Dialing in a modern espresso can feel like an art form. Whether you’re experimenting with single-dosing or exploring different extraction times, this guide offers insights into crafting the perfect shot. From the bright notes of an Ethiopian blend to the rich undertones of a Colombian single origin, we’ll delve into the intricacies of grind size, temperature, and brewing ratios with the La Marzocco Pico.
A large part of the world enjoys the specialty side of coffee filled with unique flavors! Specialty coffee is roasted to many profiles, but we do find a lot of light roast options in the market. Dialing in a more playful coffee can be both experimental and artistic.
To embrace the experimental side of brewing espresso, we can single-dose our coffee for each shot. To do this we weigh out the dose of coffee before we grind it instead of filling up the hopper. This kind of dosing makes switching between different origins or coffee roasters much easier.
A lot of flavor in coffee comes from it being roasted. The darker coffee gets the more well suited it becomes for creating a bold and balanced espresso. While we have this vision in our mind, we will fine-tune the grind size to create a wonderful and traditional espresso.
Once we have found an enjoyable coffee, using the hopper is a great way to keep things consistent. We don’t need to worry about the coffee going stale just from having it sitting in the hopper. It’s best to buy one 8-12oz bag at a time to pour into the hopper and as long as we use it within a few weeks from the roast date it will stay fresh and be perfect for brewing! Using freshly roasted coffee will also give us a beautiful layer of crema on top of our espresso.
brewing espresso with lighter roasts: a starting point
Lighter roasts often brew well with recipes that lean into larger ratios and also longer brewing times. Paying close attention to the grind, we will adjust it with precision to suit the specific beans we are working with. We may not have a precise idea of what our chosen coffee will taste like, but while trying out a recipe we are looking for pleasant acidity, sweetness, body, and any other noticeable flavors.
When brewing with a light roast, the coffee seeds will have remained dense and require work to break down during the extraction. The “work” is referring to temperature and grind size. We should start with a very fine grind size and high brewing temperature for these modern profiles. The machine’s temperature should be set somewhere between 200-205 fahrenheit or 93-96 celsius. The grind size should be moved finer and finer until it looks like powdered sugar and sticks together easily.
normale, a 1:2 ratio
To build our recipe we will lock in the dose to get started. The dose should always match closely with the basket size we are using. For example we can weigh out 17 grams of coffee and prepare it in the 17 gram basket. Our extraction time will include any pre-infusion or pre-brew we might be trying out. Meaning that the timer should start the moment water touches the coffee inside the basket, not just at the first drop seen. We are going for a normale espresso, which means pulling a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio.
Ground coffee in: 17 grams
Liquid espresso out: 34 grams
Brew time: 55 seconds
What’s the taste? This espresso shot will taste pretty intense because the water and coffee will have been in contact for a long time. Maybe we want to open this up more and control some of the sharp bold flavors being extracted. In this case we would make the grind coarser to lessen the time our coffee and water are in contact.
Ground coffee in: 17 grams
Liquid espresso out: 34 grams
Brew time: 40 seconds
What’s the taste? With a slightly more coarse grind, our shot may pull a 1:2 ratio in 40 seconds. The shorter time pulls out less solvents and could help tone down the shot’s potency. If we enjoy this, great! But this is also where our experimental side can come into play!
lungo, a 1:3 ratio
If we wanted our espresso to taste a bit softer still, Instead of another grinder adjustment, let’s try going longer with our ratio.
lungo, a 1:3 ratio
To brew, pack 7 grams of coffee down into the middle area nice and tight. Something that may be surprising is it should still take about 20-25 seconds for this small shot to pull and we don’t need to make a grinder change if we are already dialed in. But we are going to aim for a slightly larger ratio like it’s done in many Italian cafes dating back to the 1900’s.
Ground coffee in: 17 grams
Liquid espresso out: 51 grams
Brew time: 45 seconds
What’s the taste? Our espresso would be closer to a lungo style if we did this and take something like 45 seconds. This produces a more diluted brew and edges our tasting notes into the bitter side, but this will balance the espresso if the acidity is high. Depending on our taste preference, this could be a perfectly complex espresso with the flavors all in harmony. We won’t know if we don’t try!
enjoy the journey
By changing the grind size we can balance the extraction and by adjusting the ratio we can smooth out or bolden the strength of flavors in the shot. If we switch coffees, the dialing in starts over. This grind size and ratio that we landed on are not one size fits all.
Coffees that are roasted to a lighter modern profile will have more noticeable variations when switching around. For example, we will find unique results when moving from a natural Ethiopian to a washed Colombian coffee.
Exploring the world of brewing espresso is full of discovering fantastic coffees, all unleashed by our grinder.
