The correct pressing steps of coffee powder the basic skills of the filling method of espresso

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Guide reading

Espresso is the basis of espresso, and making espresso is a core skill that every barista must learn. The steps of making espresso are roughly divided into grinding coffee beans, putting coffee powder into a powder bowl, cloth powder, filling and then extracting espresso. The seemingly simple steps are actually full of details. At the same time, it is also necessary to accurately measure the amount of each coffee powder, the amount of coffee liquid extraction and the extraction time.

In these steps, perhaps cloth powder and packing are the parts that many baristas need to spend a lot of time and energy. Today, I will share my experience with the filling part of Qianjie Coffee.

What is the purpose of pressing powder?

Pressing powder refers to compacting the coffee powder in the coffee powder bowl with a coffee powder hammer to make the coffee powder form a powder cake. Is the filling step necessary? And what is the purpose of pressing powder? Qianjie coffee is first reacted with a set of contrast brewing.

Qianjie coffee extracted two groups of espresso respectively, and the difference between the two was whether they were filled or not, one group was filled and pressed as the reference group, the other group was not packed as the experimental group, and the other parameters remained the same. Coffee powder weighs 20 grams and 40 grams of coffee liquid is extracted.

In the group of espresso with normal pressure, the extraction was normal, the flow rate was stable, and the final extraction time was 27 seconds. On the other hand, the group without filling pressure spurted coffee liquid immediately at the beginning of the extraction, and the overall flow rate was fast, watery and unstable. The whole extraction time was 8 seconds faster than that of the normal control group, and the taste was watery and light compared with the normal group.

In the process of making espresso, the first step is to grind the coffee beans and put the coffee powder evenly into the powder bowl, while the purpose of the cloth powder is to distribute the scattered coffee powder evenly in the powder bowl, at this time the coffee powder is still in a loose state, and the gap between the coffee powder particles and the particles is large and small, if the extraction is carried out directly without filling pressure at this time, under the high pressure of the coffee machine 9bar, the water flow will quickly pass through the coffee powder. Because it is loose, the coffee powder will be washed away directly by the current, and the water will look for easy places to flow through, and these easy-to-pass parts will be extracted too much, commonly known as the channel effect.

So we know that the purpose of filling coffee powder is to compact the coffee powder and reduce the gap between the coffee powder particles, so that there is enough resistance to resist the water flow during the extraction, so that the water can extract the coffee powder evenly.

How to fill and press correctly?

Now we know the importance of packing, but how to fill it? Is there anything you need to pay attention to when filling coffee powder?

Pressing powder may seem quite simple, but there are actually a lot of details to pay attention to. In the past, the barista of street coffee, for example, had to hold the powder bowl horizontally and parallel when filling, with the palm holding the handle end of the hammer, the mouth of the palm facing down, and the thumb and index finger stuck on the hammer end of the hammer. When filling, the elbow, forearm, powder hammer and powder bowl form a straight line perpendicular to the horizontal. When filling, force is sent vertically, direction down, and coffee powder is compacted at once.

We just said that the purpose of the cloth powder is to distribute the coffee powder evenly in the powder bowl, because during the extraction, the water will find an easy place to pass through and cause the channel effect, and the pressing powder also needs to pay attention to the uniform packing. Many details of the packing are for more uniform extraction of coffee to avoid the channel effect caused by unevenness. The place that should be paid attention to before the street coffee is mainly the direction of filling.

Among them, the filling direction must be perpendicular to the pressed powder, if the filling direction is tilted, the coffee pressed powder will show an uneven shape, one side high and the other low, the high coffee pressed powder density is sparse, and the lower part is denser, which can also easily lead to uneven water extraction. Qianjie Coffee recommends two ways to solve baristas who are easily crooked. One is to hold the powder hammer with three fingers, which makes it easier to feel the overall downward direction and reduce mistakes. The second way is to replace a quantitative downward powder hammer, with the assistance of the appliance, the problem of direction can almost be solved.

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