flat & white Archives - Flair Espresso

Espresso University – Demystifying Dark Roasts

Jeff Walcott — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 16:33:09 +0000

For this installment of Espresso University, Flair Espresso has teamed up with Raghunath from Ārāmse, an incredible coffee company from India, to take a trip “to the dark side” of coffee roasts. In this video and blog you’ll learn all about dark roasts, which still make up the majority of coffee that is consumed around the world. Watch below, or keep reading and as always, love what you brew.

Introduction to Dark Roasts
As Raghunath says, when it comes to specialty coffee, the emphasis always seems to be on medium and light roasts, with a focus on acidity and floral notes. But the truth is that those drinking light roasts globally are still a very small percentage of coffee drinkers. The majority still prefer medium-dark and dark roasts that are more chocolaty and bitter.

And, while everyone should pick the coffee that’s right for them, we at Flair would be remiss if we didn’t help educate on all roast levels, especially when it comes to our Flair products. The main takeaway here is to choose what’s best for you, and make sure that it’s sustainably sourced and freshly roasted.

So what exactly is a dark roast? Every roaster has a different scale for what they consider light, medium or dark, so it can be hard to understand. But, for the purposes of this educational video, when we say dark roast we’re referring to beans that have at least hit the second crack in the roasting process. A straightforward way to identify this visually is to look for oils on the surface of the beans, which make the beans look glossy, or shiny. The oilier the beans the darker the roast!

Dark roasts are more forgiving in many ways, especially in how easily they give up their soluble material and also how much better they are at maintaining puck integrity when pulling a shot. That being said, dark roasts still present some unique challenges that need to be managed in order to get the best out of them. It’s very easy to over extract a dark roast and get a really bitter and astringent brew, so a lot of what we’ll be discussing today is how to avoid this.

So let’s look at the key variables of espresso and how each should be approached when brewing dark roasts.

The Flair 58
Before we dive further into dark roasts, we should mention that today we’ll be brewing with a Flair 58. The Flair 58 is great for this type of educational activity, because it allows for full control over all the variables in the brewing process, including pressure, dose, ratio, time and temperature. The Flair 58’s industry standard 58mm portafilter accepts any basket size, so you can easily modify your dose and brew ratio accordingly. And, with the preheat control system of the Flair 58, you can easily preheat your brewing chamber for better thermal management during your extraction.

If you haven’t seen the Flair 58 yet, check it out below.

Flair 58 Manual Espresso Maker

The Flair 58 is our flagship in manual espresso brewing. Get café-quality espresso at home all while benefitting from the immediate feedback and control of a manual system, which is enhanced with an industry standard 58mm basket and preheat control system.

Add a Flair 58 to Your Cart

Dose for Dark Roasts
The first variable Raghunath describes is dose. As with any coffee, start with deciding on your dose based on the size of the drink you want. Also ensure that you’re using an appropriate sized basket for the dose that you’re working with. The Flair 58’s industry standard portafilter allows you to switch out your stock basket for third party baskets of various sizes. For the sake of simplicity in this lesson, Raghunath uses a standard dose of 18g. One other thing to note, is that dose is something that we like to keep fixed and only tweak very slightly on occasions. With dose it’s best to pick and lock it in.

And here’s a fun fact. The darker the roast the more porous and less dense your ground coffee will be. This means that a darker roasted coffee, once ground, will take up quite a bit more volume than the same dose of a lighter roast.

Temperature for Dark Roasts
If you watch Ārāmse’s in-depth review of the Flair 58 you’ll see they talk about how the combination of brew head temperature and water temperature combines to give the brewing temperature. Dark roasts are a lot more soluble and therefore require lower temperatures to avoid over extraction. So, on the Flair 58 Raghunath recommends sticking to the low preheat control setting and experimenting with your kettle temperature starting as low as 85 degrees C for very dark roasts. If this doesn’t hit the mark for your palate you can increase by 2 degrees C at a time to dial-in.

Grind Size for Dark Roasts
Dark roasts give up their soluble material a lot more easily than light roasts, so Raghunath recommends grinding a little coarser than you do for lighter roasts to both reduce surface area and contact time with water, which will reduce your chances of over extraction.

Brewing Ratios
Now, your brew ratio is basically the ratio of the weight of dry coffee you dose into the basket to the weight of brewed espresso extracted in your cup. Dark roasts allow for much shorter ratios, giving the brewer a textural experience that you just can’t enjoy with lighter roasts.

This is because, during the extraction process acids are extracted first, followed by sugars and then oils and bitter solids. The longer you roast coffee the more the acids break down, which is why dark roasts have significantly less acidity than light roasts. This is why you’ll be able to pull ratios like 1:1 with dark roasts without it tasting like battery acid. Instead, you get a thick, gooey, intense but balanced brew that doesn’t have harsh bitterness and astringency. So we suggest starting at around 1:1.75 and working your way down to 1:1 to find your sweet spot.

Pressure & Flow
Having full control over pressure & flow means that you can play around to quite literally “squeeze” the best out of your coffee. Raghunath recommends trying this side by side comparison, in three parts.

