A bit of lever action

[staylor]

Shaun,

What might be more worthwhile is the taste of the coffee pulled with the PVL and the Brutus in general terms.  Based on what you said so far I'm getting the impression that the same coffee combo tastes different from pull to pull ... depending on your barista technique.  Sounds like you have radically more control of the pulled flavor with the lever than a semi auto.

 

Well it won't be me making the comparison between the PVL and BII, I sold the BII to a neighbor and I haven't seen it for over a week now.

Yes, much more control... which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you do.

[John F]

A different extraction technique, tighter grind, lighter tamp, keeping the pressure profile up and enjoying the glop.

Have I told you lately that I hate you?  


edit - am I the only one who was trying to look down into the cup off the portafilter reflection during the shot?

[peter]

The shots I pulled this morning were from two roasts; one batch is an 8 day old Gethumbwini Peaberry taken to the outliers of 2nd and the other batch is a 3.5 day old Wiladah Mabrur generally using the same roast profile. I was post-roast blending straight into the grinder throat at an approx 50/50 split. The several shots I did this morning ranged from .75oz to 1.5oz in volume, they ranged in dose and in pull time. As you will see shortly they also ranged between single basket and double basket.

Depending on how I extracted/setup techniqued I got combination's of blackcurrant cassis, merlot and earthiness/warm wood, a blackcurrant tea and brown sugar, a Rich red grape and a bit of cinnamon and warm brown sugar, etc, etc. On the nose it was a lot of blackcurrant and rich grape along with some earthy wood, some of the shots had a tiny bit of anise thrown in there and some had a tiny bit of nutmeg. Body ranged from heavy to medium depending on the pull/technique. Nothing sharp or citrusy, all shots were low acidity.

I know those tasting notes aren't worth the electronic paper they are written on because they reflect at least 10 shots that were a mix of half pulls and full pulls depending on what I saw in the espresso flow or how I wanted to drive the shot. Hence my reluctance to post up tasting notes with the videos, preferring to stick to things like "that was a pretty good shot". Maybe not the answer you are looking for... sorry about that."

Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors.

Yes, much more control... which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you do.

And that greater control has people asking how do you keep that control from making poor results vs. ultra-groovy. 

A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?

[staylor]

"Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors."

The difficult part is a half pull or a full pull will only affect the flavor on that particular 'built shot'. And each built shot at the moment is different from the next built shot depending on how I grind, dose, tamp (remember I am messing around with light tamp and harder tamp) and basket size. I'm not setting up 10 shots with identical grinds, dose and tamp in the exact same basket and then deploying 10 different extraction approaches against them. I'm now in my natural learning curve... which always has me morphing through multi-variables as I rapidly absorb more and more knowledge. Kind of like SkyNet trying to become self aware on a lever machine. ;-)

"A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?"

It's a good question,and my answer is that I wanted a lot more information than was out there... prior to making my decision on getting the PVL. Once I made my decision to go with the PVL I think the videos I've put up recently would have sufficed to lead me on a natural learning curve.

[milowebailey]

"Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors."

The difficult part is a half pull or a full pull will only affect the flavor on that particular 'built shot'. And each built shot at the moment is different from the next built shot depending on how I grind, dose, tamp (remember I am messing around with light tamp and harder tamp) and basket size. I'm not setting up 10 shots with identical grinds, dose and tamp in the exact same basket and then deploying 10 different extraction approaches against them. I'm now in my natural learning curve... which always has me morphing through multi-variables as I rapidly absorb more and more knowledge. Kind of like SkyNet trying to become self aware on a lever machine. ;-)

"A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?"

It's a good question,and my answer is that I wanted a lot more information than was out there... prior to making my decision on getting the PVL. Once I made my decision to go with the PVL I think the videos I've put up recently would have sufficed to lead me on a natural learning curve.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

[staylor]

"Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors."

The difficult part is a half pull or a full pull will only affect the flavor on that particular 'built shot'. And each built shot at the moment is different from the next built shot depending on how I grind, dose, tamp (remember I am messing around with light tamp and harder tamp) and basket size. I'm not setting up 10 shots with identical grinds, dose and tamp in the exact same basket and then deploying 10 different extraction approaches against them. I'm now in my natural learning curve... which always has me morphing through multi-variables as I rapidly absorb more and more knowledge. Kind of like SkyNet trying to become self aware on a lever machine. ;-)

"A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?"

