Espresso Headspace

Espresso Headspace

Received wisdom in coffee says that if you put a nickel, or a penny, on top of your القُرص after tamping, and lock the portafilter into the group and remove it again without brewing, you should just be able to see a slight impression in the القُرص from where the coin was pressed into the coffee.

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The Coffee Footprint Analyzer

The Coffee Footprint Analyzer

One of our aims in producing this course is to provide the information and tools you need to analyse your own carbon footprint. This will allow you to see which changes will have the biggest impact and help you determine which interventions will be most cost effective. At the core of this …

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What is a Life-Cycle Analysis?

What is a Life-Cycle Analysis?

A defining characteristic of an LCA is that it includes the impact of raw materials, production, use, and disposal, simultaneously. For example, a change of material could reduce the CO2 footprint from the manufacturing stage, but result in higher maintenance requirements or shorten the lifespan …

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A History of Greenwashing

A History of Greenwashing

I would like to start this course with a short story. A confession of sorts. Come with me, as I go to my local cafe. I have forgotten to bring my KeepCup again, but I see they use compostable takeaway cups, so I don’t feel so bad ordering my coffee. While I’m there, I pick up a box of beans …

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Temperature’s Hidden Effect

Temperature’s Hidden Effect

In our most recent instalment of the Advanced Espresso course, we discussed a surprising finding in the scientific literature: that increasing the brew temperature makes espresso shots run more slowly. We set out to test this for ourselves, and discovered that the truth is more subtle …

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Coffee Grinder RPM

Coffee Grinder RPM

In the last few years, a small number of grinders have hit the market that boast an adjustable grinding speed. The best known of these are Lynn Weber’s EG-1, Victoria Arduino’s Mythos 2, and most recently Ceado’s Hero E37Z. The marketing material for each of these grinders claims that being able …

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Changing Grinder Burrs

Changing Grinder Burrs

If you’re looking at your grinder, asking yourself this question, then it’s probably time to change them. While grinder manufacturers may claim that their التروس can grind hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilos of coffee, the truth is that, after they are seasoned, التروس wear out gradually over time …

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Cinnamongate

Cinnamongate

“It tastes exactly like a cinnamon bun. You have to try it.” Coffees often don’t entirely live up to their description, but this was different — a coffee with an instantly recognisable flavour of warm, sweet, cinnamon, like nothing I’d tasted before. I had joined the small crowd queuing up …

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Why Do Espresso Shots Run Faster?

Why Do Espresso Shots Run Faster?

Why do espresso shots run faster when I use super fresh coffee? It is a truth universally acknowledged that the gases trapped in fresh coffee create bubbles in espresso, which slows down the flow and reduces extraction. This explains why shots from older coffee run...

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If a Coffee Doesn’t Form a Crust In a Cupping…

If a Coffee Doesn’t Form a Crust In a Cupping…

Does this mean it’s underdeveloped? Anyone who’s cupped very light roasted coffee, whether from a Nordic-style roaster, or perhaps from a sample roast, will have experienced this: it sometimes doesn’t form a crust in a cupping. When this happens on the cupping table,...

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Sugars in Natural Processing

Sugars in Natural Processing

In natural processing, do sugars travel from the mucilage into the bean? Natural processed coffees are typically sweeter and more full-bodied than washed coffees, and often have distinctive fruity flavours. It seems intuitive that the sweetness, body, and...

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Fluidised Beds

Fluidised Beds

In our latest poll on the BH Facebook Group, you asked us to check this out: 'If flow goes in much faster than it comes out, then you have the potential to create a fluidised bed. Where does that leave espresso?' Here's what we found out ... This question follows on...

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What’s the Best Sprayhead Design?

What’s the Best Sprayhead Design?

Is it better to have as many holes as possible in your spray head, hardly any to make more agitation, or somewhere in between? To achieve even extraction in batch brewing, it’s important to get all the grounds evenly wetted — meaning exposed to the same amount of...

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Espresso With Aeropress Filter Papers

Espresso With Aeropress Filter Papers

Above and below the coffee bed This week, Scott Rao made espresso with filter papers above and below the coffee bed yielding over 25%. What's he playing at? If you follow Scott Rao’s series of daily coffee tips on Instagram, you’ll have seen one recent post where he...

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What Difference Will It Make to an Espresso

What Difference Will It Make to an Espresso

Decades of trial and error have shown that most people prefer espresso extracted between 85-95°C (A Illy and R Viana, 1995). For lighter roasted, special coffee, the range typically used is rather narrower – 90-95°C. Within that small range though, there are still considerable variations in flavor to explore.

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Can You Please Summarise Cafe Imports’ Water Activity Paper   In our bi-weekly poll on the BH Facebook-group you asked us, "Can you please summarise this impressive research paper", which is based on a huge amount of cupping and data logging by influential green...

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