Specialty cafe made me this flat white. How might I tweak recipe if this was at home

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bluecorr
Posts: 25
Joined: 4 years ago

#1: Post by bluecorr »

Was out on a day trip and walked into a specialty cafe . They brewed me a flat white using this coffee

https://www.truestartcoffee.com/collect ... -colombian (they said this is a medium roast)

Had a nice chat with the barista (clearly very knowledgeable) and the recipe in my cup was 20>40 @ 100 C (212 F). I'm still at the start of my espresso journey and palate hasn't experienced many flavours but right off the bat I thought it had a lot of acidity, not enough coffee-y taste and not enough sweetness. At least I think that was acidity -- I don't think I ever experienced that in a coffee but acidity the first thing that came to mind. There was no hint of bitterness.

The cup tasted really well brewed by someone who knows what they're doing, milk was perfect temp, just not to my taste. If this was at home and I had a whole bag of this coffee, how might I attempt to tweak it so that I get more sweetness, less acidity and more taste of coffee in my flat white?

The brew temp sounded really high to me, I thought 95 C is the higher end temp for medium/light roasts? Am I right in thinking I'd have to lower the dose, grind finer and pull longer, at least 1:1.5 or even 1:2?

ping279
Posts: 90
Joined: 8 years ago

#2: Post by ping279 »

It is possible that what you tasted at the shop is just how the beans taste. However, if you are wanting to experiment at home and push towards more sweetness and less acidity, I would try pulling at the 1:2 like they do. The temperature does seem a bit high, doesn't seem like there would be a need to go that hot. The higher temperature mainly gives the espresso a more roasted flavor but can easily be overdone. The only times I go above 203F are for very light roasts. I would start around 200 F but primarily tweak grind/shot time over temperature. Try pushing the grind towards fine and pull a longer (in time) shot. Faster flowing shots tend to be more acidic/sour so I would start with a tighter grind and work from that.

Being a flat white, there is less milk than a standard latte so the espresso flavor comes through more. Maybe you just aren't accustomed to the acid of espresso? Either way, I would start with grind and shot time and test the outcomes without milk to fully taste the differences. Good luck!

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DeGaulle
Posts: 545
Joined: 10 years ago

#3: Post by DeGaulle »

bluecorr wrote:Was out on a day trip and walked into a specialty cafe . They brewed me a flat white using this coffee

https://www.truestartcoffee.com/collect ... -colombian (they said this is a medium roast)
Rr
Had a nice chat with the barista (clearly very knowledgeable) and the recipe in my cup was 20>40 @ 100 C (212 F). I'm still at the start of my espresso journey and palate hasn't experienced many flavours but right off the bat I thought it had a lot of acidity, not enough coffee-y taste and not enough sweetness. At least I think that was acidity -- I don't think I ever experienced that in a coffee but acidity the first thing that came to mind. There was no hint of bitterness.

The cup tasted really well brewed by someone who knows what they're doing, milk was perfect temp, just not to my taste. If this was at home and I had a whole bag of this coffee, how might I attempt to tweak it so that I get more sweetness, less acidity and more taste of coffee in my flat white?

The brew temp sounded really high to me, I thought 95 C is the higher end temp for medium/light roasts? Am I right in thinking I'd have to lower the dose, grind finer and pull longer, at least 1:1.5 or even 1:2?
Hi Carmen,
If you are somehow looking to approach what the barista at the specialty coffee shop served you, I don't want to disappoint you, but that will be a challenge with a bean-to-cup machine. Espresso brewing knows many variables that effect the brew, the one with the largest footprint is grind size. If the recipe has been set (e.g. a 2:1 brew ratio) then to increase sweetness and reduce acidity, one needs to tweak the grind setting as fine as possible and not choke the flow of liquid coming out of the machine. Typically the grinding part of a superauto isn't geared up to reach that fine setting that gives you the contact surface area required between the coffee and the water. With a superauto people tend to use a higher water to coffee ratio, so the brew will be more dilute than "real" espresso, but in comparison still under-extracted. Obviously I don't know what gear the barista was using, but if it's a specialty coffee shop, they will be using a dedicated grinder and a commercial machine. The latter isn't a requirement for home espresso, the first is and can be combined with a wide range of machines.
Bert