Coffee Time

Hello dear readers!

Today you find a much caffeinated blogger. A man who is operating at well past the recommended capacity for such things and trying to stop himself typing at a million worthless words a minute.

This is not due to any energy drinks, you understand. There have been no Monsters, no Caraboa, and definitely no ruddy hued bovines to stimulate this tired mind. No, I prefer y stimulants to be of a more natural variety. For preference I like them black as night, strong as sin, and fully equipped with the power to melt the enamel straight off my teeth.

In other words, I’m a coffee fiend, and that will be where we begin this week’s offering.

Tamper, Tamper!
This week, you see, I got a little present. It was a completely expected gift, being as it was both from, and to, me (call it a self reward for finishing the first draft of my book) and it took the form of a new tamper.

For those of you uninitiated in the way of the bean, a tamper is the tool that a barista (posh word for someone who makes Espresso, definitely not a Mexican solicitor), uses to compact, or ‘tamp’ the freshly ground coffee beans before forcing hot water through them and extracting those oh so tasty oils that make up good coffee.

Pressure Point
This particular device, a replacement from the trust model I’ve been using for many years now, is a calibrated tamper, meaning that when force is applied to the handle the amount of force that is felt by the grinds is controlled at a steady 30lbs of pressure. This is achieved by means of a concealed spring in the handle of what is otherwise just a piece of heavy metal (not that kind). It’s a bit like those novelty knives you could buy in joke shops but far more useful, and without the need for blood pellets.

Anyway, the tamper was received just yesterday and since then I’ve been making coffee pretty much non-stop. I think since getting up at 8am, I’ve probably had four (and Tina has had one half shot, very milky, artificially sweetened, monstrosity of a drink) and I may not be done.

Not that drinking passable coffee is in any way a chore, but it is kind of a necessity. The reason for this is that, with my new toy, I am now able to tamp properly and consistently, taking care of one of the core variable in coffee making. It has however, highlighted weakness in other areas of my game, namely grinding.

Ground Zero
As the pressure becomes a consistent 30lbs. It means that the grind setting I was using on my hand-grinder was too course, and necessitated me changing said setting. This is easier said than done. There is a point, somewhere on the manually controlled screw, where something close to perfection can be reached. I know there is. Right now though I’m in a goldilocks-like state of going from too coarse, to too fine; too quick an extraction, to clogging up the Gaggia. It’s enough to give me sleepless nights (Although that might be the caffeine)

So, I guess I’m just going to have to plough on. I guess the immediate future is going to be consumed by many cups of variable quality until I get it just right. If I can get the results I want however, and can get the spots to stop floating in front of my eyes, then it will all be worth it.

The godshot is in reach, I just know it.

Until next time.