From this morning.
Shaun
I noticed two things in this video.
1) looks like you have a new grinder... curious why the change and if you like it?
2) your tamping technique seems kinda ...... light. I remember you really putting that 30 lbs of pressure before... now it seems you are putting much less. Either that or you have really strong fingers. I'm curious if you went with a lighter tamp for a finer grind or if the lever needs less of a tamp.
BTW... this video shows my point. You can watch the end of the shot and be steaming the milk. I'd love to see a video of Tex or CAGurl with their Gaggia technique making a latte. I'm not saying they can't make a good latte, because I have on a Gaggia... it's just not as easy nor quickly repeatable.
I got the Vario for a couple of reason (I still have the Macap), first one was noise. I know 'noisy' sounds dumb but when we have guests over and I crank up the Macap it kicks out a lot of noise and it's hard to hold conversations, I'd read the Vario is quiet - and it is. The second reason was ease of setting... for my wife. No matter how I marked up the Macap, or how I explained it, I would shiver when I'd see good beans getting ground on the wrong settings for her Aeropress or pourover. With the super simple visuals on the Vario it's worked out well. Then, of course, I wanted to know if the grinder was capable of good espresso vs. the Macap and I'm happy to say it is.
Reviews like this:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/grinders/418092http://www.home-barista.com/advice/baratza-vario-vs-63-5mm-commercial-burr-grinder-t14464.htmlAnd many more led me to fall down the rabbit hole of Vario research. If you look around a bit you will see some very interesting 'grinder shootouts' that tap the Vario as a bargain at the price.
Hahaha, yeah the tamping on the lever is significantly different. I find myself at a 3 - 8lb tamp pressure, it's a lever thing. The larger focus for tamping is a correctly squared off surface, even on all sides and that's why you see me touching the puck with the tamper a couple of times to observe the squaring and then in for the light tamp. The tamp for me is more of a negotiation between weight of tamp and headspace in the basket.
I'm not saying my approach is a good approach but I'll outline it anyway... From shot to shot I'm constantly adjusting things based on what I see in the stream and what I taste in the cup. More often than not it's a dosing issue where I'll add .5gms more or maybe even 1gm, or I'll make a grinder tweak, or I'll keep dose and grinder as is but adjust the headspace in the basket. Maybe I'll leave those things alone and go with a passive preinfusion and then see what the first pull has to say for itself before I adjust on the second pull of the lever. If the first pull almost goes full path before I know to hit it with the second pull, in the next shot I might go active preinfusion to infuse quicker and then on to 1/2 pull on the first lever and quickly load up the pressure again with the second pull - kind of a pressure choke to slow down the front-end effort of the active pre. All that to say I am constantly involving myself in the realtime observations and 'feel' of the shot, trying to cooperate with the espresso and move it around 'in-shot'. Based on being so involved with the shots outcome I get quite a few home runs and I also get some average shots as well. I taste them all even when I know it's going to be average, I'll even taste the obvious 'whoops I totally shouldn't have over-pressured that one' shots. In the video I had already dialed in what I wanted for a milk shot and went with the 'top down video angle' so it would be a learning tool for others, normally I'd be steaming milk and popping my head down to look at the espresso stream and then up to the milk and then down to the stream like one of those old-school drinking birds.
Some mornings I even have the same glassy eyed look when I'm pulling shots. ;-)