Do I have to use a scale to make espresso by hand? Why do professional baristas use electronic scales?

Whether it's hand-brewed coffee or espresso, Qianjie uses an electronic scale to measure when taking beans and extracting them.

Some friends will not understand it very well after seeing it at the Qianjie store, because they think that making a cup of coffee does not need to be so complicated and cumbersome. Just like an experienced chef cooking, you can measure a rough idea with simple visual inspection, or using tools such as a measuring spoon and cup, and then the brewed coffee can be delicious. There is no need to use an electronic scale. A troublesome appliance is a bit superfluous.

Indeed, electronic scales are not just needed for coffee making! As these friends mentioned, visual inspection and the use of measuring cups and spoons can also make a cup of delicious coffee, and an electronic scale is not necessary. But what we need to know is that although all of the above methods can help us make a cup of coffee easier, they are not stable. If you are not a very experienced coffee guy, Qianjie still recommends that you use an electronic scale, because if a new friend uses these methods to "blindly" brew coffee, the quality of the coffee you get will be like a blind box. Very random ~

Why do I need an electronic scale to make coffee? Although everyone's preferences are different, Qianjie believes that everyone's definition of a cup of delicious coffee is quite different-a good concentration at the entrance and no uncomfortable taste, which corresponds to the appropriate concentration and extraction rate for coffee extraction. We will use appropriate parameters to bring the extraction rate and concentration of coffee into this ideal range.

The reason why electronic scales can be the key to stably making a cup of delicious coffee is because they can ensure that the amount of powder and water we use each time is the same, without too many variables. Conventional measuring spoons, measuring cups, and visual inspections cannot achieve such accuracy. Not only that, if we don't pay attention to some details when using them, the deviations they will bring us will be greater than everyone thinks. Here, take the measuring spoon first in the front street for example! The traditional coffee measuring spoon capacity is set to 10g, that is, if you use this measuring spoon to take a flat spoonful of coffee beans, then the bean weight is about 10g. This was true after actual testing on Qianjie. The amount of beans obtained each time was 10g± 0.5 g.

But! There is a premise here: the coffee beans you weigh can only be deeply roasted. If you weigh them lightly roasted, the weight of the beans will be completely beyond your imagination. The coffee beans weighed on the experimental Front Street above are all the deep-baked coffee beans in the Front Street Taobao Tmall bean list. From left to right, they are Brazil Queen Estate on Front Street, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 Coffee on Front Street, and Sumatra Golden Mantelin on Front Street.

The lower Front Street will use the lighter roasted coffee beans in the bean list for testing. They are Front Street Yegashefi Godindin, Front Street Essay ALO, and Front Street Panama Poquet Guxia.

It can be seen that it is also a flat spoonful, but the amount of beans weighed is 13.4 g, 12.7 g, and 11.7 g respectively, which completely exceeds the expected capacity, and there is a huge gap. The reason for this difference, as Qian Jie mentioned, is the degree of roasting of the coffee beans. Under the same roasting method, the deeper the coffee beans are roasted, the larger the volume and lighter the weight will be. Because deepening roasting will cause the volume of the coffee beans to continue to expand, and at the same time, the reduction of body moisture will make them lighter, while light roasting is the opposite. Therefore, the amount of coffee beans scooped out of the measuring spoon will change according to the characteristics of the coffee beans.

If we use the same amount of water to brew without knowing about this change, then when you scoop a large amount of coffee beans, it will be easy to get a cup of coffee with a higher concentration or even too strong to taste. In order to let everyone understand better, Qianjie here uses the Qianjie Poquet Guxia in the Qianjie bean list as an example. The content of the experiment is very simple. It is to brew a pot of coffee with 10g and 13g of Qianjie Poquet Rose respectively. Except for the amount of powder, other parameters including the amount of water (both 150ml) are the same.

The end result is that the coffee brewed with 10g of coffee powder has the right concentration, balanced taste, and outstanding white floral, citrus, and berry flavors. The coffee brewed with 13g of coffee powder is not easy to taste when drinking because of its high concentration. The taste becomes a little thick because of the high concentration. The flavor is too concentrated and not so prominent. Some subtle flavors cannot be distinguished. It needs to be diluted with water to adjust to the appropriate concentration and taste.

The above is the impact that the difference in the amount of powder will have on us! The second is liquid weight. Qianjie mentioned earlier that many friends say that the way to take coffee liquor depends on the scale of the cup. But sometimes, the scale of the cup cannot provide us with accurate information, especially for espresso. The picture below shows two cups of espresso coffee with the same amount of liquid. You can see the difference.

That's right! Although the amount of liquid is the same, the positions at which their water levels are located are different, and the reasons for the difference are the presence or absence of oil and the high and low extraction rates. (The former is Qianjie Essi Huakui for medium and light baking, and the latter is a Qianjie Italian classic combination for medium and deep baking.) For newcomers who have just begun, if you rely on the scale of the cup to judge the liquid weight, then In many cases, there will be no way to quickly make correct adjustments because accurate data cannot be obtained. Combined with the error in the amount of powder, it really takes luck to make a good cup of coffee.

So, if you want to make a good cup of coffee stably, or take less detours when studying parameters/adjusting concentrated flavors, then using an electronic scale is definitely a very good choice. When you are completely familiar with the brewing logic and a certain bean, it is not too late to use measuring spoons and measuring cups to streamline the brewing process. Warm reminder: Qianjie Taobao Tmall coffee bean spike is about to begin. For details, you can learn from Qianjie Coffee's tweet later tonight ~- END -