Stop Swirling Your Espresso

I'm not the boss of you or anything, but... here's a fun little experiment to see if what I tasted matched up with what's actually happening.
All of this in the name of enjoying your coffee just a little more.

Music:
"VHF" by Uncle Skeleton

Links:

[adamtousek]

This kind of overly obsessive videos are the reason why this is my favourite coffee channel.

[TMan]

What I learned from this video is that we should be drinking espresso from wine glasses.

[empt]

As a chemical engineer, I can confirm that stirring is the superior choice here. Swirling can in some context be compared to what some sources call agitation, which is an inferior process which moves the liquid around in circles, but there is little to no actual "mixing" of the separate phases going on. One could argue that swirling long enough or violently enough would eventually produce the same results as stirring mechanically, but as for everything in espresso, the name of the game is consistency, so grab a spoon and mix that shot!

[springfieldleo]

"Espresso, stirred not swirled."

[JaylewAF]

Prior to watching this, I had actually never stirred my espresso. I always drank it straight focusing on the different layers. But after watching this I split a double shot into two single shot glasses and stirred one of them. I had the exact same impression you had! The layered shot had a lot of bitterness up front with a little burst of sweetness at the end, but the stirred shot was much more balanced and enjoyable as a whole. Thanks for this ultra-level of nerd-ery!

[Imortalwine]

Your point on the wine glasses raises the question of the optimal shaped espresso cup. Potential future video.

[BeniRoseMusic]

"You maybe think I've lost my mind" - James...this is the 6th video of yours I've watched today on the extremely fine details of consuming coffee in a manner I don't regularly consume at home, I think it's safe to say we're on the same page here!

[ignoramus]

"If you're a *café* that doesn't believe in *tea* spoons, shame on you" - James Hoffman.

[Docprepper]

You are 100% my favorite coffee-specialist YouTuber. You just utilized the scientific method to determine whether or not stirring and swirling were comparable mixing methods for an espresso shot. 10/10 will watch again.

[dananskidolf]

40 seconds in, I thought "I'm going to need to order a tiny espresso stirring spoon by the end of this aren't I..."

[NameHierEinfuegen]

There is a trick to swirling when trying to mix a liquid. I've learned that in my chemistry practicals. Sure a spoon or a magnetic stirrer is always better, but for a quick mix this works surprisingly well. Beware, this has a even higher chance to make a mess than normal swirling! ;)

Start a quick and strong swirl till the content of the cup keeps moving when you stop to swirl. Then immediately swirl vigorously in the opposite direction. This causes the flow to stop, introduces turbulence and then reverses the flow. If you repeat this two or three times you get a pretty good mix without stirring.

[ianhu]

It’s been established in the bioscience field that orbital shaking (or swirling) is not a very efficient way to mix stuff so yeah spoon it is

[glennmiller]

Tried this repeatedly with shots pulled from 3 machines 3 grinders and several coffees and have to conclude stirring is giving the best results compared to swirling or leaving. I'm convinced its spoons ahead. :-)

[dainkes]

"You may think I've lost my mind." One of your funniest video's so far James, made me laugh out loud a couple of times. That was a good start of my day, so thanks for that.

I will be stirring my espressos from now on. Unless the service is really bad, than I'll be swirling overenthousiastically.

[joserebolledo]

I am from Chile and I recently started in the world of coffee with an aeropress... you and your channel have been a constant motivation to start preparing my own coffee and trying different things.

Thanks a lot!

[doogleisfat]

James is the kind of guy to take an emergency spoon with him to ensure he can stir any time, any place - I like that about him.

[felipeplant]

Impressive content!
4:00 I’ve got a Carl Sagan vibe in the way you said “off into the room… gone forever…”
Brilliant

[emanuelgreucean]

I've been recommending stirring to our guests since we opened. So when I first read the title of this video I got a bit scared that I was doing it wrong. Thank you for confirming my obsession of stirring the espresso, and providing yet another very informative video that I will share with all coffee enthusiasts in our community.

[devavidon]

Before I found your channel I clicked go on my Sette 30 which generally stayed at one grind setting, lazily tamped whatever 5 seconds was in terms of mass into the stock basket and portafilter that came with my Breville, and clicked the 2 shot button. Now I've just gone and bought a 6 pack of demitasse spoons to stir the espresso that I meticulously dose by weight and dial in daily from a Niche Zero, paddle and tamp with SAI tools, and pull from a Linea Mini. Needless to say my pocketbook is not your biggest fan. But I definitely am. Thank you so much for creating easily the most compelling coffee channel on YouTube. You're probably singlehandedly responsible for my newfound love affair with coffee.

[carlossolis]

ok, next time someone ask me why i stirring my espresso i'll say: " what? i'm just doing the Hoffman maneuver, don't you know it?"