The Naked Truth-reading your pour

The bottomless, or naked, port-filter is especially well named.  Because there is no hiding: the entire integrity of the espresso program, from grinder burr sharpness, barista technique, coffee freshness and roast, and machine calibration is on display.  There is no hiding using this porta-filter.  And of course the closed, or traditional port-filter, is a huge metal surface contributing rancidity to your cup if it is dirty.   So the naked porta-filter is the only choice for truly great espresso.

Above is an extraction on Nuova Simonelli’s T3 of our Vita blend.  The grinder is the DRM mixed burr. The color density can be read and offers 100% fidelity to the actual flavor and strength of the shot. I have never seen a pour without some lighter spoking in it, but here it is very faint. ( Good luck getting an extraction to look like this).  But the less whitish color and the more rich brown showing, the more flavor you have extracted from the ground coffee.

Whitish colors indicate this extraction was about 5o% efficient.  Shot timing is OK, about 26 seconds for the one ounce shot.  However, light color means about 1/2 the flavor potential of the ground coffee was destroyed during brewing or grinding the coffee. This color indicates a weak extraction but does not pin point the problem.  It could be dull grinder burrs, stale coffee, or temperature drift during extraction.

This pour is timed at 20 seconds for one ounce, a fast pour.  Lighter color may in this case accompanies a very sour flavor which I think is citric acid.

This pour timed out at over 30 seconds, a slow pour.  Dark color overall indicated burned coffee compounds and the flavor might be hollow, bitter, or sometimes sour, but not citric-acid sour. Stream is favoring the right-hand side as we look at it, which is generally not good.

This pour times out at 27 seconds for the one ounce shot but is off balance.  Offset stream indicates a crooked pack, or bad distribution of ground coffee before packing.  On the left is blacking, indicating water flowing too slowly on that side and “burning” the essential flavor compounds, , on the right it is lighter indicating water flow is too fast on that side of the extraction.