I really enjoy the ritual of espresso as a little morning meditation.
Here’s the current station, and the current process goes:
Turn on Bambino, load portafilter with empty “double” single wall basket into machine.
Place a small glass on the scale, turn on, spoon in 16g of whatever coffee I have that week.
Start an empty single auto-shot into the glass I’m going to brew into to heat everything up.
Dump measured beans into SK40 grinder which will typically be about “6” on its scale for good fresh coffee, or 5 for not quite so fresh coffee, and start it.
Remove, drain, and wipe portafilter, set it in the little 3D printed base I ran off to hold it level (not my design). Drop the dosing ring on. Set glass of usually dirty with fines hot water aside.
Pump the grinder bellows 3 times when it sounds empty, then turn off.
Dump grounds into basket, massage briefly with a cheap little WDT tool and tamp.
Dump glass into a waste cup I keep on hand for the purpose, wipe, and place on scale. Place scale on drip tray, and re-tare.
If I’ve dialed the coffee: Hold single button for ~5s of preeinfusion, release, and tap again aiming for a ~32g shot.
If I’m still working on the coffee: Get out my phone, hold single button, start timer on phone when the preeinfusion pump kicks in, tap lap and release button at ~5s, watch timer and scale aiming for vicinity of 32g/30s. Grunt and adjust the grinder in the appropriate direction if it’s not close.
Stir espresso, taste, add a little milk while I make my breakfast food if needed.
Consume espresso and breakfast.
Come back to to put away the glass, dump the puck (no 3-way valve, it’ll sneeze at you if you don’t wait a second), and rinse the portafilter. Place it upside down on the base to dry.
The setup is a recent upgrade so I’m still pretty pleased and working on refining my technique. I’ve been trying different beans (mostly espresso blends from local roasters, but also some weird stuff just for fun).
Press button on the grinder, fill the water tank of my Moccamaster with 8 cups, fill in the freshly ground coffee, push the button. Five minutes later wonderful hot coffee.
Aeropress: Heat water to 95°C, prep 15-16,5 of freshly ground coffee and throw it into the upside down Aeropress, add some boiling water into my cup with the filter and funnel on it (so that the filter is wet and the cup is heated), fill the Aeropress to 1/3 with the hot water, wait 40-45s, stir 2-3x, fill it up until it’s full, then put the filter and funnel on it, place the cup (without hot water) on top it and then just turn it all by 180° and plunge it down.
Espresso: Turn on my Rancilio Silvia, wait 20m until its boiler is heated up, add 18g of finely ground Espresso beans into the portafilter, then look at how it it pours into my cup. Add 2/3 of a cup filled with hot water for a double shot Americano.
French Press: Take 45-50g of coarsely ground coffee, fill 1/4 with 95°C water, let it bloom for 45-60s, then stir, fill up to max, add the plunger and push it down.
12g of Lavazza, medium-fine grind, into Aeropress with about 2/3 full of boiling water, stir and leave for a little bit before pressing (so kinda part way between Adler’s recipe and Hoffmann’s recipe) then mix up to taste
Fresh beans from a few different local places that I like to rotate between. If it’s just me, an aeropress using 16g of coffee and 256g water, pretty standard brewing method you’ve seen a dozen times before. If me and my wife, I’ll use the chemex for the both of us.
As far as equipment goes I have a baratza virtuoso grinder and hario gooseneck kettle that have had both for years and serve me well. I have long considered swapping to an electric kettle but it’s also easy to keep using what works.
Have a digital scale, forgot the brand name, but I chose it specifically because it measures in 0.1 grams and I use it for things where that matters.
Turn on my Lelit Kate, go take a shower, weigh 24.2 grams of my locally medium roasted Arabica beans, grind with a finely tuned grind setting (to get 9 bars is pressure), comb a bit and give it around 8 careful taps to get a level fluffy basket. Tamp it hard, with the priority being to stay level. Put a steel mesh on top, drive it in, push the button and wait for 27 seconds as the 2 glasses get a significantly caffeinated and flavorful coffee. Add some whole milk and ice, and serve to me and my wife, with a Belgian waffle or croissant.
Chemex for two, light roast beans through a baratza encore. Been playing with a hario switch for an afternoon cup, but haven’t found a big enough carafe I like that’ll fit 900ml to take over the morning routine. Keep trying to fire up the espresso machine for the morning, but can’t seem to make good shot without some caffeine in me already…
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