im pretty new to the barista community but i work for a company who is very strict on the quality we produce. so when someone comes into our shop they are expecting the best of the best. I dont get much of an opportunity to play with the grind as its already done by the time i get there but when I do I can't seem to figure out how to produce that chocolatly caramel wtih great body shot. It seems to be 85% of the time over extracted. we dose at 24g it starts to poor at about 6 seconds and at the due line around 24... any tips?

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oh and the grind is at 7 or 7.5 most of the time on an ANFIM and we pull on a la marazocco
Here is a great web page that explains it well. I wouldn't change anything that your employer has told you but maybe there is something in here that can help.

http://www.coffeeresearch.org/espresso/grindanddose.htm
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/espresso/extraction.htm

It could be allot of factors and it can be frustrating at first. The only advice i would tell you is to get on the grinder and play around with it as much as you can and take it 1 notch at a time!




Hope this helps

Chris-
Several questions:

Are these flavors present in shots that your co-baristas pull? If so, then it is a technique issue, if not it may be any number of bean or setup-related issue.

What is your total shot volume for your finished espresso?

Do you have a bottomless portafilter available? You could use this to look for channeling...

Have you actually weighed your doses, or is this just what you've been told you dose at? 24 grams sounds like a lot...

There could be any number of things going on here. I'm going speculate a bit...
With the shot time you describe (assuming your espresso volume is reasonable) I'm thinking channeling. Take a close look at your dose, level, and tamp procedure. Make sure your espresso surface is level and even, that you are distributing to the edges, that you aren't whacking the side of the portafilter hard enough to create a small gap at the side, that your tamp is perfectly level, that your final tamp is with enough force. Have someone else at your shop watch your process and see what they think.

Good luck.
Oh, and could you describe the flavors you do find in your shots?
I agree, 24g of coffee is a lot of coffee in the portafilter.
Hmm ... do you know when the last time you replaced the burrs in the grinder was?
You need to be the one manipulating the grind. The more time you can spend tasting your coffee, readjusting/refining your approach, the better. Work closely with the other barista in your shop, create a dialogue about the espresso, learn from each other. But when it comes to solid rules, throw them out. The grams/time/taste will always be ever changing. Trust your taste buds. Unless you're using a tripple basket, 24 grams is probably a bit much. Maybe dial the dose down a bit? Also, try tasting your shot at diferent intervals through it's development. Whatever you do, don't become discouraged! Proper extraction is a learning process. Keep at it, good luck!
its bitter, ashy....sometimes burnt tasting.. my caffe is a small chain in BC, caffe artigiano (home of the canadian barista chamipon sammy piccalo) and its something that we've been told to not go under, we weigh as soon as it stops tasting great. its hard to work with others as im the closing manager so i work alone on the bar most of the time. my tamp is even and as hard as i can go (im as strong as a four year old) ill try the naked pf and see what going on there. i guess what my main prob is, is that i jsut am having a hard time figuring out how to fix the shot so the flavor is there. thanks
Every time I hear someone looking for help with their espresso, my first thoughts run to the coffee. Early on, I spent a couple weeks working the equipment variables, and "assuming" the coffee was fresh. It wasn't, and I quickly placed my coffees at the front of all quality issues. That'll cause runny extractions regardless of what you do. That aside, is there any chance you could call a couple other local baristas and have them come over to check things out? That's sometimes the only and best way to catch all the possible issues. I'm at a loss too, because you said your company has focused on quality. So I'm wondering if you guys have "production meetings" for the entire barista staff where you do group run-throughs. As a past business owner, I know that you really need everyone to be on the same page. And as for a 24 gram load......... I would say grab a gram scale from somewhere and check it out?
Good responses here from everyone. The only other thing that occurs to me (since you're checking the other stuff already) is to maybe try a slower pull. What about tightening up your grind a bit and pushing it up to 28-30 seconds? I find our espresso's buttery-chocolate-ness really doesn't come out at under 25 seconds, especially when we use the triple basket (21g).

What is your total shot volume?
thank you all so much, ive really used a lot of the advice and produced an awesome espresso the other day, mutiple comments on the quality from customers! plus we got a new shipment of beans that are to DIE FOR!
Jackie said:
thank you all so much, ive really used a lot of the advice and produced an awesome espresso the other day, mutiple comments on the quality from customers! plus we got a new shipment of beans that are to DIE FOR!

That's great to hear. Thank you for posting back with your results.

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