Hey guys,

So after reading a bit about the various famous coffee shops in Rome, I came across some information about sant eustachio and their weird looking crema. It appears that the "secret" to the crema might be adding baking soda to the water. I just pulled two shots with my Forge adding a little bit of baking soda to the boiling water in the kettle. I got very interesting results, very heavy crema and a great tasting shot.

How much baking soda to how much water? Also do you know why it works?
Thanks,
Karan

I added very little, maybe 1/4 of a teaspoon to about 700 ml of water

Many of the water recipe threads mention the use of bicarbonates, which baking soda is. 1/4tsp per 700ml seems like a lot in comparison to the way I've seen it used elsewhere though. What kind of flavor changes do you notice?

Not a big difference in taste (maybe a little smoother), but the crema and the shot as it's being pulled looks different. The pull is very consistent and the crema is thicker and maybe a tad darker as well. I don't really measure the quantity of baking soda (yet anyways).