Recipes & Dialling In With Our Coffee Beans.

In this post I'm going to give recipes and dialling in advice for all of our coffee beans.

Just before I start, a couple of general pointers.

A note about espresso machines

These recipes are for portafilter espresso machines.

If you have an automatic bean to cup coffee machine, with a brewing unit instead of a portafilter, you won't have control over all of the variables, so I'd recommend just tweaking the ratio (by adjusting the shot volume) and experimenting with grind size, although I'd usually take bean to cup machines towards their finest grind setting if you're aiming for close to "true" traditional espresso.

A note about switching bean types

If you're just switching over from "normal" coffee beans, from the supermarket, to freshly roasted beans, there's quite a big difference.

I'm not saying freshly roasted beans are better, obviously I'm biased ;-), but better is very subjective. I'm just saying that they're two very different types of coffee beans. 

So, expect quite a different experience when it comes to using freshly roasted beans if you're used to buying mainstream coffee beans without a roasted on date. 

If you switch over to freshly roasted coffee beans and don't dial in, you'll often get very strange results, because you'll be at completely the wrong grind size. 

A note about baskets.

The main reason that people tend to struggle when switching over to freshly roasted beans, is that most people using supermarket beans are using the wrong baskets. 

Standard, non-pressurised baskets are for dialing in, and you can only properly dial in using freshly roasted beans. 

Dual walled, pressurised baskets are for supermarket beans, and also for pre-ground coffee. 

When I say "freshly roasted", I'm not saying they have to have been roasted this morning, in fact most beans are best to use from about a week after the roasted on date, and they'll be fine for around 4-6 weeks as long as they're well stored.

It's common to hear from people who have tried their best to dial in with supermarket beans, using standard baskets, who think that there's something wrong with the freshly roasted beans they bought because of how much of a change they need to make to the grind size to get dialled in. 

Just be aware that if you've tried to dial in with supermarket beans, when you switch to freshly roasted beans, you have to start completely from scratch, the results you were getting with supermarket beans need to be completely forgotten about. 

Before we get into the recipes, let's explain the stuff I'm not including here.

Pre-infusion time:

The reason I'm not including pre-infusion in the recipes, is that it's not one of the fundamental dialling in variables, although I think many beginner home baristas get the impression that it is.

The only important thing about pre-infusion time, is to understand that unless we're talking about very specific kinds of shots (pressure profiling) the shot time for espresso recipes is including the pre-infusion time. 

Other than this, pre-infusion time isn't a fundamental variable, don't get me wrong I'd rather have pre-infusion than not, but for example the difference between a 4 second, 6 second or 8 second pre-infusion in my opinion, usually wouldn't be noticeable.

Distribution Methods:

Distribution is another commonly discussed activity which isn't fundamental to dialling in, in that it really doesn't make much difference which distribution tools you use. 

You'll find some people insisting that you absolutely must use a WDT tool, you'll find some who prefer to use an O.C.D type leveller tool, some who prefer blind shakers, some who use all of these and more ;-), and some who use none.

The fact of the matter is, doing some form of distribution (ensuring the grounds are well distributed in the basket) is good from the perspective of reducing the chances of channelling, and it would make sense to do the same each time rather than changing from shot to shot, but your choice of distribution technique isn't going to make a great deal of difference. 

It seems from recent studies that if anything, blind shakers have the slight edge over WDT, but unless you have an unbelievably good palate, it's very unlikely that you'd be able to tell the difference. 

So, I'd just say, if you want to use a distribution method, look at either getting a blind shaker, or a WDT tool. If you can't be bothered, don't worry about it, just knock the side of the portafilter with your palm before you tamp, like Baristas have done for decades.

Tamping

One of the first things people who're new to home espresso seem to conclude when they taste poor espresso, is that it's down to their tamping.

It isn't, and I don't even need to see your tamping method to know that.

As long as you're ensuring a level tamp, and you're tamping roughly the same each time, basically pushing the grounds with the tamper until they won't push any more, it's very unlikely that your tamping method is going to be a problem.

I do think calibrated tampers with a levelling ring are great, they take the guesswork out of it, but still, even if you're using a standard manual tamper, it's unlikely you need to think much about the tamp, and tamping would be the least likely source of dialling in issues in my opinion.

Gadgets & Gizmos

You don't need any gadgets to make your espresso taste better. If you're thinking about upgrading your baskets, upgrading your shower screen, getting a puck screen and so on, these are unlikely to be all that helpful as far as dialling in is concerned.

You can buy all these things of course, and I'm not saying they're in any way harmful, just that they're unlikely to yield much in the way of improvements to your espresso. 

Upgraded baskets in the long run can help with shot potential, as long as you have a grinder that is up to the task, as competition baskets & high extraction baskets usually require a finer grind.

