0.
374
gm/l
If sour
Extract moreIf bitter
Extract lessIf you haven’t measured your beans, treat this recipe as a starting guess. If you have, it’s usually right first time, and almost always within one change. The espresso coffee recipe series is designed for this: taste your shot, then move up the series for more extraction or down for less. Don’t hesitate to experiment with another recipe based on your taste test results—finding what tastes best for you is worth it!
2.1
7
Dark/Darker than Dark
Don’t get hung up on the details. If you can’t change your pressure, maybe you don’t have a complete set of baskets, you don’t know what that grind size even means. It doesn’t matter.
Providing you are changing the dose, the yield, the ratio, the bits you can, you will be changing the TASTE, and that is what matters. YOU are finding a RECIPE that tastes better than the last recipe you tried.
Pre-heat your espresso machine, portafilter, basket, and coffee cup.
Get your single dose out of the freezer. If you are not single-dosing and freezing your coffee, read How to Store Coffee Beans – 9 tips. While at it, read Best Coffee Beans – Six Purchasing Tips.
Shots of espresso these days are nearly always a double shot of espresso. Double shots are now the standard in America and many places worldwide. A single shot of espresso is scarce. Traditionally, a single shot (solo) of espresso uses about 7g of espresso-fine grounds. If you want to make a single, pull a double, but use a split portafilter to halve the shot.
Grind your frozen coffee; do not defrost it. Either grind into an espresso shaker funnel or using a dosing funnel, grind it into the right-sized basket in a naked portafilter.
Puck prep: I use a WDT tool to break up clumps and redistribute them. I use a levelling tool and a levelling palm tamper. Then, I cover it with a shower screen to help evenly distribute the water.
Place the scales under your cup, tare, and start the timer.
Increase the pressure to 0 bar and stop at the first drip. You’ll find this hard without a manual lever espresso machine such as a Flair58+.
Pre-infusion is critical; it is where most of the extraction occurs, and just like the bloom phase in filter coffee, it needs a good 30-60 seconds. If your coffee is fresh and you stored it frozen, it needs to degas and have plenty of time to extract all the good stuff. You are NOT in a hurry.
You can monitor the extraction, use a mirror to watch the bottom of the naked portafilter, but really you just need to see the first drip hit the cup, then stop and wait.
You are NOT looking for those old-fashioned things: convergence streams, avoiding spritzes, colour progression, blonding point, cut-off signals. That was all wrong.
After the preinfusion bloom phase, wash off the extraction with a steady flow rate.
It is your choice to push hard and intentionally get a bit of crema bitterness, good for latte art, or go slow and avoid pushing through fines.
Stop the shot once you have reached your target yield. The extraction time is meaningless.
Adjusting your grind size isn’t as important.
Using an Oxo Rapid Brewer? You can make an espresso-strength concentrate with this recipe’s dose and ratio. Add the Oxo brew water shown above (the yield plus an allowance for the water the grounds hold back). Push gently and stop at the first drip, wait 60 seconds to bloom and extract, then pump until bubbles start to appear. You should end up with the right yield for the dose and ratio.
Now, the most crucial step. Before adding milk, stir the espresso and crema, dip a teaspoon in and taste (you don’t need a spoonful; it just needs to be wet). Is the coffee sour? If so, next time you make this coffee, extract more using the recipe indicated by the button above.
If the coffee isn’t sour, ask yourself whether it is very bitter. Bitterness is harder to judge because all coffee is bitter to some extent. However, you can reduce bitterness by extracting less. Go too far, and it will turn sour. You are looking for the calm spot in between. Just above sour tastes best. If you need to reduce bitterness next time you make this coffee, extract less by using the recipe indicated by the button above.
Add the bypass hot water (optional). Adding hot water reduces the blanket of milk and increases the coffee’s apparent strength while keeping the volume up.
Add the steamed milk. Espresso con panna (whipped cream) may be a little OTT, but adding 5-10ml of cream to your milk before steaming can help the body and taste. Another great option is adding 15% coconut milk.
I only endorse equipment I have purchased myself, and I do not earn a commission or have any links to the companies I recommend.
This is an excellent coffee; Nicaragua’s Nueva Segovia is one of Central America’s best regions, this farm is run by the third generation of the Albir family, the anaerobic natural is tropical and sweet, and it is roasted by ONA Coffee in Canberra for filter. If you haven’t tried it, don’t miss out, grab some here: Filter – Las Hortensias, Nicaragua, Anaerobic Natural – ONA Coffee
Las Hortensias is a 2.8-hectare family farm that has been in the Albir Sotomayor family for more than 50 years, with coffee production going back three decades. Sisters Ana María and Martha Albir are the third generation. They grow under native shade trees to slow maturation. In 2016 they established Cafetos de Segovia, a mill serving Las Hortensias and 11 neighbouring producers, and the farm takes part in Cup of Excellence competitions and auctions.
Buenos Aires, in Dipilto, Nueva Segovia, is near the Honduran border in northern Nicaragua. Las Hortensias grows at 1,250–1,300 metres above sea level.
ORIGIN: DIPILTO, NUEVA SEGOVIA, NICARAGUA
PRODUCER: ANA MARÍA ALBIR SOTOMAYOR
FARM: LAS HORTENSIAS
ALTITUDE: 1,250–1,300 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL
VARIETY: MARSELLESA
PROCESS: ANAEROBIC NATURAL
Marsellesa was bred by ECOM-CIRAD in Nicaragua as a pedigree selection of Sarchimor, a cross of Villa Sarchi and the Timor Hybrid. It was selected for resistance to coffee leaf rust, and it has better cup quality than older Sarchimor hybrids, although it needs more fertiliser. It is now found across Central and South America. The farm also grows Maracaturra, Red Catuaí and Catimor.
An anaerobic natural ferments the whole cherry with little oxygen before it is dried, which boosts fruit and sweetness. ONA describes layered tropical fruit and sweet citrus that develop as the coffee cools, finishing with smooth, nutty almond.
ONA Coffee is a specialty roaster based in Canberra, Australia, founded by Sasa Šestić, who won the 2015 World Barista Championship. This is a filter roast sold in 200 g and 1 kg bags, best used 7–20 days after roasting.
Filter – Las Hortensias, Nicaragua, Anaerobic Natural – ONA Coffee
Model Version:
20261009.06
I have a dream: that this might raise the standard of coffee-making globally, reduce dialling in waste, time, and frustration, and encourage people to explore more varieties and pay more attention to the producers. You might even be prepared to pay more for better coffee if it pleases you, returning more money to growers.
You can help. The best thing you can do is spread the word on other platforms, such as Reddit or Facebook coffee forums, and share with others how this method can solve everyday problems.
Using 0.1g accurate scales and the recommended 100ml measuring cylinder, and entering quality data into the form, helps improve the model. So does evidence-based feedback for parameter range adjustments.
You can also support the site financially via Buy me a coffee to help with ongoing running costs, site hosting fees, and plug-in subscriptions.
