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Monday morning coffee chit chat. Anyone drink ristretto as a matter of course as opposed to espresso? No reason to this apart from a lad unworked with told me the ultimate coffee to drink in his eyes was ristretto ☕
How much finger do you need to go on the grind?
Ristretto is my Sunday morning vice.
That first 8 to 10 seconds extraction is the best hit
The grind stays the same as the amount in the basket, it’s just the first part of the normal extraction that’s all
When I was 'trained' on tasting espresso we tasted the 3 stages, first few seconds, the middle bit and then the 'blonding' at the end. Independently all pretty weird to drink. combined very lovely, so monty's approach wouldn't work for me. Ristretto still needs all the elements just with a lower yield of water.
Unless you can reduce the water dose as well as increase the grind size on your machine I'm not sure how easily you can produce a true Ristretto.
I'm been stuck on long blacks for a while now, I love espresso, but it's all over too soon, the thought of making it even shorter is not what I'm aiming for 🙂
Espressos and ristrettos are for when you are out and about popping in and out all ober the shop aren't aren't they?
Or for legitimising sitting down to smoke a fag.
I’m been stuck on long blacks for a while now, I love espresso, but it’s all over too soon, the thought of making it even shorter is not what I’m aiming for
This is me too. A short sharp shot is very nice if someone else is going to the hassle of making it but I cba to warm a machine up properly at home for a 3 second drink. The Italian culture of walking into a cafe, knocking back a shot at the bar and walking out without sitting down hasn't really translated here yet.
I’m been stuck on long blacks for a while now, I love espresso, but it’s all over too soon, the thought of making it even shorter is not what I’m aiming for
This is me too. A short sharp shot is very nice if someone else is going to the hassle of making it but I cba to warm a machine up properly at home for a 3 second drink. The Italian culture of walking into a cafe, knocking back a shot at the bar and walking out without sitting down hasn’t really translated here yet.
Yeah, same here.
I generally don’t order ristretto out because I’m not keen on how they usually make it- stopping the shot short often tastes underextracted IMO.
I do drink them at home, using 18-20g of coffee depending on the type, for a 15grm extraction in 15 secs. You won’t often get that out as the barista won’t want to fiddle with the grind, however there’s a couple of places I frequent where they are happy to indulge me!
Espressos are for when you are in Italy with Italians as you won't have time to drink anything else!
Got to ask, what’s a ristretto?
(Yep I know, ask Google blah blah 😀)
Got to ask, what’s a ristretto?
(Yep I know, ask Google blah blah 😀)
It's the very pinnacle of "Peak STW"...
Lol. We haven’t even got started yet 😊
It’s the very pinnacle of “Peak STW”…
Gave in and looked it up, would seem to be 😂
Is the correct response now “how do I make a ristretto with a gaggia classic?
Don't forget it must be delivered from a bottomless portafilter
it's what you make when you haven't got time to drink an espresso
Don’t forget it must be delivered from a bottomless portafilter
Well that’s just sent me down another coffee related 🐇 🕳
The Gaggia Classic I purchased (after reading STW coffee threads) came with a bottomless filter. At one point I thought I'd perfected getting everything just right so a nice upside cone shape formed (unlike that image above) but I just can't quite be bothered any more and just want a coffee. The trouble with bottomless filters is you get these tiny little jets coming off in random directions, some of which you won't even notice until you wonder why there's a brown splatter stain down your wall.
The trouble with bottomless filters is you get these tiny little jets coming off in random directions
The trouble with bottomless filters is you have to get your puck prep perfect.
Peak STW is about WDTing your puck to remove clumps and prevent channeling 🙂
until you wonder why there’s a brown splatter stain down your wall.
Nope, that splatter has been there since the "aeropress incident".
Nope, that splatter has been there since the “aeropress incident”.
Haha, I've had one of those as well - coffee grounds all over the window, on the floor, on top of the wall cupboards...
Re filters, I bought one of those filters with the tiny hole in the bottom, to make crema. This attracted howls of derision, but it's doing really well. I get far less watery small black coffee now and far more what looks like espresso.
I can't see what the problem is. If the entire basket is at a high pressure, surely I'm extracting more oils from more of the coffee more evenly, and I don't have to worry about channeling or lopsided tamping or any of that stuff?
Don’t you just love forum chat.
A bottomless portafilter needs good prep.
The grind has to be right and the tamp good as well.
Channelling is an effect of the wrong grind size and an incorrect tamp pressure.
Get good beans, the right grind and tamp, it’s then a joy.
Next
Basically tar, or something akin to bitchumen. I expect you have to slurp it too, get the full nastiness of the taste.
To quote another thread "How many people don’t know how things work"?
Well me for one. The limit of my coffee making skill is filter or cafetière. There is some serious equipment and technique going on above.
The limit of my coffee making skill is filter or cafetière
Once you call filter a 'pour over' method instead you are opening up another world of coffee geekness with weighing water and pouring patterns from your specialist swan necked kettle. 'Might' be my favourite type of coffee at the moment but a covid/brexit generated filter shortage has me back on the stovetop and enjoying that too. Pavoni's not getting a lot of love - need to sort that out.
A bit like bikes, it's all good. Actually, scratch that - lots of bad. But there is a rich variety of good to have a time and a place for.
Pavoni’s not getting a lot of love – need to sort that out.
Always wanted one. Worth it?
The limit of my coffee making skill is filter or cafetière
Pretty bloody good options. Do you let the coffee bloom before whacking al the water in?
Only Italians can make the best coffee because they use the secret ingredient:
LOVE
Once you call filter a ‘pour over’ method instead you are opening up another world of coffee geekness with weighing water and pouring patterns from your specialist swan necked kettle.
Bugger that. Melitta filter on coffee pot.
Do you let the coffee bloom before whacking al the water in?
Say what?
Peak STW is about WDTing your puck to remove clumps and prevent channeling 🙂
I'm missing a vital piece of information to understand your meaning, I'm afraid. Urban dictionary was no help, other website available but their results for WDT were too volumnous.
Channelling is an effect of the wrong grind size and an incorrect tamp pressure.
What number on the Sage Smart Grinder Pro (pictured below), I usually have it set to around no 9. Could that be too fine?
Say what?
😁
Get it wet and let it soak before you dump all the water in.
Thats about my limit of faffing.
I go one mode left on the nespresso machine, and put the poncy small cup in.
Does that count?!
Get good beans, the right grind and tamp, it’s then a joy.
That's easier said than done, though. Different beans need different amounts and different grinds to get a good pour, at least in my setup they do. So unless you want to drink the same coffee all the time there's a ton of trial and error to get to this point.
Haha, I’ve had one of those as well – coffee grounds all over the window, on the floor, on top of the wall cupboards…
The blast zone is something to behold!
Different beans need different amounts and different grinds to get a good pour, at least in my setup they do. So unless you want to drink the same coffee all the time there’s a ton of trial and error to get to this point.
What setup is it? How fresh are the beans?
Personally I don't drink the same coffee all the time but it does come from, usually, the same roaster. My OH uses a decaf one (ugh).
Anyway, the grinder never needs more than a full click between coffees. As the beans age it might need a tweak finer.
However, buy a bag of Starbucks blend in an emergency and it's chaos. But then you look at the roasting date and it's six months old...