Omni Black and White

ESPRESSO RECIPE

 

Any coffee, regardless of roast, resting time, pump pressure, or origin, should be able to be brewed well by a skilled Barista…

There are no excuses for this unless there is a major rush, a lack of staff, or the Barista has yet to be trained appropriately on taste, theory, and/or proper brewing methods by the team of which they’re employed.

Even if a Barista is stuck with a dirty grinder that hasn’t been cleaned or its burrs haven’t been replaced in years, or an espresso machine with worn-out portafilter baskets, and poorly cleaned (or inserted) dispersion screens, I should NEVER be served a black espresso shot that tastes sour and unpleasant! What a waste of a “specialty” service that is. A poorly-skilled worker can skew perceptions of “light roast” and “specialty coffee” and waste the potential of an entire lifetime of great coffee for a singular customer that had just ONE poorly brewed, sour shot of espresso.

I cannot stand when I taste so many amazing light roasts, especially Kenyans, on espresso at home or in my shop and then I go out to cafes that either refuse to brew a single origin offering at that time because their light roasts for their filter offerings (it always seems to be Kenyan coffees) are “too acidic” and hard to brew on espresso. Sometimes they’ll do the classic 10 shot dial in just to pull a decent shot before they serve it to me, or they then warn me that it tastes sour and I may not like it - which I am often shocked just by how “sour” (aka poorly brewed) it is. This is not a coffee problem, it’s a lack of skill issue.

I am writing this post for…

Both those that have already mastered the art of traditional espresso brewing and want to take their skills to the next level, and newcomers diving into this wonderful world of espresso that is shockingly founded on ignorantly brewing the same way (though this is certainly changing!).

An “Impossible” recipe for both black and white drinks

If you were like me and realized the best espresso dial-ins FOR LIGHTLY ROASTED COFFEE you’ve ever had all seem to fold and taste sour when introduced to milk, then here’s the perfect recipe for you.

I developed this recipe because I NEEDED my shots to taste incredibly floral in BOTH black and white drinks. I was tired of being forced to brew my espresso just to loose out on all of the intense floral flavors I’ve loved about my coffee when it was black, only to brew it so it tastes good in a cortado, cappuccino, flat white, or a latte. The floral intensity was always nearly completely wiped out when I brewed my very lightly roasted coffee so it could stand up to milk.

This recipe is focused on extracting your coffee for a very long amount of time while keeping the delicate flavors intact so much so that they can shine incredibly well through milk.

The best of BOTH worlds for lightly roasted espresso is possible with this Omni recipe!

If you’re looking to brew “filter style” roasts on espresso, here’s a recipe I’ve spend years chasing and developing.

“May it be used in good hands.”

Omni Black & White

espresso recipe

DEVICE

Basket: 20g VST Ridged

*I have heavily experimented with (and still am experimenting with) modern baskets that are made of thicker material so they don’t bend as much under pressure. These baskets also have much greater surface area due to their structure allowing for more surface area. Yet, I have not favored them in any scenario compared to this current system (keep in mind I brew espresso a bit differently than most). I have some theories as to why this is, but I’ve yet to find any proof. The modern baskets can extract around 1% higher on the same grind setting (in a much faster shot time to reach the same yield) with this method, but the taste is less superior,more muddled, and most importantly…less flavor intensity in all of my testings. Keep in mind, we are still extracting ~24-25%+ with the traditional baskets.

WATER

Water Temperature: 203.

*In Celsius that’s 95.

*I prefer 203 degrees for every coffee I’ve used for this method.

*Keep in mind this technique requires LONG shot times and lower flow rates of water. My machine is a Mavam which has 3 PIDs so I’m not loosing a drop of temperature throughout my shot. You may want to play around with what temperature works best for your machine and workflow. Keep in mind, temperature adjustments less than around 1-2 degrees fahrenheit are barely noticeable for this method.

*If you’re using a Decent machine or another espresso machine without a grouphead heating element, consider heating your basket before use or raising your temperature even more for maximum slurry solubility.

Water Mineral Content: Due to espresso using much less water compared to pour over brewing, harder water for espresso (much harder) is almost always tastier. We prefer Nashville Water (75mg/L + 68mg/L Alkalinity + 11mg/L Sodium). We’ve also used Third Wave’s Espresso Profile (we’ve even liked to make this water a bit harder in the past). But because we are already blessed with incredible water for (AND ONLY FOR) espresso brewing in Nashville, we don’t change our water very often.

