by bmb on Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:16 am
By Scott's Rao book I would say that your shots are channeling, getting a little more yellow on one side before the others.
For my taste, the baskets you're using are too small for all that coffee ...
It seems to me that there may be left too little room for PI ...
I would use less coffee or get bigger baskets.
The Espresso Resource 18 and 21 gr baskets (I prefer ridgeless) work great for me. I take the 21 basket whenever I use over 17gr of grinds.
I wouldn't use either the funnel neither the hand for distributing, and would WDT with a toothpick, that needle feels much too fine.
Could eventually try the funnel, to dose into the basket, without holding it so near the grinder, just resting the basket in the table with the funnel on feels "better" to me (it's, just as I said, just a feeling).
Also your grind's looks "sticky" to me ... Mine looks "drier" ...
Perhaps the roast may be a little too dark or oily ?
My routine is:
1. Grind and dose into the filter.
2. Tap filter slightly on the rubber mat (one or two times from 1 - 2 cm high), just to accommodate the grinds, pre-leveling.
3. Distribute grind evenly with toothpick, eliminating eventual clumps, and allowing the grinds to level all the surface.
4. Repeat tap (as in 2). Now the surface should look smooth and leveled.
5. Tamp, as you do the first part of yours, just leveling and pressing with the fingers, may slap harder (as in OE's slap technique video) against the rubber mat. In this "diagnosis" phase, I would avoid pressing harder, as you do in the second part of your tamp, as you risk "breaking" the leveling already done.
6. I avoid touching the grinds with fingers or hand, also tamping too hard (making force may take your arm a few degrees from the vertical, without noticing it), and woudn't polish, as it might disturb the puck.
7. Extract.
I hope that some of these "alternative handlings" may help you find out what is going wrong with your shots.