The machines have arrived, and I am learning how to brew espresso.
I watched multiple hours of how-to videos on making coffee, but I am learn-by-doinger. I try to get general knowledge from videos and online readings, but if I’m not doing it, I don’t understand it.
After my Profitec GO arrived, my youngest wanted to learn how to make coffee. At 13, I still felt that decaffeinated was best, so I got a cheap blend from Amazon Fresh to try. So, I am trying the cheapest decaffeinated coffee I could find for my first brew on my brand-new machine.
It took us about five attempts to realize we were not tamping near enough. I was subtracting weight because it didn’t fit in the portafilter. After getting things dialed in, we had two successful pours that felt like drinkable coffee. Of course, I don’t know what that means, but it didn’t taste bitter or sour and had some flavor. It also took two and a half hours.
Day Two
I wish I could tell you day two went better than day one.
Nope.
I spent four hours trying to make a successful cup of joe. I made fourteen shots of double espresso. I would only sip a bit of each drink, but after a dozen, I was as jittery as a child waiting to tell Santa they wanted a Gobot for Christmas. As I cleaned up the mess I had made, I felt I needed to keep cleaning the rest of the house. I did not.
Why did I make fourteen shots of espresso? Because I suck at tamping. It only took ten shots before my wife told me it looked crooked. Did I understand how bad I was at it?
If you don’t know, after you grind your coffee beans, you need to prepare a “puck.” You want to compress your grounds into a uniform solid brick of coffee. You do this using a tamper to press the coffee grounds in your portable filter (portafilter). If you don’t do this correctly, the water will not properly flow through the coffee and create undesirable results. If the puck is not level, the water will flow through only a side of the beans, and you won’t be able to tell if your grounds are too coarse or if you are brewing for too long; only that you are a failure.
Day Three
When I reminded myself that I needed to limit the variables when learning how to make coffee, I decided to add another variable: paper filters.
I heard that paper filters could help produce more stable extractions. I found the exact opposite. The filters I got were too large for my basket, which was the main contributing factor. I ultimately was getting channeling and coffee water spraying all over my kitchen.
After three tries, I decided to ditch the filters, and I was able to generate some solid pours. I don’t have the coffee fully dialed in, but I felt I could change only a single variable and trust my results.
Day Four
I was ready to brew another handful of shots, but my game was too strong.
I followed up on my previous day’s experiments, and I got a solid extraction in a reasonable amount of time. It also tasted good. I didn’t want to dial it in anymore, and I knew I was going to be the only one drinking the coffee, so I tried steaming some milk and made myself an oat milk cortado.
Now I need to figure out how to steam milk properly…
