There you go again, crafting sentences. You commented on consistency earlier, I stated I've pulled hundreds of shots back to back in a day in a demanding retail environment, each shot a duplicate of the shot previous to it (within reason). I'm not sure how much more you want to argue your nonsensical position on consistency. I've done it, loads of it. Consistency was my middle name. Then I questioned yours...
There you go again, crafting sentences to create something that is false or minimalizing by stating "All I've seen of your work are a handful of latte art photos". You've probably seen well over 100 of my latte art photos because you have participated in threads where they sit next to or very near your own comments. Maybe your hands have well over 50 fingers per hand... then I guess you would be getting closer to stating fact.
There you go again, manipulating comments as if they were fact. You haven't just seen 'a few videos of badly over-extracted shots', you've seen quite a few videos of mine which show correctly extracted shots, you will have also seen some great pours, mediocre pours, decent pours, you've seen pre-shot weights, post shot weights, crema results, you've seen milk steam, milk pours and lots of other stuff. That's just fact. But now I'll get on to your comment on my badly over-extracted shots... do you know what over-extracted means? Really? How about we get it out in the open so there's no misunderstanding other than your attempt to throw a boogieman term at my videos, how about this definition: "Over-extraction occurs when too many coffee solids are extracted, resulting in a strong, harsh flavor. The visual signs are a low-volume extraction having a dark, thin crema. A dark "halo" at the edge of the cup is another classic indictor of an over-extraction, or of brew water that is too hot." Care to point out 'a few videos of badly over-extracted shots' that I've put up that fall into that definition? I can wait for the crickets if you want. How about this definition: "Over Extracted: term used to describe coffee or espresso that has had brew water exposed to ground coffee for too long. Over extracted espresso and coffee can taste bitter or burnt." Care to point out 'a few videos of badly over-extracted shots' that I've put up that fall into that definition? I can wait for the crickets if you want. Sad.
Are you kidding, this is absurd... "In your defense, I do believe you intentionally spoiled those shots to produce effects for the camera (artistic license?)." Dude, I don't need your defense, what I need is for you to state fact not distort reality.
Wait a minute here... is this a retraction of your earlier statement where you pronounced to the world as fact that the only thing which should ever be changed is grind - nothing else gets changed but grind... "I pull shots that extract the flavors I want from the beans. I play with temp & pressure to do that. For instance, I'm currently working with a blend that I roasted to a light Vienna level, which I find produces a good balance of sugars and chocolate at 196°F. While there are variables in each shot that must be accounted for, I strive to make each tamp the same, removing it from the variables that must be controlled. " Now you are playing with temp and pressure, madness, want to throw in dose weight while you are at it, or some other variables other than just grind, but that would be silly, right?
What fact checking tool did you use to get this one put together "If you want to play with all the different factors, more power to you. But from everything I've read about the espresso making process, you're in the minority. " Which minority would that be, the minority that makes espresso by taking into account the espresso making process? And what exactly is your point when you say "If you want to play with all the different factors, more power to you." Have you a list of 'all the different factors' that I'm excessively employing that you don't? Or are we back to you just playing with grind and only grind and I'm doing wacky things like grind... and gasp... amount of grams of beans for a shot... or can you believe it he just... observed the flow in order to know when to kill a shot... etc, etc, etc... the espresso making process, etc.
Geez guy, how about an executive summary next time?
What you're doing with those slooow shots may be interesting to look at, but it's not espresso. In fact, it's more akin to what is made with the steam toys than espresso as it's known throughout the world: You show no concern for proper pressure & extraction.
Espresso is a drink made within pressure, temperature, and time constraints. You're trying to redefine espresso to suit your interests, rather than learning to make it within the existing norms. You can call it whatever you want, but it ain't espresso unless you follow the rules.
Still ducking all the question I ask you previously, eh? Makes sense, because you've said some embarrassing stuff and tried to make it sound like facts.
Be sure to duck all this stuff I'm about to write as well, then after this post go on to make some other random comments and please try to make them sound like fact... yawn...
"What you're doing with those slooow shots may be interesting to look at, but it's not espresso." Let's get to it shall we, your comment about it not being espresso... really? And what is espresso? Don't answer right away because it's a pretty big question and one I'm not so sure you have fully contemplated, I state that because your sense of espresso seems extremely rigid and perhaps defined only by what you pull at home. For me, I pull all kinds of shots, across a very wide spectrum and have experienced the same things in several highly respected third-wave coffee shops. My definition of espresso is inclusive because I keep an open mind.
This is pretty poor, even for you... "In fact, it's more akin to what is made with the steam toys than espresso as it's known throughout the world: You show no concern for proper pressure & extraction." What proper pressure and extraction technique are you talking about? Do you mean the pressure variable of a lever machine which has a decaying pressure profile across the entire path of the lever pull allowing for realtime pressure profiling? Do you mean the pressure at the headspace between the tamped coffee and the lever coffee screen and the ability to adjust the extraction process via spacing? Or do you mean the pressure I'm putting on you as I try to extract facts because that's what interests me, not your predictable attempts at redirective argument as a way to bolster some of the nonsense you've spouted in this thread?
Crickets...
"Espresso is a drink made within pressure, temperature, and time constraints." And what exactly are those constraints, you can't be relying on the SCAA golden rules as the only thing espresso is allowed to be, right? If you are talking about the SCAA golden rules I suppose you could be on to something if we are talking about beginner espresso or unimaginative espresso, which camp do you fit in?
"You're trying to redefine espresso to suit your interests, rather than learning to make it within the existing norms." If I had have been drinking something when I read this it would have shot out of my nose. How do you pull shots? I pull shots that suit my interests and in so doing they also interest others. Step out of the tar pits, it's pretty interesting out here.
"You can call it whatever you want, but it ain't espresso unless you follow the rules." Your 'facts' range from absurd to humorous, I'm not sure where this one falls. Let me help you out with this... I think I follow your logic here I did call it espresso because I didn't think a rock, or a potato, or a marble, battery, or tree would be the right name for it. I called it espresso because I do take coffee beans, extract them using a technological device called an 'E s p r e s s o Machine'. Let me know what rules were broken somewhere in the preceding sentence. You can be sure if I use a pourover I won't call that espresso but in until them let me know why I should call what I'm doing something other than espresso.
Here's where you respond to my questions and logic...
Or you can state some new mumbo-jumbo.
Maybe use another boogeyman comment.
Or the strawman argument.
Distort some more reality.
State opinion as facts.
Take facts and distort them as opinion.
Complain about the length of time you had to read factual responses.
Complain.