About Cafe Evoke Catering

    Café Evoke Catering is Oklahoma's premier specialty coffee catering company.

    Complete menus and information kits are available for download at CafeEvoke.com. Please feel free to email us through our website or call 405-606-2200 if you have any questions about incorporating a full service specialty coffee bar for your next special event or for your office.

    Thank you for choosing a Fair Trade coffee catering company. We look forward to a long friendship.

    ..be bold (Oh, and tell your friends!)

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Thursday, September 07, 2006

Missing the Grind

Ok, I guess I should say that this post is probably better fit for the coffee community that reads this blog. Last night I was missing the grind -- big time. I was trying out some espresso that we had not used in a few months (yes, it was fresh and sent to me yesterday). I went through my normal routine of checking the grind by eye and touch, then timing a few shots, tasking them, and making adjustments. They were extracting at about 28 seconds and looked like "cooked spaghetti" so I was happy.

As the night went on, however, the grind began to pull very inconsistently. I have gotten pretty good at keeping my tamp consistent but the shot came faster and faster each time so I made it a bit finer. I kept making it finer until finally I got it back to the 30 second mark. Then, it was not extracting fast enough so I began to make it coarser to keep the shot consistent. This went on all night. I was at the grind adjustment almost every shot.

What's the deal? Was I just having an off night? Was it the espresso I was using? The change in temperature in the room? My machine? The smoke we have in Bozeman?

Whatever it was, I hope this is not going to turn into the normal thing. We have a busy weekend ahead of us so I will keep you updated on the problems.

..be bold

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...a thought by Cafe Evoke Catering at 9/07/2006 07:31:00 AM

Comments on "Missing the Grind"

 

Blogger baby221 said ... (9/07/2006 09:05:00 PM) : 

Barging in here with all of one year of barista experience :p But my bet is the temperature. Where I work we have to recalibrate the grind at least twice a day (and, by the book, we're supposed to do it six times a day) because as the temperature rises the grind gets wonky and our shots start extracting oddly. Humidity's another factor I usually like to blame, since I suspect that the more hot air we have getting blown around by customers in a smallish, poorly-ventilated space the less consistently our shots pour - but that could just be stress.

Anyway, good luck identifying the culprit and fixing your grind :)

 

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