Start with the classic Italian 9 BAR profile where you quickly ramp up to 9bar and keep it there for the duration of the shot.
Then pull a second flat profile but keep the pressure lower at like 6 BAR and see how that affects the taste and texture. You’ll notice that the bitterness is a bit more subdued at lower pressures.
Finally, try a declining profile when you start at 9b and ramp down slowly to 6b as the puck loses integrity. Let you palate decided what you enjoy.

Dark Roast Freshness and Rest Periods
How long past the roast date do you wait before brewing your dark roasted coffee? Dark roasts are more porous and therefore degas quicker and subsequently stale faster than medium and light roasts. The window between roasting and brewing is called resting and Raghunath recommends 3 – 7 days for dark roasts while lighter ones can be up to 3 – 4 weeks. Brew too soon and you’ll have spluttering, choking and uneven extractions. Wait too long and you’ll have gushing extractions with barely any crema and you’ll find yourself having to grind much finer to be able to build any pressure. In both cases you’re not going to be experiencing the coffee at its peak.

Brew at the right time and dark roast pulls look stunning. The fact that they have more built up CO2, when compared to light roasts, means you’ll get a much more generous layer of crema.

Brewing Time with Dark Roasts
Time isn’t a variable we have direct control over but rather it’s a variable that’s affected by tweaking one or more of the other variables like dose or grind size. A finer grind will increase brew time whereas a coarser grind that allows for higher flow will decrease it. It’s also a useful marker to use while troubleshooting.

If you pull two shots back to back, with identical parameters and the second shot takes 5 – 8 secs longer than you know that you’ve either not recreated the pressure curve accurately or your puck prep was different. This isn’t dark roast specific, but is a useful metric to track changes made to the other variables.

Well that’s it for this last Espresso University tutorial on dark roasted coffee. We hope this will help all you dark roast junkies get the most out of your Flair 58 or any of Flair’s other brewers for that matter.

The post Espresso University – Demystifying Dark Roasts appeared first on Flair Espresso.

Espresso University – The Basics of Espresso

Jeff Walcott — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:28:38 +0000

This installment of Espresso University features Martina Vigo, barista and co-founder of Flat & White coffee in Argentina, who has stopped by to drop some knowledge on the basics of espresso. And, as you all will come to see, there’s no better tool to learn espresso brewing than a Flair Espresso Maker. The Flair is perfect for those just getting started because the manual lever system allows users to truly understand the process, from bean to cup. But, before we get too deep, let’s start with the basics as Martina explains them and embark on a trip to “espresso land.”

What is Espresso
So, what is espresso? As Martina explains it, espresso is both a drink and a brewing method. Those big machines you see at coffee shops and cafes all around the world specialize in this brewing method, which is characterized by forcing heated water at high pressures, through a bed of finely ground coffee in a short period of time. This process creates a coffee drink known as espresso, which is small in volume and highly concentrated.

The espresso brewing method is completely different from other coffee brewing methods, like pour over or drip coffee for example, and the texture and mouthfeel of the espresso drink that comes from it will be completely different.

But, it’s important to note that regardless of the brewing method, any coffee beans can be used! There are no beans that are specific only to espresso. Any coffee bean, from light to dark roast, can be used in espresso, and bags of coffee that say they are an “espresso blend” simply mean that the roaster recommends these beans for the espresso brewing method!

This should open up a world of coffee to everyone, and Martina recommends that new home brewers try out different coffees and pick the ones they like best.

Grinding for Espresso
So, now that we’ve chosen our coffee, we need to grind it for espresso. Martina says that grind quality and consistency is the number one priority in brewing delicious espresso. But that it’s also the most easily overlooked topic by beginning espresso brewers. Everyone wants a nice espresso machine and tends to put the grinder lower down on the priority list. But this shouldn’t be the case!

Now, grinding for espresso means that the grounds will be very fine, and that a small fluctuation or change in the grind size or consistency will have a significant impact on the taste of your espresso. This is why Martina recommends getting a grinder with micro-adjustments, or one that is stepless, so that it’s easy for the home brewer to dial-in their grind just as they like it.

Why the Flair is Great for Espresso at Home?
As Martina says, the Flair is a manual machine, and home brewers have access to all the variables of the extraction, which allows them to create an amazing espresso just the way they like it. In addition to this, the Flair is a great learning tool. Changing one variable at a time like tamping, brew pressure, grind size or water temperature, can allow the brewer to understand how that change impacts the taste of the espresso in their cup. This type of control is difficult to find in an electric espresso machine, unless you can spend in the thousands of dollars.

Finally, the Flair is totally portable, and doesn’t require electricity, so you can handcraft espresso anywhere you are and take your coffee with you.

Flair PRO 2 Manual Espresso Maker

The Flair PRO 2 is the best in manual espresso that still comes in a portable package. Brew anywhere and get café-quality espresso all while benefitting from the immediate feedback and control of a manual system.

