How to adjust the Grinding degree of extracted Italian Coffee

Whether it is hand-brewed coffee or espresso coffee, grinding is the most important parameter in coffee extraction, and it is also the most difficult to grasp accurately.

Many times, we only know that the grinding degree of espresso coffee is much finer than that of hand brewing, but there is no easy-to-understand data to tell you how fine it is. Front Street thinks it's harder to find the right grind for Italian coffee than for hand-brewed coffee.

In the grinding degree of hand brewing, we can use the screen for calibration, and the tolerance of errors is also relatively large. In the No. 20 screen, the pass rate of 70-80% can get a good cup of coffee. And Italian coffee because it is pressurized short-term extraction, it also means that it will amplify all the performance, good will amplify, defects will also amplify, so the requirements for grinding degree are more stringent. If the grinding degree is slightly finer, the water passes through the powder layer slowly and it is easy to over-extract. If the grinding degree is slightly coarse, water will easily pass through the powder layer, easy to extract insufficient, resulting in such deviation, may only be 0.1 grinding scale difference. If you are a beginner and want to quickly find the right espresso grind, you can follow the steps described in the next section of Front Street. Step 1: Initial locking of the grinding range This is a step for beginners who have just come into contact with espresso coffee. First, adjust the grinding scale to the thickness like flour. You can feel the coffee powder by hand. It is soft and has no rough feeling. Then apply the common formula of espresso extraction parameters, that is, the ratio of powder to liquid is 1:2, and the time is between 20 and 30 seconds. The powder amount can refer to the standard powder amount marked on the powder bowl, for example, 18g powder bowl can hold 18g powder, 20g powder bowl can hold 20g powder. After fixing the two parameters of powder amount and proportion, the extraction time is controlled between 20-30 seconds by adjusting the grinding degree. If the extraction time exceeds 30 seconds, the next extraction needs to adjust the coarse grinding degree, if the extraction time is less than 20 seconds, the next extraction needs to adjust the fine grinding degree. Step 2: Adjust according to the feedback of flavor and extraction status. When you successfully find a certain grinding scale to extract coffee in 20-30 seconds, you can move to the next step-adjust according to the actual situation. Because the commonly used extraction formula is only ideal, in reality, coffee beans are different, coffee machines are different and so on, even if this formula is met, it may not necessarily be delicious (if you have tasted it, you don't need this step). So we're going to taste it and fine-tune it according to flavor performance.

Now, the adjustment object is only the grinding degree, the powder amount and proportion are also included in the adjustment object. If the espresso flavor is sour and not heavy enough, the grind needs to be further refined. If the coffee exhibits a burnt bitterness, the grind can be made coarser, or the ratio can be increased, such as 1:1.8.

When adjusted to suit your taste, the current scale is the desired Italian grind. Some friends asked Qianjie,"I don't know how to adjust the grinding degree. Can you grind the coffee into powder and send it over?" Although Qianjie can be ground into powder, it is usually recommended that everyone buy coffee beans and grind them themselves. There are two reasons for this. The first is freshness. Italian-ground coffee is much finer than hand-brewed coffee, which means coffee flavors dissipate faster and carbon dioxide emissions are faster. When the gas is almost exhausted, it is difficult to squeeze out the fat, and the coffee flavor is not very friendly.

The second reason is that Italian abrasiveness is not fixed. In fact, the grinding degree of Italian coffee beans is affected by the degree of exhaust and weather conditions, and it is necessary to fine-tune the grinding scale almost every day to ensure the extraction quality of coffee. If you use pre-ground coffee powder, the parameters may be normal a few days ago, and then it becomes unstable. Therefore, if you want to make your own espresso, learning to adjust the grind and buying the whole espresso bean are the best ways.