Chekhov's Mistress
Don’t Torment the Beans! Part II
This is it. The Francis Francis! X-5. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I bought this thing through a special deal at Illy USA, but now I’m obsessed with learning how to make great espresso. Believe it or not, there are a lot of details that go into making the perfect shot. It is a combination of art and science and every “pull,” as the aficionados call it, has a different character. Besides the obvious elements, such as fresh water and good beans, the grind on the beans has to be “dialed in,” the tamp (compressing the ground coffee into what’s called a porta-filter) has to be at the right pressure, which is learned through using a bathroom scale, the temperature has to be just right in the boiler, the portafilter and cups and the timing of the shot has to be within 25-30 seconds. The grind and the tamp are the most challenging aspects and that’s what I’m working on now. You also need to have espresso cups that are of a sufficient thickness to retain the heat. And all of this is only scratching the surface. When you’ve mastered making espressos it’s time to learn “Latte Art.”
I’ve found an entire subculture of espresso cognoscenti online. Here are some of their sites:
Espresso Vivace: A Seattle
company whose owner has become a guru in the last ten years. This site
has links to some very detailed instructions. My favorite is the
article on tamping.
Coffee Kid: Some good articles here.
Coffee Geek: I think this is the same guy as the Coffee Kid
Sweet Marias: Good instructional articles here too.
Whole Latte Love: Despite the stupid name, they do have some helpful articles and product reviews.
Alt.Coffee:
This is the newsgroup for expresso fanatics. Most of these people probably would not give me the time of day because I have a Francis machine. It’s portafilter is 2mm smaller than one from a commercial machine and it does not have a 3 way solenoid, so the grouphead drips after a pour – it is not a purist machine.
That’s about it for now. These are most of the sites that are helpful and any others worthwhile can be found through these.
Ciao
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: May 04, 2004
- Filed Under:
Polygluttonous: Food/Places
- Comments:0
- Links to this Post: Technorati