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Using a Flair Espresso Maker

So, now that we understand what espresso is, let’s assemble the Flair and go through its parts to get a better understanding of how it works. In the video, Martina is using a Flair PRO 2, which home brewers can pick in one of three colors: black, chrome or white.The first step is to assemble the Flair’s two major components, the base and the lever, which features the portafilter base. These two items can be affixed with a screw if you’re not traveling for a while and want a little more stability. But every Flair works perfectly without this screw.

Then, Martina introduces us all to the Brew Head, which as she says, “Is where the magic happens.”

The PRO 2 brew head comes with a few different parts: like the bottomless portafilter where we put our coffee, the dispersion screen that goes on top of it, and the brewing cylinder which holds the brew water. Inside the brew cylinder is the stainless steel plunger. The stem and Flair’s custom pressure gauge connect to this plunger to lower it during extractions and create the pressure needed for espresso.

All in all, it’s a pretty simple machine, being just a lever! But Flair didn’t stop there, and has provided a range of accessories, which are also beautiful, to make brewing easier! A branded stainless steel drip tray shines in the light while keeping your counter clean, and a stainless steel tamper, dosing cup, funnel, preheat cap and a removable spout are all featured to ensure you get the best brewing experience.

How to Make Espresso at Home

As with every manual espresso machine, the first step is to preheat the parts to ensure the temperature of the water stays high enough for the brew. Martina says you can do this by using the included preheat cap for the cylinder, or the home brewer can use any type of funnel to position the cylinder and portafilter on top of the kettle they’re using to heat the water. This option is faster and more efficient.

While the brew cylinder is preheating the coffee beans can be prepared, making sure that we grind for espresso as discussed previously! And Martina cannot emphasize how important getting a set of brewing scales is, as it will make measuring much easier and more precise. As Martina has mentioned, every small change in espresso variables will change the taste of the espresso in your cup, so a scale will aid in managing these variables like extraction time and output!

In the video, Martina has found that for this coffee 17 grams is a great dose size, so that’s what she decides to grind. The grind setting you’ll need will be different for each coffee, and you’ll have to tweek it daily for the same coffee. You can’t just dial in once and “set it and forget it!”

Once the portafilter is nice and warm, Martina adds the grounds to the portafilter using the dosing funnel. She then uses what’s called a WDT or a Weiss Distribution Technique tool that makes sure the grounds are uniform throughout the basket, with no air bubbles or areas where the coffee can get more or less compacted. This ensures an even extraction.

Then Martina brings in the handy stainless steel tamper, made specifically for the Flair PRO 2. She tamps those fluffy grounds into a beautiful cake, making sure to tamp as level as possible. She then puts the dispersion screen on top, and sets the portafilter into the base.

Once the water is ready and the cylinder is hot to the touch, Martina places it on top of the portafilter and fills it up with the water, just above the plunger so there’s no air gap inside. She then places the scale and an espresso cup below the portafilter, sets the scale to zero and begins to lower the lever!

As Martina mentions in the video, here is where you can get creative. As you pull down the lever, as long as you have your grind dialed in, you’ll start to see the gauge register some pressure. You can play around with this variable, performing pre infusions, ramps, and tapers. This is the part of espresso brewing that’s called flow control, and is a feature usually only found in machines priced at least 10 times more than the Flair!

Martina begins slowly pulling down until she sees the pressure gauge going to 2 or 3 BAR of pressure, then she maintains this position until a few drops start coming out of the portafilter. Then she slowly and steadily increases the force on the lever until the gauge reaches the espresso range! Here Martina stays, until she reaches her desired output measured by her scale. Doing this, the extraction should take about 40 to 50 seconds, which is a little bit longer than regular electric espresso machines.

For this particular coffee and the 17 grams used Martina says she likes to extract 40 grams of espresso yield. This is a ratio of 1:2.3, which is measured by comparing input weight to output weight. Home brewers should change this ratio based on the coffee and roast type they’re using. But, for a medium roast, this is a good starting point for novice brewers.

What is Crema?
And now that the shot has been pulled, we can see on top of the espresso this golden brown foam named crema. Baristas and home brewers can get very fixated on crema because it looks beautiful and is very appetizing to the eye (and the mouth). But what exactly is this crema?

Martina explains that the process of roasting coffee creates CO2 that is trapped in the coffee beans. When the coffee is freshly roasted it has lots of CO2 inside. During brewing, the highly pressurised water becomes supersaturated with the CO2 – as it extracts – and then will begin to release it. These tiny bubbles make a smooth foam that we call crema. The pressure is the key here, this is why we don’t get crema in other brewing methods like pour overs.

Now, fresher beans and a higher roast level will yield more crema. And a darker roast will usually result in darker crema. At the correct pressure for espresso, and with fresh enough beans, crema will be present. But we don’t have to take the amount or the colour of the crema as an indicator of the quality of the shot.

For example a light roast will be more pale in color and have less crema. But if dialed in right, this light roast will still be amazing in taste!

And that’s it! A basic introduction to espresso by Martina Vigo of Flat & White.

The post Espresso University – The Basics of Espresso appeared first on Flair Espresso.