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Basically no one outside of Italy (where the definition was created) takes a purist approach to espresso anymore. Certainly no one in barista competitions ever

Basically no one outside of Italy (where the definition was created) takes a purist approach to espresso anymore. Certainly no one in barista competitions ever uses it for the last 20 years or so. I can't recall the exact official definition but it's something like: 7g of coffee extracted under 9 bars of pressure at 94C yielding 14g of liquid. It's extremely limiting, for example it's designed for dark roast and isn't ideal for medium/light specialty coffee where you might have to adjust the temperature and yield to get good results. Modern high end espresso machines these days are starting to allow you to play with the variables and in the espresso community it's usually considered that anything over 6 bars is an espresso. Also, other techniques like pre-infusing at 1-3 bars before ramping up the pressure is common. Personally I'm partial to a long 20s pre-infusion at 1 bar before ramping up to 6-7bars. This yields a very sweet shot with a medium roast bean.

lostlogin 4y ago
Oh for sure, I’m more arguing that it deserves a better name because as you note, it’s outside the normal for an espresso. Pre infusion aside, the article starts at the low end of your definition but does have graphs that go as low as 4 bar. That’s almost at the stage of being made using the pre infusion only, and perhaps I should try that as that’s down there. I prefer a thick crema (for look and taste) but I’ll try drop the pressure down and see if I’m persuaded. Regarding your long pre infusion - how much of the shot is being extracted after 20 seconds? I’d expect a good 5-10ml by that time but maybe your pressure is so low that little comes out.
- esperent 4y ago
  > how much of the shot is being extracted after 20 seconds? Basically zero, maybe one or two drops. You need to grind finer though and you need a grinder capable of that. A decent hand grinder is ok (e.g. 1zpresso jx pro or max) but for electric grinders you're into the $600+ range before you can do it, e.g. a specialita or a niche .

lostlogin 4y ago

Oh for sure, I’m more arguing that it deserves a better name because as you note, it’s outside the normal for an espresso. Pre infusion aside, the article starts at the low end of your definition but does have graphs that go as low as 4 bar. That’s almost at the stage of being made using the pre infusion only, and perhaps I should try that as that’s down there. I prefer a thick crema (for look and taste) but I’ll try drop the pressure down and see if I’m persuaded. Regarding your long pre infusion - how much of the shot is being extracted after 20 seconds? I’d expect a good 5-10ml by that time but maybe your pressure is so low that little comes out.

esperent 4y ago
> how much of the shot is being extracted after 20 seconds? Basically zero, maybe one or two drops. You need to grind finer though and you need a grinder capable of that. A decent hand grinder is ok (e.g. 1zpresso jx pro or max) but for electric grinders you're into the $600+ range before you can do it, e.g. a specialita or a niche .