Upgraded shower screens can in some cases be easier to clean, they're very unlikely to make any noticeable difference with your shots though.

Similar is true with puck screens, they can make very slight differences to extraction, but it's incredibly unlikely that you'll be able to tell the difference, they can make it easier to keep the shower screen clean, though.

If you are using anything along these lines, the one thing I'd recommend is doing this all the time, for example it'll make things more difficult if you're changing baskets from shot to shot, or using a puck screen for one shot and not using it for the next.

What grind size?

If you're wondering why grind size is missing from this recipe, it isn't, it's there - but it's called "shot time".

The shot time range relates to the grind size, for example if you're aiming for 27-30 seconds and the shot pulls in 24 seconds, you'd adjust slightly finer for the next shot.

Grind size starting points

One of the most common questions we get, is "what grind size for x coffee beans" - and the answer to this is, whatever grind size gets you to within the shot time range given in the recipe, and from there, whatever grind size gets you the best tasting shots.

It's not even all that practical to be able to give a starting point, because there are so many variables.

Having said that, here are the starting points we'd give for Sage coffee machines with integrated grinders. 

Please be aware that these are very rough starting point suggestions only, it'll depend on the beans, the calibration of your grinder & the internal burr setting.

Sage Smart Grinder Pro / Dose Control Pro (using a sage machine with stock baskets), Barista Pro, Barista Touch, Barista Touch Impress, Barista Express Impress, Smart Grinder Pro: Grind size 12

Sage Barista Express: Grind size 5

Sage Oracle & Oracle Touch: Grind size 18

Sage Oracle Jet: Grind Size 24

Please note: On all the Sage machines above except the Oracle Jet (which has all of its range available by the external dial) there's also an internal burr adjustment, with 10 settings, which usually comes pre-set to 6.

If you plan on adjusting, find your zero point first, by running the grinder with no beans, adjusting from most coarse to most fine, and listening to the motor starting to strain, as the burrs begin to touch.

This is your zero point, the burrs are touching, so by adjusting the inner burr so that the zero is at the finest setting (1) you know that you'd never want to actually grind at this setting, as you'd be grinding with the burrs touching. 

Many people just go in and immediately drop the inner burr setting to 4, 3 or lower, and all this does in most cases is it makes the zero point the external setting of 3, 4 or higher. 

Grind sizes for other grinders

I can give suggestions for Sage machines with integrated grinders, because I have a rough idea of the grind size that will be required with the stock baskets for these machines.

When it comes to other grinders, paired with a stand alone espresso machine, it'll depend on the machine you're using, but in particular it'll depend on the baskets, for example if you switch from stock baskets to VST or IMS competition baskets, or high extraction baskets, you'll usually end up having to grind quite a bit finer than with stock baskets. 

It'll also depend on the dose you're using, so there are just too many variables for me to give a suggested grind size for anything other than the integrated grinder espresso machines.

If you search Google, you'll usually find user groups and reddit threads where you'll find others using the same setup, this would be a good place to get a rough idea of where to start.

Purge Beans

One final thing to say before getting into the recipes, is about purging, which means to grind a few grams and chuck them away.

You don't "have" to purge beans if you can't stand the waste, and I can definitely relate to that, but just keep in mind that unless you purge, the first shot of the day, and the next shot after adjusting grind size, won't be as expected. 

This is because of the exchanged retention, meaning the grinds that come out of the chute the next time you grind. It's not the end of the world, if you'd rather just suffer with a slightly subpar shot than waste a few coffees, no problem.

If you're aiming for the best shot quality possible, and you don't mind wasting a few grams, just purge a few grams the first time you're making coffee each day, and each time you've changed the grind size.

Without further waffle, here are the recipes:

Chocolate Brownie Blend

Ideal brew temperature: 93C
Ideal shot time: 24-28 seconds
Ideal brew ratio: 1:1.8 - 1:2 

Chocolate Brownie Blend

 

Classic Italian Blend

Ideal brew temperature: 93C
Ideal shot time: 26-30 seconds
Ideal brew ratio: 1:2 

Classic Italian Blend

 

Milk Chocolate & Caramel Decaf Honduras

Ideal brew temperature: 93C
Ideal shot time: 27-30 seconds
Ideal brew ratio: 1:2.1 

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Honduras Decaf

 

Chocolate Fondant Blend

Fruitcake Blend

Ideal brew temperature: 93C
Ideal shot time: 26-30 seconds
Ideal brew ratio: 1:2 

Fruit Cake Blend

 

Fruit & Nut Blend

 

Ideal brew temperature: 93C
Ideal shot time: 27-30 seconds
Ideal brew ratio: 1:2

Toffee & Caramel Half Caffeine