*Since espresso is so concentrated, a 1:3 ratio (compared to a 1:2) would solve a lot of water issues when a variety/processing method is has too much acidic intensity and sharpness. That’s like brewing a pour over with a 1:16 ratio and then using a 1:24 ratio to tone down acidic intensity…Extending ratios like this simply doesn’t work for pour over, so we have to make our alkalinity or our water much harder instead for filter brewing styles. But extending ratios like this DOES work very well for espresso brewing! We never have to change our waters mineral content for espresso because of this. However, if you’re in a softer water area, you will simply not have this luxury (this is a big reason why people in the Pacific Northwest don’t like heavily fermented coffees. These coffees brewed with that water tastes like chlorinated pool water - there’s no alkalinity to tame and balance that sharp, fermented flavor).

DOSE

Coffee Dose: 20-22+ grams. It’s often around 20 grams, though with some really light roasts combined with really dense beans, we can get above 22g in our basket.

*Volume is much better than weight!!!!

*Never let a specific gram amount determine how much you should use in your basket because coffee density is highly variable. Rather, you need to work to maintain a consistent headspace for each coffee, not too low, but not too high either. Your espresso machine’s internal makeup and how you use the pump should determine how much headspace for water is best for brewing your coffee for this particular method. 

*Pucks that looked awful after they were brewed are often just insignificant surface area features. These are often caused by CO2 bubbles that formed right after the pressure was released. Don’t be alarmed.

*Channeling in espresso is overhyped and makes a lot of people a lot of money to “fix” this unnecessary issue with their external tools for sale. Try pulling a “channeled shot” when you have the right amount of headspace in your puck and tell me how its tastes…

  • I’ve grown tired of coffee people hyping useless equipment that makes unskilled people look like they brew better coffee. I know many coffee pros that could throw their prepped puck across the room and still make incredible coffee. If you’re not blind tasting, you’re digging a money pit for yourself in this ignorant industry and are creating more ignorance for others in this craft.

*Visible channeling seen underneath a bottomless portafilter is almost always quickly self healing. Don’t be alarmed when you see this every now and then. The road to Tasty Town is not ending, you’re fine.

*This is a hard system to manage for cafes because I have yet to experience a volume of coffee that both tastes good and is low enough that it doesn’t get on my dispersion screen. Every now and then, when I purge the group, the grounds on the screen prevent the water from looking like rain drops and instead they pool up to look like water falls. When water like this hits your brew bed, you’re sure to have less even saturation across the coffee bed, a lower extraction, and possibly even a less tasty shot. So please make sure to wipe that dispersion screen often.

*I also do not like puck screens very much. Sometimes they change my shot parameters and are generally just less tasty compared to when I’m not using them. I believe this could be partially attributed a lack of agitation, but also it may prevent the puck from expanding too. Sometimes, these tools are great for keeping your machine clean, and also for pulling tasty shots, but other times, I simply do not like the taste as much. That’s just my personal opinion. Even though I’ve been using these for years, more still needs to be tested here.

YIELD

41g-50g+

*37g-44g is what we like for most washed coffees with a 20g dose, although they can also taste good at higher ratios too. 50g is better for sharp acidic varieties like Castillo and intensely fermented processing techniques.

*Once I installed the same Mythos burr that had been Gorilla Gear coated to reduce friction, I noticed I liked my shots with about 1-3 grams more yield. So take your grinder into consideration. I mostly prefer a 41-43g yield for washed coffees with a density that allows for a 20-20.5g dose.

*You can also go much higher than 50g yields. Sometimes we even like 60g for a near 1:3 ratio. But, I believe higher ratios are preferred more when they’re due to poor technique. It’s easy to coarsen any grinder and pull a faster shot with more water. If this is a preference, and the other styles of shots tastes worse, it may be do to these things:

  • Using a soft water profile with low Alkalinity.

  • Brewing with too high of pressure: Since coarser grinds reduce channeling, the longer your yield, the more you extract. You may be getting too low extractions with a lower yield for many various reasons and resort to using a higher pressure to help cover up these issues.

  • Brewing with too low of pressure (very rare, unless you’re lower than ~2-3 bars).