It's a good question,and my answer is that I wanted a lot more information than was out there... prior to making my decision on getting the PVL. Once I made my decision to go with the PVL I think the videos I've put up recently would have sufficed to lead me on a natural learning curve.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

Bhaha, "it tastes pretty good".

[milowebailey]

"Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors."

The difficult part is a half pull or a full pull will only affect the flavor on that particular 'built shot'. And each built shot at the moment is different from the next built shot depending on how I grind, dose, tamp (remember I am messing around with light tamp and harder tamp) and basket size. I'm not setting up 10 shots with identical grinds, dose and tamp in the exact same basket and then deploying 10 different extraction approaches against them. I'm now in my natural learning curve... which always has me morphing through multi-variables as I rapidly absorb more and more knowledge. Kind of like SkyNet trying to become self aware on a lever machine. ;-)

"A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?"

It's a good question,and my answer is that I wanted a lot more information than was out there... prior to making my decision on getting the PVL. Once I made my decision to go with the PVL I think the videos I've put up recently would have sufficed to lead me on a natural learning curve.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

Bhaha, "it tastes pretty good".

That's more like it.

[peter]

"Perhaps the guy is asking, as would I if I were learning about levers, what the half pulls and fulls, how you drive the shot, affect the flavors."

The difficult part is a half pull or a full pull will only affect the flavor on that particular 'built shot'. And each built shot at the moment is different from the next built shot depending on how I grind, dose, tamp (remember I am messing around with light tamp and harder tamp) and basket size. I'm not setting up 10 shots with identical grinds, dose and tamp in the exact same basket and then deploying 10 different extraction approaches against them. I'm now in my natural learning curve... which always has me morphing through multi-variables as I rapidly absorb more and more knowledge. Kind of like SkyNet trying to become self aware on a lever machine. ;-)

"A question that I would ask is this; if, while your PVL was en route, would you have wanted more information on its use, and would said information had any actual value to you?"

It's a good question,and my answer is that I wanted a lot more information than was out there... prior to making my decision on getting the PVL. Once I made my decision to go with the PVL I think the videos I've put up recently would have sufficed to lead me on a natural learning curve.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

Bhaha, "it tastes pretty good".

That's more like it.

If only we could get them distributors to post espresso notes on their offerings.

[John F]

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

I think it would be best if he would just build an iphone app and email blast that will alert members when he is about to pull shots. Then a simple live conference web link using the HD camera for the meeting will provide us a real time tool. This should of course be interactive for Q&A's immediately after the session.

I also think a white board with all the details of roast, blend (if any), shot build data for each basket, and any other useful notes would be nice. The vid conference could open up with this board and a 3:00 countdown timer so we could either ready our notepads, take a bathroom break, or maybe get snacks.

Tasting notes live would be too much to ask......a follow up email 3-4 hours post session would be sufficient.   

 

[mp]

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes  as well for videos to be truly useful.

I think it would be best if he would just build an iphone app and email blast that will alert members when he is about to pull shots. Then a simple live conference web link using the HD camera for the meeting will provide us a real time tool. This should of course be interactive for Q&A's immediately after the session.

I also think a white board with all the details of roast, blend (if any), shot build data for each basket, and any other useful notes would be nice. The vid conference could open up with this board and a 3:00 countdown timer so we could either ready our notepads, take a bathroom break, or maybe get snacks.

Tasting notes live would be too much to ask......a follow up email 3-4 hours post session would be sufficient.   

 

+1

Also how about a chart of grind, tamp, pressure, lever action & roast variables with the effects on the taste profile of the coffee.

 

[staylor]

... or maybe get snacks.

Did someone say snacks, I'm always down for some snacks.

[milowebailey]

... or maybe get snacks.

Did someone say snacks, I'm always down for some snacks.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes on the snacks as well, for videos to be truly useful.

[mp]

... or maybe get snacks.

Did someone say snacks, I'm always down for some snacks.

Nice, but you need to post tasting notes on the snacks as well, for videos to be truly useful.

+1

You also need to tell us how the snacks went with each new shot that you took.

 

[staylor]

Snack pairing videos coming right up.

[mp]

Snack pairing videos coming right up.

All right ... you are the man ... not only espresso foo ... but now snack foo.

 :wav: