Did Science Just Reinvent Espresso?

Music:
"Ad Infinitum" by Oh The City

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[morebagful]

Hi James. I wanted to say thank you for making such a well-balanced review of our work, and also for helping to propogate the ongoing conversation about this. I'll be following the comments here with interest.

[TommyFugitive]

I frequented Tailored in Eugene when I lived in the states. I would sometimes chat with Chris Hendon because we were there at the same time so often. These shots were really good. When the barista told me it was a 15 second shot, I glared. I tried it. It was good. He pointed at Chris. Chris looked pleased. He gave me the elevator pitch of the science. I got this kind of shot nearly everyday for the summer before I headed to Europe. I was still baffled by the explanation and still am, a bit.. The flavor is really good. I did taste a difference between the old, long pulls and the new pulls. Some flavors were lost, but other flavors appeared. I don't know if they were adjusting the bars yet, as this was two years ago and they were just trying it out for the first time. I bet they've improved the kinks. It's definitely worth having a go.

Chris also convinced me it was ok to freeze coffee if I wanted to keep it a while. He said the beans would preserve just fine. He turned out to be right.

[jedidiahsolomon]

love the scientific term:"tasty point"

[mishtram]

I can speak anecdotally, but I’ve been a frequent flyer at that cafe in Eugene Oregon (Tailored Coffee Roasters), and I can speak that their espresso has always been the best I’ve ever had. I’ve spoken to the baristas and they’ve always said that their espresso was pulled faster and different. Thanks to this paper I understand what they mean now. I’ve also met Dr. Hendon once - super super smart.

So excited for this video James!!!

[MarketingGuy]

At the end of the video, James reminds me of my overly excited high school physics teacher who himself was so excited about physics and desperately tried to transfer his excitement to the students.

[anasghandorah]

TEST SETUP

Essp. Machine:  GS3 AV
Pressure:  6 bar
Grinder:  Mahlkonig E65S 
Basket Size:  14g
Refractometer:  ATAGO
Brewing Temperature:  93.7 ºC
Coffee Beans & Roast Date:  RED BRICK Espresso Blend (20/11/2019)
Brewing Water:  3rd Wave (Espresso Profile) 167 PPM (TDS)
Scales:  acaia

RESULTS

(1)
Water/Coffee Ratio:  2.14
Grinder Setting Range:  0.55 to 1.1
Peak Extraction %:  20.63 at 24.5 sec with 0.8 Grind Setting

(2)
Water/Coffee Ratio:  2.84
Grinder Setting Range:  0.8 to 2.05
Peak Extraction %:  22.66 at 19 sec with 1.7 Grind Setting

Best Tasting Recipe:  2.05 Grind Setting, 14g Dose, 39.9 Yield, at 16.5 sec, with 7.5% TDS (Strength), and 21.37% Extraction Yield

NOTE:  I have had a home subscription with SQUARE MILE for a while and so far have consumed around 8kg of the RED BRICK Espresso Blend. RED BRICK never tasted this good.


To James Hoffmann,

We cannot thank you enough for your inspiring dedication and generous contributions to our lives!

[christellez]

WE've been pulling 15 second shots at our cafe for the past 4-5 month; 16g input/30g output/15 second brew time... 5-6bars of pressure. Excellent results!

[krist]

A couple days back, I was in a very small Maine cafe (way off-season), in a very small town, and the owner already knew about this study and was excited about learning more. There is hope for humanity.

[alylyshua]

You are the only Youtuber that gets me pumped about uniformly shredding burnt berry pips. And it isn't unpleasant at all! Thank you for the video and your pragmatic approach to the paper and news.

[TimTeatro]

I'm a PhD student so I have very modest equipment. My background is in computational physics, applied math and control systems engineering, so this paper is well within my wheelhouse. I taught myself to make Espresso a couple of years ago by standard doctrine. The timing of this video and paper, for me, is delightfully coincidental—as I've recently been discovering some of this on my own—just by toying around morning to morning. One morning I forgot to adjust my grind and noticed that I got a much nicer americano than expected on a looser grind. I started thinking about the tradeoff between channelling and surface area and postulated this sweet spot. I can't wait to read the paper. Thanks so much!

[Seblo_]

I tried this at my cafe during a quiet period.

I found very similar results to yours, the texture definitely suffered a little, but the method still produced a nice cup. I found it hard to grow accustom to however... Especially when you compare it to what I'm normally tasting.

It had a lot of similarities to a V60 in terms of the clarity flavour in my opinion.

My recipe:
16g in
38g out
@ 15s

Equipment:
EK 43
Black Eagle
PUQ Press 2

Coffee:
Pablo & Rusty's
'Trailblazer' (seasonal blend)

[samsturdi]

I’ve been a barista for 13 years and this is the most thought inducing conversation for a very long time.

[themedicinedan]

I really hoped this was about Centrifugally Separated Turkish Coffee.

[smwillia]

I love how this paper will push people into the "less sexy" part of the scientific method, the replication studies part. That is the area where the nailing down of the facts and methods are made.

[willyp]

“This is not a recipe to remove the barista from the process”

*Perger has left the chat*

[dreamvisionary]

I've got a low-end home setup consisting of a Gaggia Classic and a Sage BCG600SIL. Having watched this video, I checked the brew head pressure and found it to be 10 bar. I typically use 17 grams coffee for a 20 seconds 40 grams pour and to be honest I have struggled with pulling a good shot, but lowering the pressure to 6 bar and grinding slightly coarser to achieve a 15 second for 40 grams yields a much better shot. I pretty sure it would not be up to the standards that many who watch James' videos would be satisfied with but it's a considerable improvement for me. I suspect at 10 bar I was getting puck compaction and channelling, as I noticed the pour speed increase over the length of the pour. Maybe this has some value to us low-end brewers.

[MrSramozz]

I just love when people think of a theory about something, flesh out their thesis, and when testing it out, figure out something that is as ground breaking, but completely different than their original theory. This remind me a lot of Dave Arnold theorising that is the science of cocktail making, the shape and kind of ice used in your shaker didn't actually matter, and when he tested his thesis, he actually found out that yes, in fact, it really does matter, and the best way to use your ice in the process of shaking a cocktail was to use one big block of ice, for displacing and mixing your drink well, and a bunch of smaller ice shards around, to act on the percentage of dilution.
As always, I loved your video, thank you.

[davetellier]

Happy to see that i am not too crazy... La Pavoni Europiccola with localy roasted Ethiopia Sidamo beans

14g in, 36 out (coarser grind)
10 sec 1.5 bar, 5sec at 4bars and around 10-12 seconds at 6-7bars.

I use and like this recipe since 1.5 years now and was thinking that my coffee taste was a bit odd...

Thanks for the great content!

[ericgoldstein]

sometimes i just turn on your videos to be soothed by your voice and to relax. i then either start to cook, do some exercise or just have a smoke on my windowsill. i also love your content and at other times i just binge your channel, including rewatching older videos, for hours. thank you james.

[BensCoffeeRants]

I usually do cappuccinos but I've had really good results with shots that ran super long due to a way too fine grind, and good results with a way too fast shot (too course).
It bugs me that some people just throw out a shot of espresso because they think it didn't turn out good, especially if they never even tried it! If it's not good and you're not anti-dairy, add some milk and/or sugar and it's still salvageable :p People worked very hard to grow and prep that coffee. :O