  • Using a grinder that distributes grounds unevenly in your espresso basket (clump crushers are often very important for this!! Use them!).

  • Most often the case: Simply not grinding your coffee fine enough and not brewing for long enough for a decent extraction (~5 bars for ~0:45-0:55 seconds is the sweet spot for lighter roasts [this can also work for more developed roasts too!]).

*I’ve set up turbo shot espresso brewing style systems in cafes and have come to really love them. But there’s always a flaw where they taste incredible ~10% of the time and then they taste “good” (or even subpar) ~90% of the time. Personally, I much prefer having a system where the coffee tastes incredible AND consistent near 100% of the time. Also, when I taste these espressos side by side, I prefer my style of shot more often. However, some grinders (like the k30, E65S) aren’t as capable as others for my style of espresso brewing, and are better suited for faster shots. In my experience, more fines in grinders (like the Mythos, Bentwood) are a benefit to this style of brewing I’m sharing with you here, while grinders with less fines may benefit more from the turbo-style or similar faster shot method. However, this is from fairly limited experience. Don’t get me wrong, ALL professional grinders should be able to make tasty coffees with this method, but some I’ve preferred significantly more than others.

*ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS with this method is relying on retention in your grinder to evenly distribute and re-grind the coffee that often sits above your clump crusher. It may be incredibly hard for you to grind so fine by relying on single-dose feeding your grinder. For example, when I’m single-dose feeding my Bentwood with more heavily fermented coffees, It will not let me grind any finer and the coffee will be ground and then pushed back and will get stuck in the pre breaker and wont be able to get sent through the burrs. You need to rely on both weight of the beans in a hopper-fed system to push the grounds through, and also the retention of the grinder above the clump crusher for grinds to get evenly distributed as well as reground finer.

*You will want to grind very fine for this method and rely on these tricks to work around the flasws of your equiptment. The Mythos is absolutely perfect for this techine, and so is a hopper-fed bentwood. Utilize dosing higher as well as traditional/slower baskets to get the most out of what this highly specific technique has to offer.

Brew Time/Pump Pressure

(Mavam/2-Bar) Pre Infusion: ~12-15 seconds

*this highly depends on the grinder being used. On my grinders, I will not even see a single drop in my demitasse before moving on from this stage. Remember, the grind is very fine.

*if I extend pre-infusion time more than this, it will lessen my time for the next stage of Full Bar Infusion, which will result in a lower overall average pressure throughout the entire brew…probably leading to lower extraction, so don’t be in this pre-infusion stage for too long.

Full Bar Infusion: I use 4-6 Bars to be in my sweet spot. However, you can certainly do more or less. I run this stage for (often) another 39-55 seconds.

*the total shot time of pre-infusion+full bar infusion should be around, or over 1 minute.

*counting pre infusion as total shot time is confusing and misleading, we need to talk about them BOTH at the same time, but separately. 

GRIND

Grind finer then you’ve probably ever have before.

*you ideally want clump-free or near clump-free grinds. This can be a hard one because many grinders will not provide this easily. If needed, use a WDT tool, or first see if a deep clean of your grinder (wiping the burrs with a rag) and installing or re-applying a clump crusher (if your grinder is meant for one) to help reduce clumping.

You’d be surprised how easy it is for grinders to clump, especially when RDT and moisture, or too much lubricant is involved and the grounds are stuck against the exit chute. The only way to fix that specific clumping issue is to open your grinder…Or you’ll deal with clumps forever. This can be a big issue for commercial cafes that use lubricant. Even when we just use a small amount, we risk lubricant wetting behind the rotating burr, which then creates a “never-ending” cycle of clumps unless both the surfaces of the grinder are clean as well as any lubricated coffee grounds sticking around in hard-to-reach places of your grinder.

*RDT can (sometimes) do more harm than good for clumping. If I need to RDT my grinder, I view it as a flawed single dosing machine. I am ok with dosing higher for retention if that retention is due to grounds being trapped along the auger from pushback on the prebreaker before it hits the burrs. But if retention is stuck around the grinder burrs themselves (after they’ve been fully ground), I’d opt for a better constructed grinder, or would use RDT and clean/dry often. If. you use RDT and see clumping, your grinder may need a deep clean in those hard to reach places.

