Creating a bold & balanced espresso from a more traditionally-roasted coffee. Discover the nuances that make traditional espresso so enjoyable. Whether you’re aiming for the boldness of a ristretto or the classic taste of a true Italian single shot, understanding your grind and brew ratios is key. Join us as we explore popular espresso recipes, the significance of timed dosing, and dial in a traditional espresso recipe with the Pico.
A lot of flavor in coffee comes from it being roasted. The darker coffee gets the more well suited it becomes for creating a bold and balanced espresso. While we have this vision in our mind, we will fine-tune the grind size to create a wonderful and traditional espresso.
Once we have found an enjoyable coffee, using the hopper is a great way to keep things consistent. We don’t need to worry about the coffee going stale just from having it sitting in the hopper. It’s best to buy one 8-12oz bag at a time to pour into the hopper and as long as we use it within a few weeks from the roast date it will stay fresh and be perfect for brewing! Using freshly roasted coffee will also give us a beautiful layer of crema on top of our espresso.
brewing espresso: a starting point
Often when we think of a traditional espresso we imagine a strong, small and syrupy beverage. This can be a delicious style of espresso! When it comes to brewing with classic coffees, popular recipes can lean into small ratios and short brewing time frames. For example, brewing a ristretto espresso in 25 seconds. Darker roasted blends are very soluble and break down quickly when brewed under heat and pressure. Because of this we will start with a fine grind size and low brew temperature. For a traditional roast our machine should be somewhere between 195-200 fahrenheit or 90-93 celsius.
ristretto, a 1:1 ratio
It is important to lock in the dose and have it match closely(+ or – one gram) with the chosen basket size. For example, using the 14 gram basket we would put 14 grams in and not change that while dialing in. We are going for a classic ristretto espresso, which means pulling a 1:1 coffee-to-water ratio.
Ground coffee in: 14 grams
Liquid espresso out: 14 grams
Brew time: 15 seconds
What’s the taste? Even though this is a concentrated ratio of water to coffee, the shot could taste a little weak at this recipe because the water ran through the coffee puck too quickly and may not have extracted enough solubles. This would cause a lack of substance when we taste the shot. To change it we would adjust the grind size finer to let the water have more contact time with the coffee.
Ground coffee in: 14 grams
Liquid espresso out: 14 grams
Brew time: 25 seconds
What’s the taste? As we go finer with our grind the espresso gets thicker and more distinct in flavor. After making an adjustment to the grind size, going towards finer(a smaller number) our 1:1 ratio might pull closer to 25 seconds and would have that balanced and bold taste like we envisioned from the beginning.
7 gram shot
Single espresso shots are also popular in traditional Italian culture. Perhaps we have come across oddly shaped baskets with a lowered section only in the middle, these are 7 gram baskets! 7 gram baskets are designed for single espressos and are a fun easy way to drink either a little less caffeine or more, but spread throughout the day.
lungo, a 1:3 ratio
To brew, pack 7 grams of coffee down into the middle area nice and tight. Something that may be surprising is it should still take about 20-25 seconds for this small shot to pull and we don’t need to make a grinder change if we are already dialed in. But we are going to aim for a slightly larger ratio like it’s done in many Italian cafes dating back to the 1900’s.
Ground coffee in: 7 grams
Liquid espresso out: 21 grams
Brew time: 20 seconds
What’s the taste? A well extracted espresso from a dark roast can sometimes be compared to a rich dark chocolate without sugar. Pulling this type of espresso is about as traditional as we can get without making our espresso on a lever machine.
enjoy the journey
By changing the grind size we can balance the extraction and by adjusting the ratio we can smooth out or bolden the strength of flavors in the shot. Once we find a coffee that we like it’s great to stick with it for a while to get comfortable. This lets us have time to fine tune how we want it to taste, just like they do in a cafe!
Espresso is favored and brewed in many styles and our grinder helps to accomplish the full range and try them all. Try an Italian style single lungo espresso or a syrupy ristretto and see what fits best in your home cafe or even just the mood of the day!
