.

So updosing I will do. And perhaps one click finer as well. Keep the advice coming as I don't have any shops here to keep me on track as to what to aim toward. Maybe when I fly through Chicago in April I'll have to do a long layover so I can make a quick run to Intelligentsia in person.

HB wrote:Except for the sudden cone expansion, that looked otherwise like a typical Black Cat-esque extraction. I think the 5,500 ft thing is the cause and a drop of a degree or two may help. Black Cat can be brewed as low as 198F, though that changes as they tweak the blends. As always, "adjust to taste."

Nooo! Don't say that! I don't think I'm quite ready for temp surfing or a PID yet (and know I'm completely inadequate to wire in a PID... not to mention if I'm going to do that I'm going to do it on a much better machine than the Gaggia Espresso). And part of me says that being at this altitude, no matter what I do, I may have to settle for almost-but-not-quite God shots.

Am really looking forward to fresh Black Cat and Kid O's due tomorrow...

onemoreshot wrote:I just put up a new video of a pretty good one ounce shot, not a perfect extraction but it tasted really good. My two year old son has some pretty funny commentary on it. Hope you enjoy!

That's a nice looking shot, amigo. Elicited the Pavlovian response from me! But I really like your son's interest---my now-five-year-old daughter started her career as a crema-thief when she was around two. I can't pull a shot without her fingers hovering near the demitasse as soon as it's done.

I've been tinkering with my shots a lot since I got a good grinder (upgraded to a Super Jolly from a Solis Maestro), a PID for my Silvia, and a naked PF. I've found them all to be ristrettos--I need to tinker more with the grind, but all the doubles I attempt now send jets across the splash guard. More importantly, they don't taste good. The ristrettos, however, have been epic: velvet syrup. I could drink them all day...

Cheers,
Paul

The single revisited again Not my best shots, but fun.

Ethipopian Lekempti roasted about 1 week ago, single basket



and again:

Another espresso shot with the single, just started to suffer "barbers pole striping" right at the end of the shot. Single basket, 8-9g ...dose, beans Ethiopian Lekempti (roasted 8 days ago).....still got plenty of crema even though a lot of it settles out. Should have killed it a tad earlier tho, too much concentration on the camera.



Have I mastered the single, NO , but I've spent 20 years trying

Interestingly I have tampers with a US Curves and a Flat bases, I find the flat base is much better in preventing channeling in the puck, I have tried and tried with the US curve, but personally don't find it as good as a pure flat base. Please lets see more of peoples single shots (e.g. Cannonfodder)

I keep wondering what those nice cones are an effect of? My cones are so shallow it's like they're superglued to the basket thanks

Merlino wrote:I keep wondering what those nice cones are an effect of? My cones are so shallow it's like they're superglued to the basket thanks

Some of the comments towards the end of the thread below might help

http://www.home-barista.com/forum...lvia-t3109-20.html

How is this rookie attempt?

BurBunny wrote:Nooo! Don't say that! I don't think I'm quite ready for temp surfing or a PID yet (and know I'm completely inadequate to wire in a PID... not to mention if I'm going to do that I'm going to do it on a much better machine than the Gaggia Espresso). And part of me says that being at this altitude, no matter what I do, I may have to settle for almost-but-not-quite God shots.

Am really looking forward to fresh Black Cat and Kid O's due tomorrow...

On the Gaggia, it's really no big thing. Just flush a little water out before pulling the shot. like, 1oz. or less.