*If you work outside (like us) and/or are exposed to high humidity, your grinder may ave a lot of moisture sticking around inside. This will need to be dried out with a rag or with a burr heating system like the Mythos Clima Pro, among other models.

*it’s ok to have some clumps if your shots are tasty. YOU be the judge of your own taste!

*I understand that many Baristas don’t have access to well-maintained grinders that are both clean and have sharp burr blades. Work with what you have, and if it doesn’t taste good (probably rare) then just raise that pump pressure back up and resort back to your old ways!

Optimising for your cafe

As cafe owners, we opt for espresso machines with rotary pumps for their long life span, more even and consistent pressure (probably less of an issue with lower pressures), and of course, their quiet operation.

I know people will ask me “But, if we’re working on a set pump pressure for our machine or grouphead, then how do we change pump pressure for each coffee?”

One question I ask is if they would be comfortable using a lower pressure for all of their coffees, including darker roasted blends? This can certainly be incredibly tasty, but the cons of having an increased time of pulling a single shot can significantly outweigh the benefits of flavor for many cafes.

To answer this question we need to think about a few things:

  • How many groupheads does the shop have on their machine?

    • If more than 2, are they each controlled on their own individual pump?

  • How many drinks does the shop average per hour?

    • In their rush hours during their busiest season.

    • In their average hour during their entire year.

If your espresso machine has 3 or more group heads that are each individually controlled on their own pump, you can easily dedicate one grouphead to a lower pressure. A 3 groupead machine is rarely of use (for traditional shot times) unless you have 2 Baristas working on the machine and are constantly churning out near 50-60 double shots per hour, consistently for many hours.

  • The 50-60 double shot number of course depends on workflow, how many steps it takes your Barista team to deliver a beverage, how much time it takes to prepare a sugar-based beverage, how fast your steam wand is, how fast you pull your shots (assuming their double shots - if you live in Europe, Australia, or another part of the world where single-shots are the norm then you REALLY, rarely, don’t need one), how fast your grinder workflow is, and your puck preparation speed.

Anything less than that, a 2 group machine can easily handle. But you need an extra portafilter (or two) to keep things moving. This is an absolute MUST for a high volume cafe with 2 groups.

Also, if you think you need a 3 group machine, consider the percentage increase in workflow (it’s often only 10-20% during peak hours only) and if you think you need an extra Barista to operate your 3 group machine, consider the extra staff costs just to get through the peak rush hour and how it affects your teams tips and weekly hours. I’d always opt for the “hire less, pay more" approach.

Though if you plan on pulling your shots like this 100% of the time, I’d strongly recommend a 3 group machine. But, if you’re stuck with a 2 group machine and want to use this recipe for 100% of your drinks, I bet you could increase efficiency, drastically, in other ways before relying on a 3 group machine. Not only in tools and automation, but also where everything is located to reduce steps for your Barista/s.

If you’re already stuck with a 3 group machine and extra portafilters, and already have a blend that you like pulling faster/traditional shot times with, then just try dedicating one group head to a lower pressure and longer shot time on your three group machine to brew phenomenal single origins, both black and white, for your customers.

If your cafe is slow and you’re constantly waiting 10-20+ seconds in between shots for BOTH your average drinks hours and your busiest peak season hours, you can lower your pump pressure for your entire machine and pull all of your espressos, even your blends, with a longer shot time. Chances are, it will taste phenomenal.

If you’re like most of us and are left with a 2 group machine and a busy bar, you can still lower your pump pressure, even just a bar or so, to pull better tasting shots (9 Bars is just a myth that one of the first espresso machines was stuck with, and it sadly influenced an entire industry). You can extend your shot times slightly and will probably see either a flavor increase in all of your coffees, or just in your single origin offerings…And they just might be able to not taste sour and blend in with any amount of milk while showcasing their unique flavor profiles!

For reference, our 3 person team (1 person on POS/drink delivery , 1 person purely as an espresso shot puller, 1 person as the drink prepper/steamer (much less steaming in outdoor summer weather)/drink delivery/beverage prepper) serves upwards of 80-100 drinks an hour for 3 straight hours for our peak period in the summer with an average of around 60+ double espresso shots an hour on a 2 group machine that has a lowered bar pressure with the fastest shot times being about 0:43 seconds (including ~12 seconds of pre infusion). Although we could utilize a 3 group machine here, the advantage of time would be so incredibly minimal still. I get that some cafes want more thermal stability with a bigger boiler, but on our Mavam, we could push this machine much harder and it wont give in to less heat.

