Slow pull - 1 minute - excellent?

#1: Post by **espressed** » February 3rd, 2021, 11:14 am

As part of learning how to use my La Pavoni Europiccola I have occasionally ended up with too fine a grind and/or too hard a tamp.

Today was 15g at 50 seconds with high pressure on the lever, and it was an amazing shot.

Has anyone else had this experience?

#2: Post by **Nate42** » February 3rd, 2021, 11:27 am

I don't have a Europiccola, but on both my Robot and my LaPepina I have definitely found that sometimes a finer grind a longer shot time is what gets the best results. As long as you avoid overheating or channeling, a fine grind and a long pull will give you better extraction, which often equals better flavor especially for light coffee. if it tastes good, its good!

#3: Post by **walr00s** » February 3rd, 2021, 11:30 am

My best shot this morning was from a ~50s shot (20s preinfusion/soak), between 4 and 8.5 bar. Caffe Lusso's Ethiopia Sidama. 15g in 35g out. Came out sweet and fruity with a tiny bit of astringency.

From what I've read, this is a fairly common brew recipe for light roasts. I think Scott Rao (and others I'm sure) does an even more exaggerated version of this with a very long PI and maxing ~7 bar on a very long shot.

February 3rd, 2021, 1:20 pm

Really good to know!

Yes, this is a lighter roast. If I don't have channeling it's unreal how good it is.

#5: Post by **grind727** » February 3rd, 2021, 1:59 pm

Yep, I've pulled some fantastic shots of lighter roasts on a Pavoni and other levers in that range.

#6: Post by **EddyQ** » February 3rd, 2021, 2:50 pm

espressed wrote:Today was 15g at 50 seconds with high pressure on the lever, and it was an amazing shot.

My guess is that your brew temperature was a little low for perhaps a light roasted dense bean. With lower temperatures you would need a longer brew time for the same extraction. Do you monitor your group temperature? Maybe try increasing it a bit while coarsening up you grind for a 30-35s pull.

#7: Post by **Almico** » February 3rd, 2021, 3:48 pm

My best shot to date was from my LaPavoni Pro. My 1,000 worst shots were from the same machine.

February 3rd, 2021, 11:03 pm

I think that is why the La Pavoni is such a great, fun machine to learn on. I share that experience, with exception of the worst of the worst which came from the KVDW the first week I owned it. I didn't know a shot could be that sour or bitter.

#9: Post by **guijan12** » February 4th, 2021, 3:58 pm

I don't mind the time when pulling a shot from my LPP.
Grind, grouphead temperature and ratio are the important factors I tweak with to get the best tasting espresso.

And as Almico already wrote; my best and worst shots are from the same machine (but not a 1,000 to 1)

#10: Post by **hege** » March 14th, 2021, 12:56 am

Never pour a shot in the sink without tasting it

I've had some pretty good shots as well with the LR, well in the 50+ second range with long preinfusion. Curiously this never happened with my previous E61 machine. My theory is that the dropping pressure and temperature in lever machines leads to a much wider usable extraction range.