Recipe for Success: A Guide to Tailoring Espresso Recipes
By: Dave Barista
When using multiple blends, you will most likely have to use different recipes. Let’s look at two different blends: Trucillo Gusto Bar, and Trucillo 100% Arabica.
On each bag of coffee is a recipe provided by Italian roasting company, Cesare Trucillo Spa. The recipe is as follows:
Dose - the amount of ground coffee in grams: Single: 7 - 9g / Double: 14- 18g
Pressure - the amount of barometric pressure created by the pump to extract espresso: 9 bars
Volume - the amount of extracted espresso in the cup: 25 mL
Time - the time it takes for the extraction to reach volume guidelines: 25 – 30 seconds
Heat - the temperature of the water passing through the portafilter: 92 – 96 degrees Celsius
Drink Temperature - the temperature of the coffee in the cup: 67 degrees Celsius
Recipes are always extremely helpful resources to have when making coffee and the one above is exceptional. It gives us all the parameters we need to brew a great espresso, while still allowing a little bit of room to explore and experiment.
As you can see, the parameters for extraction time, heat, and dose are all ranges. Going from the low side to the high side of even just one of these factors can change the flavour profile of your espresso drastically. Where your espresso will fall within these ranges depends on the equipment you have available.
Before we get into the recipes, let’s talk about the concepts we must consider when tailoring the espresso for the best results. Tailoring a recipe comes down to three main factors: preference, the blend, and the roast.
Preference: Every palate is different. Embrace this! The concept of “right” and “wrong” is no more valid in coffee than it is in dressing a burger. It you want it to be 90% condiments, that’s your prerogative. If you want to throw away the bun and eat the patty with a knife and fork, that’s the “right” way to eat a burger. Preference is paramount!
Roasts: The roasting process goes far beyond the standard terminology of light, medium, and dark. Though to make things easier, we will use these definitions. When beans are roasted lightly, the natural characteristics of the beans and processing methods are preserved and brought to the foreground. What you taste is the inherent flavours of the bean. However, these flavours tend to be more subtle than ones roasted into the bean. The fruitiness and acidity need to be balanced with higher extraction.
For light roasts, I would recommend a higher amount of heat, and a higher dose in order to extract as much flavours as possible. Dark roasts on the other hand decrease the amount of natural flavour as the beans are roasted darker. The more a bean is roasted, the more it takes on strong, bitter flavours. As a result, in a dark roast, less coffee and less heat are needed in order to extract robust espresso flavours.
A medium-dark, Robusta-Arabica Blend
The blend: When considering the blend for tailoring it is more important to know the balance of Arabica and Robusta than the origins of the beans. Arabica and Robusta are two species of coffee that are drastically different in terms of how much flavour and caffeine they impart to coffee.
Arabica’s flavours, like the trees they grow on, are delicate. On the palate it is smooth and light and accounts for much of the “clean”, fruity acidity perceived in coffee. It also has half the caffeine than Robusta, which is a healthy choice if you are going to have 8 espressos in a day like me.
Robusta however, is quite different than its delicate counterpart. Robusta gets its name from the hearty characteristics of the plant and the intense flavours of the bean. Robusta produces a thick crema, a full body, and the strong flavours indicative of a traditional espresso. The higher amount of caffeine gives it a more bitter flavour profile than Arabica.
However, Robusta alone can be too intense. 100% Robusta blends are considered to be jagged and shocking on the palate, with a jittery effect from the caffeine. Conversely, 100% Arabica tends to be more acidic, with a shorter-lived crema and a lighter body. This is why espresso blends usually have a mix of both Arabica and Robusta, which balance and compliment each other’s best attributes. However, there are clearly, wonderfully harmonious, single-varietal blends to be had!
Here we’re going to tailor recipes for two beans that have very different constitutions. The Trucillo Gusto Bar is 60% Arabica, 40% Robusta. The other blend that we are using is the Trucillo 100% Arabica.
Though roasts can be a huge determining factor in terms of extraction, both blends we are using today have a very similar roast: medium-dark. This means that roast level will not be a determining factor for us today. However, the difference in Robusta content means that these recipes will need very different parameters in order to get the best result.
100% Arabica: After a little bit of tinkering, I’m confident that this recipe is super delicious! First, we need to keep in mind to push the dose and temperature to the high side of the recipe range, to account for the lack of Robusta. Keeping the volume and the pressure at their recommended levels, I found that a dose of 18 grams, a temperature of 96 degrees and an extraction time of roughly 30 seconds was best. This balanced out the acidity with the perfect amount of bitterness and really allowed the sweetness of the beans to come to the forefront.
Gusto Bar: Here we are dealing with a much higher level of Robusta beans (40%). High heat and a large dose would produce flavours that are overly bitter and terribly astringent. I found the best results came from a 16 gram dose, with the grouphead at 92 degrees and a 27 second extraction. This produced a chocolatey, nutty espresso that was strong, but well balanced too.
Ratios can also be used to further tailor your recipes, however it’s something that we will explore in a future post!
Ideally, a barista or coffee lover will have the ability to adjust these factors, unfortunately this is not always the case. Older machines, both household and commercial, tend to lack the ability to adjust grouphead temperature. Not to mention basket size will always play a part in how large your dose will be. As unfortunate as this is, there are ways to work around this.
The formulation I gave above can be used even if you lack the ability to control certain elements. For example, if you suspect that your machine isn’t producing enough heat to get a balanced extraction out of your 100% Arabica beans, try increasing the dose and grinding the beans finer to increase the extraction time. Another thing you can do is consider buying an Arabica/ Robusta blend the next time you need beans. That touch of Robusta will help to produce the balanced flavours you are looking for with less heat.
Again, it all comes down to preference. My recommendations, at the end of the day, are simply kind suggestions to get a more deliberate flavour out of your coffee. With more control you can decide if you are more partial to a North American cup of joe, or a traditional Italian tazza di Giuseppe!
Are you a restaurant or cafe owner, who wants to elevate your business with specialty coffee? Let’s discuss how!
David De Sanctis (Dave Barista)
Master Barista, Consultant, Educator
Email: baristatrainer@faema.ca
Phone: 416-535-1555