If I owned a cafe that wasn’t utilizing a 3 group machine, and was too busy to lower my bar pressure and pull slower shots, then I’d invest in a single group machine for my “single origin” coffees, or coffees I’d like to profile a recipe for. This espresso machine would have a vibratory or a piston pump (hello, Unica Pro) that can instantly change pressures and can be profiled differently via automation for each coffee to have their own unique recipe at the quick push of a button.

  • I do want to state here that pressure or flow profiling is HIGHLY unesasary for great shots. I’ve found that if you right the right pressure for you given coffee, you can ride that pressure out until the end. I actually prefer this not only for simplicity, but it tastes the same as a super complicated shot pulled to the same extraction and TDS. Chances are….It’ll even have a lower extraction that the “single pressure” shot. Be careful what you believe and blind taste, always, to form an opinion.

Is This Recipe Optimal For A Cafe? Are There Better Options?

Yes and No for both. I’ve had 8 second shots (~8-12 sec pre infusion + 8 sec full bar pressure) with Titus-coated SSP Brew burrs in my EK43 brewed with modern baskets and paper filters that have 1%+ higher extractions and can taste incredible as both black and white espresso. Though if I slightly prefer the taste of my other recipe, would I want to implement a shot that takes less than 20 seconds in a high volume cafe? …Absolutely!

I’m incredibly excited to see where our knowledge and new technology can take us in this industry, and how it can improve the lives of its supply chain both by greater profitability and tastier coffees with less effort put in.

I believe installing a Titus Doser above my modded EK43 will be the next big exploration for espreso on my bar. The only problems I have with it is:

  • The significant amount of clumps the grounds have when I transfer them from another container into my portafilter. This can be fixed with another modified part that allows dosing directly into the basket…But that leads to another issue I’ll talk about next…

  • Having to WDT to evenly distribute the coffee bed since there is no clump crusher. This can be fixed with a system like the Autocomb, or even better the new Puqpress WDT tool to WDT WHILE the grinder is feeding the basket with grounds. However, this leads to a significant amount of more time per shot just to prep a coffee bed because you’re working with a less-optimal grinder for espresso.

  • Another time issue is using a dosing tool to feed the grinder. You have to turn the grinder on, feed the beans in via the Titus dosing tool, close the dosing tool, and then once the grinder is doen grinding, you have to turn the grinder off. Proud Mary seem to have fixed this issue by combining the on/timed-off motor feature with their dosing tool. But even then, how many more seconds and movements are still added to this entire grinding operation compared to a simple dialed-in Mythos or e65? 10+ seconds and 7+ body movements times 250/shift is 42 minutes of time added and 1,750 additional body movement steps added to your Baristas daily physical requirements.

  • There are more issue I see here, one including an extra cost for the paper filter and having to times that cost by around 400% if your cafe wants to meet the same profit margins.

All-in-all, once we’ve asked ourselves if a new recipe/workflow makes sense for our operation, I believe our industry will begin to solve more of these problems for the busy cafe. There are a lot of things this industry has yet to take advantage of and we will see a dramatic shift with the shops that choose to adapt to new innovation vs the shops that stay true to tradition. The right customer for each buiness model is sure to follow suit as well!

Wrapping Up

At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves, “Is this worth pursuing?”.

All of us are in this business for a reason, and I think as our industry learns and improves, then we should aim to do the same. Our customers deserve greater consumer-based education centered around a diverse offerlist of coffees (whether that be a singular “rotating” option daily/weekly, or a “wine-list” style option with over half a dozen coffees available. When these fun coffees are not only offered, but brewed incredibly well and have an exciting story behind them that the Barista shares with each customer, you’ll have curious, inspired, and passionate customers at your doorstep for life.

When our customers are excited to taste and learn more about our coffee, it deepens the importance for the Producer and their traceability in the value chain. Because without much value for the producer…what value chain are we even creating in coffee?

Nowadays it seems the producer is riding the coattails of our own brand, when in fact it should be the other way around…

THAT is when consumers are inspired to learn more.

THAT is when consumers are passionate to drink coffee.

THAT is the future needed for this industry to cary on.

“May we all brew well so our customers can reach that level.”

-Connor