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Choosing the ultimate espresso recipe isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. Embrace the diversity of espresso by exploring a range of recipes tailored to different roast levels.
If you under-extract coffee, it is sour. If you over-extract coffee, it is bitter. Perfecting your extraction recipe is the secret to crafting a delightful espresso beverage.
This particular espresso recipe is one in a series of 120 recipes, mathematically generated to be effective for every roast level. The Dialling in Process can now use your taste buds to move up or down the scale of recipes, resulting in you finding the best-tasting recipe for your coffee.
This recipe can be used for any espresso based drink, latte, cappuccino, flat white, long black, short black, americano, cortado, you name it. Technically, they are all double espressos. Once you have discovered how to make good tasting coffee, you may need less of the chocolate syrup.
Espresso recipe:1/121 (0.330 g/ml)
ESPRESSO RECIPE:1/121 (0.330 G/ML)
450
μm85
c25
gm25
gmThis is a "Dark/French Roast" recipe. There is a less than 10% chance this will be the right recipe for your roast level (unless you measured the density). Always taste test and use the Extract More or Less buttons until you find the extraction level that works for your coffee.
Ingredients
1.1 Espresso Ratio
25 gm VST Basket
6 bar Pressure
20 s Shot time
240 ml Cup size
ml Bypass water
215 ml Steamed milk
400 μm Grind setting
85 °C Temperature
25 gm Dose
25 gm Yield
Directions
- Pre-heat your espresso machine, portafilter, basket, and coffee cup.
- Get your 25 grams of coffee single dose out of the freezer. If you are not single-dosing and freezing your coffee, read How to Store Coffee Beans - 9 tips. While at it, read Best Coffee Beans - Six Purchasing Tips. Shots of espresso these days are nearly always a double shot of espresso. Double shots are now the standard in America and many places worldwide. A single shot of espresso is very rare. Traditionally, a single shot (solo) of espresso uses about 7g of espresso-fine grounds. If you want to make a single, pull a double, but use a split portafilter to halve the shot for you.
- Use RDT by spraying them with water and stirring them. This reduces static electricity, clumping, retention, and waste and produces stronger flavours (read the paper).
- Grind your frozen coffee; do not defrost it. Using a dosing funnel, grind it into the right-sized basket in a naked portafilter.
- Puck prep: I use a WDT tool to break up clumps and redistribute them. I also use a levelling tool and a levelling palm tamper. Then, I cover it with a shower screen to help evenly distribute the water.
- Place scales under your cup and tare, and start the timer.
- Ramp up to 6 bar pressure. Pre-infusion (pause till first drip) is only required if the beans are super fresh (say within 2 days of roast) and are degassing, so much extraction is being affected - pretty unlikely, so you probably don't need it. Watch the bottom of the naked portafilter with a mirror, ease of momentarily if you see spritzing. Allow the pressure to decline to 6 bars to maintain a constant flow rate. Stop the shot when the target yield has been achieved. The extraction time should be roughly 20 seconds. If the shot runs very slowly despite high pressure, you need to grind coarser. If the shot has run too fast and you cannot maintain pressure, you need to grind finer.
- Now, the most important step. Before adding milk, stir the expresso and crema, and then taste the wet spoon (you don't need a spoonful). Is the coffee sour? If so, next time you make this coffee, extract more using the recipe indicated by the button above.
- If the coffee is not sour, ask yourself if it is very bitter. This is more difficult because all coffee is bitter to some extent. However, you can reduce bitterness by extracting less. Go too far, and it will turn sour. You are looking for the calm spot in between. Just above sour will taste the best. If you need to reduce bitterness next time you make this coffee, extract less by using the recipe indicated by the button above.
- Add the bypass hot water (optional). This reduces the blanket of milk and increases the apparent strength of the coffee while keeping the volume up.
- Add the steamed milk. Espresso con panna (whipped cream) may be a little OTT, but adding 5-10ml of cream to your milk before steaming can help get the texture right for that latte art and help make a perfect espresso.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Don't get hung up on the details. If you can't change your pressure, maybe you don't have a full set of baskets, you don't know what that grind size even means. It doesn't matter. Providing you are changing the dose, the yield, the ratio, the bits you can, you will be changing the TASTE, and that is what matters. YOU are finding a RECIPE that tastes better than the last recipe you tried.
