Espresso: Ultimate Coffee, Second Edition by Kenneth Davids

Author:Kenneth Davids
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

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7 FUSSY AS A FRENCH OMELET COOK

GRINDING COFFEE FOR ESPRESSO

When one of my coffee books was published in Great Britain, a reviewer for the Manchester Guardian accused me of being “as fussy as a French omelet cook” about coffee. There is obviously some cultural bias at work here (do French people accuse one another of being as fussy as an English umbrella maker?). I also think coffee is considerably more noble and important than omelets, even French omelets. Nevertheless, whenever I find myself about to launch into some detailed set of coffee prescriptions, that quote comes painfully to mind.

This is one of those moments. To those whose only coffee-making experience has been with brewing methods other than espresso, the remarks I am about to make concerning the importance of the correct grind in espresso will doubtless sound like the mutterings of a French omelet cook, even an obsessive French omelet cook. So be it, because grinding the coffee may be the single most important act in the entire sequence of espresso brewing events.

Recall that the heavy body and rich flavor of espresso coffee is achieved through pressure and resistance: pressure by the brewing water, and resistance to that pressure by a uniform layer of compressed, ground coffee. The hot water, under great pressure, does its best to push its way through the layer of ground coffee, but owing to the resistance of the finely ground and highly compressed coffee, it cannot succeed until it has saturated every grain of the coffee, extracting the coffee’s entire flavor and perfume almost instantly, and delivering it intact into the cup. This perfectly poised opposition of pressure and resistance is at the heart of the espresso brewing system.

THE IDEAL GRIND

The ideal grind for espresso is: (1) a grit just short of powder; (2) a relatively uniform grit in terms of size of grain; and (3) a grit made up of flaked or shaved, rather than torn or compressed, grains.

These three criteria are listed in order of importance. Criterion 1, the proper grind overall, is crucial to any degree of success in espresso brewing. An overly coarse grind will permit the water to gush through the coffee bed and will produce a thin, bitter cup; a powdery grind will slow the brewing process to the point that only dark, burned-tasting dribbles will escape the filter holder.

However, the optimum grind varies somewhat according to the nature of the brewing apparatus. Larger, more expensive pump and piston machines (categories 3 and 4, here) require a finer grind than the relatively inexpensive, steam-pressure apparatus (categories 1 and 2, here). The larger machines generate 9 or more atmospheres of pressure, whereas the steam-pressure devices only muster about 1½ to perhaps 3 atmospheres. The greater the pressure, the finer and more compacted the coffee bed must be to take full advantage of the pressure-resistance equilibrium of the espresso method.

Criterion 2, uniform grind, also varies in importance depending on the sophistication of the brewing equipment. The greater the pressure exerted by the machine, the more uniform the grind needs to be.

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