People have reported using a puff of steam on the beans for RDT. Anyone do this? Seems it would be more convenient than grabbing the RDT bottle for a spray or two - not to mention having one less thing to keep track of. Please advise.

I haven't given it a try yet. I guess it is a matter of keeping the container with the beans just far enough from the steam tip, so you don't scald the beans but do get some moisture on them.

Edit:
I have given it a try and found myself picking up beans off the kitchen Floor . A bit further away from the tip still.

All I've ever used for the exact reasons listed.

I use a 14g ridgeless basket to weigh my doses and with my dosing funnel resting atop, I give them a quick puff of steam. No mess, no fuss.

Cheers!

- Jake

I do this on the EK43 and it works perfectly for me. Though, I do have to steam and grind into a separate cup as condensation on the edge of the cup will make the grounds stick to it after grinding. Dose, purge steam wand, puff of steam at a distance, shake/swirl beans in cup, grind into separate cup.

I do puff of steam with my pump machine. But on my Pavoni levers, I usually grind (manually on HG-1) while the machine is heating up, so I use a martini spritzer when I'm doing my lever shots. These Pavoni levers are not temp stable. They get hotter and hotter until the group reaches the same temperature as the boiler, which will be too hot for espresso. So it's important to have your puck prepped and be ready to pull the shot when the machine is the right temp. It's a narrow window, getting narrower the more challenging the bean.

-Peter

I haven't tried using steam for RDT. I find one spray from a tiny water spray bottle works well and is convenient. With steam, I don't know that I could control the amount of moisture nearly as well, plus the beans might go flying.

Rocky

I enjoy the convenience of the steam wand a lot, but have ultimately resolved to using a spray bottle because a spray bottle runs zero chance of being tainted with milk. There is nothing worse than a perfectly prepared filter coffee that is tainted from even the slightest amount of milk (and I am a cappuccino lover, for the record).

Although I rarely have this issue, I am extra cautious because milky-tea and milky-coffee drinkers in my house have been known not to fully wash their cups and consequently make me the angriest coffee drinker for miles.

I've tried both and have settled on the spray bottle because it gives a controlled amount of moisture. Using steam usually gives too much condensation.

RockyIII wrote:I haven't tried using steam for RDT. I find one spray from a tiny water spray bottle works well and is convenient. With steam, I don't know that I could control the amount of moisture nearly as well, plus the beans might go flying.Rocky

All good points, but this works great for me when single dosing - Take a clean teaspoon and dip the end in water or place it under a water flow for a second. Shake off so that just a drop or two remain and tap straight into the beans.

The grind cup on my Kinu M68 inverts straight into a portafilter and I use it to pre-weigh or marshal the dose into the grinder mouth. This tiny amount of water prevents the 0.1-0.2g of grind that can stick to the cone base otherwise. But it's not enough to cause the grind to stick when I invert the cup onto the portafilter. Result - weight in weight out within the 0.1g measurement limit of my scale.

I can't claim originality - James Hoffman has it on his video blog and he credits someone else.....