How to Create a Brewing Plan for Unfamiliar Coffee Beans

Friends visiting the shop watched FrontStreet Coffee's espresso-making process, noticing that electronic scales were used for measuring everything from grinding to extraction. They asked: Isn't it just making coffee? Why does it need to be so precise? Would there really be a significant difference in espresso taste with slightly more or less coffee grounds, more or less liquid, or longer or shorter extraction time?

It's completely understandable why this friend would ask this question, especially since online opinions are divided on whether scales are necessary when making coffee. One camp believes scales are essential for proper coffee extraction, while the other holds the opposite view, thinking that scales don't make much difference since the resulting espresso won't taste significantly different anyway. So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share an experiment to see just how different espresso is with varying coffee amounts, and whether using scales is truly necessary!

Extraction Experiments

To more accurately capture the differences in espresso extracted with different values, FrontStreet Coffee will conduct this experiment in two rounds. The first round will use different amounts of coffee grounds to extract the same liquid weight, while the second round will use the same amount of coffee grounds to extract different liquid weights. Let's see what results these two rounds of experiments will bring us!

First is the experiment with different coffee amounts. In this round, FrontStreet Coffee will extract three espresso shots. Since FrontStreet Coffee's morning calibration yielded extraction parameters of 20g, 30 seconds, and 40ml, we'll use this as our baseline, increasing and decreasing the coffee amount by 0.5g each, while keeping the extracted liquid weight consistent at 40ml. Alright, enough talk—let's look at the extraction results!

FrontStreet Coffee then tasted the three espresso shots. First was the standard 40ml espresso extracted from 20g of coffee grounds. Overall, it felt very comfortable to drink, with prominent flavors, balanced acidity and bitterness, and a rich texture. The flavor profile presented whiskey aroma, butter cookies, and berry sweetness and acidity. The espresso extracted with 0.5g more coffee grounds wasn't as excellent. Compared to the first cup, it didn't feel as comfortable overall, with more prominent bitterness and less noticeable acidity. The flavor profile was mostly whiskey aroma, butter cookies, and dark chocolate with distinct bitterness. Finally, the espresso extracted with 0.5g less coffee grounds also didn't feel as pleasant compared to the first cup. Not only was the texture not as rich, but the aftertaste was also very brief. However, relatively speaking, the berry's sweet and sour flavors were more prominent, though as the temperature decreased, its acidity became increasingly sharp.

Then we moved to our second round of experiments: comparing extractions with the same coffee amount but different liquid weights. Similarly, the parameters were adjusted around the morning calibration. Using 20g of coffee grounds each time, we extracted espresso liquids of 40ml, 35ml, and 45ml respectively to see how these coffee liquids would perform!

We'll skip the detailed description since the results were roughly the same as the first round. Except for the espresso made with the morning calibration parameters, which showed excellent performance, the other two cups both developed unpleasant flavors.

The Science Behind Perfect Extraction

So now we know that espresso extracted with more or less coffee grounds, more or less liquid, and longer or shorter times does have certain differences, and these differences stem from the disruption of coffee's flavor balance. What does this mean? To explain simply, the reason FrontStreet Coffee arrived at the extraction formula "20g, 30 seconds, 40ml" during morning calibration is because the espresso extracted with these parameters tastes perfectly balanced! Not only do the flavors not mask each other, but they also complement each other, allowing all aspects of the coffee to perform well. Each extraction parameter contributes significantly to making a coffee taste good, and they all exist in mutual constraint. Once any parameter changes, it affects the entire extraction efficiency. This is especially true for sensitive espresso extraction, where the impact is more intense. When extraction efficiency changes, it means the quantities of extracted acidity, sweetness, and bitterness will differ! This then causes the final extracted coffee to become overly bitter, overly sour, or quite thin. So, what should we do if we want to perfectly replicate delicious espresso like the morning calibration?

That's right—completely replicate the formula that extracts delicious espresso! To achieve this step, the existence of electronic scales is absolutely necessary. Without scales, you wouldn't know how much coffee you're using or how much liquid the coffee machine will extract. Small errors are acceptable (such as 0.1-0.2g of coffee grounds, 1-3ml of coffee liquid), but if larger errors occur—exceeding 0.5g of coffee grounds or 4ml of coffee liquid—the taste will change significantly. Then some friends might ask: Isn't this feedback that can only be obtained when there's something to compare with? Without comparison, can you still taste so many differences?

Hey! That's actually quite true—without comparison, it's naturally difficult to feel too much difference. However! Everyone can still distinguish between delicious and not-so-delicious coffee. Without measurement, every cup of coffee becomes Schrödinger's cat—its quality depends entirely on chance. If you happen to use less coffee and extract more liquid, with multiple negative factors叠加ing, it's hard to imagine the coffee could taste good, unless your coffee consists mainly of extremely dark roasts. In that case, with coffee full of roasted aroma and bitterness, as long as it's sufficiently extracted, there naturally won't be too much difference, since it's all bitter! But if extraction is insufficient, the coffee will still have relatively prominent acidity. This is why most coffee shops use electronic scales throughout the entire process—to ensure product stability and allow in-store customers to enjoy espresso and Italian-style coffee that tastes as good as the morning calibration! If you're making it for yourself, anything goes~ Of course, there are exceptions to everything! Because using scales for measurement reduces efficiency, some coffee shops will use grinders and coffee machines to replace measurement. This will also generate certain errors, but compared to not using any measurement at all, it's much better.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473