Equipment
Freezer storagePot u0026 Screw Cap 70ml
Measuring cylinderGraduated Cylinder, 100ml
Digital scalesAcaia Lunar
Cup sizesClassic Range Cappuccino Cup (190ml)
Espresso machineFlair 58
Milk steamerBellman CX25P
VST Precision basketVST Precision Filter Baskets
WDT ToolSworksdesign WDT Tool
TamperHappy Tamper
Knock box and Tamp stationThe Bloc Espresso Knock Box + Tamp Station
Steaming u0026 Frothing Milk PitcherJoe Frex Steaming u0026 Frothing Milk Pitcher
Lower shower screenBPlus Lower shower screen
Milk thermometerRhino Long Thermometer
GrinderKafaTek Monolith Flat MAX
Dosing funnelNORMCORE / MAGNETIC DOSING FUNNEL V2
An example of coffee I'm drinking
Indian Monsoon Malabar
This is a coffee Meebez has stocked in its retail store since day one and I must admit it was initially one of those coffee’s that I wasn’t too sure on at the beginning. As per normal with our stock levels, sometimes we have a certain single origin or blend that runs out and we refer customers to the closest alternative. The problem with a coffee like Malabar is that there is no other coffee remotely similar in our range. The Monsoon Malabar was also always one of the coffee’s that we couldn’t run out of. Why?
I quickly learned that Monsoon Malabar drinkers are very loyal and won’t settle for an alternative.
Why is Monsoon Malabar so unique?
It’s flavour, processing method and even its appearance is very different to other coffee.
The raw beans of most coffee are green in colour and the Monsoon Malabar is yellow. It is also slightly larger in physical size than most other raw beans and it is a lot less dense. This means that with the same volume of raw beans, the Malabar takes up more space.
Acidity
The Monsooned Malabar coffee is often regarded as the lowest acidic coffee in the world. This poses many advantages for those looking for a coffee with lower acidity to align with a higher alkaline diet. We are unable to guarantee the PH of the Malabar due to the water being used to brew the coffee having a big factor on the final PH of the coffee.
Flavour
I often say to people looking at this coffee that it is one that people either love or hate. Its aroma is very distinct and a fair representation of the cup and I often refer to the aroma as malt and slightly burnt caramel.
With an extremely low acidity, the Malabar has a big bold flavour profile. We roast this coffee reasonably light to bring out its natural malt sweetness, similar to that of a malt biscuit. It also has hints of spice, rustic nutty tones and a chocolate/malt sweetness.
Processing
The processing method of the Malabar is extremely unique and unlike any other coffee. Once the cherries have been picked, it is sun-dried in allocated areas. The dried beans then get seasoned and divided into quality selections of A or AA.
From here, the beans are now stored and protected until the beginning of the monsoon season in India. This season occurs from June to September and the raw beans are exposed to the winds and humidity of the Indian coast for a total of 3-4 months. After the season is over the beans get transferred to an open warehouse with ventilation for 12 – 16 weeks.
During the time the beans are left in the Monsooned winds, there is still a reasonable amount of labour involved to spread, rake turn the coffee at regular intervals to ensure evenness. The beans absorb moisture from the wet sea winds causing them to swell hence their large physical size. This also regulates the PH of the coffee as they turn into a golden yellow.
Malabar at Meebz
The time I am writing this blog post is when our new shipment arrives after being out of stock for almost 2-months. We were unable to find any coffee wholesalers with raw beans of the Malabar so we requested a special order.
Our latest Malabar is from the recent harvest and is the highest-grade Malabar available (AA). Unfortunately like many things, the cost of the raw beans has increased and we have also had to increase its price.
Density.coffee is not for profit. It is the result of my research and development, freely shared in the hope it will help others.
I only endorse equipment I have purchased myself, and I do not earn a commission or have any links to the companies I recommend.
I have a dream
- it might raise the standard of coffee-making globally
- It might reduce dialling in waste, time, and frustration
- It might encourage people to explore more varieties and pay more attention to the producers.
- You might be prepared to pay more for better coffee if they please you, returning more money to growers.
