When Things Go Wrong, Part 3

I've had a lot of espresso shots on my travels - from stand up espresso bars on the streets of Rome that have remained unchanged for decades, to pop up coffee bars started by a new generation of enthusiastic young baristas. There have been some very good espresso shots, some just about average shots, and occasionally shots that were so bad that I couldn't even finish them.

The shot below falls into the third category. This was supposed to be a single espresso, however this is clearly an over extracted shot, where the volume of liquid is closer to that of a double espresso. This will certainly have an impact on the quality of the shot, as a continued extraction will result in unpleasant flavours. This was certainly the case - my first impression was of a very unusual aftertaste, which reminded me of styrofoam or rubber. We're not off to a great start with this one.

After the crema had dissipated, I noticed a sheen of oil droplets coating the shot. There was also a smell of frying permeating the cafe where this was served. What may have happened is that the extraction system in use in the cafe is inadequate, and that the aerosolised droplets of oil have coated the coffee cups. When a shot is pulled, the cooking oil floats on top of the liquid, infusing flavour into the coffee, and not in a good way. This was also apparent in the cafe's milk based drinks - there was an unusual aftertaste of butter, which is something that I don't particularly want to experience again.

Something was still not quite right however. Even by looking at the shot, I could see that something was still wrong. An espresso shot in a quality coffee will contain black liquid, but one which is also quite clear - there should be nothing floating in it. The shot below was a murky brown colour, and contained a significant  amount of very fine coffee particles. It's obvious in the picture below - the darker portion at the centre of the spoon contains the particles in question. This suggests that the grinder settings are incorrect, and are producing too fine a grind for espresso shots. The machines themselves are not at fault - both the grinder and espresso machine themselves were commercial grade - but they way in which they are being used is incorrect.

It's interesting to note that very finely ground coffee and an over extracted shot should be two mutually exclusive events. It's much, much easier to over extract a shot when the grind size is too coarse, and steam can pass through the ground coffee much more easily. A fine grind should offer more resistance, slowing the passage of steam through the coffee in the portafilter, and reducing the volume of liquid in the shot. So what happened? The barista seemed uncertain when I ordered a single shot, and my have served a double shot instead. Alternatively (and I suspect that this is what happened) the shot may have been topped up with hot water, to avoid the appearance of short changing the customer by serving a half full cup - I noticed a significant amount of steam rising from the shot when it was served, and a break in the crema where hot water would have been poured in. I don't normally see steam rising from espresso shots, and certainly not in the quantity that I saw here. If this is what happened, then it speaks volumes about the cafe's approach to producing quality coffee, and of the level of coffee knowledge amongst the staff. A good friend produces quality shots in his apartment in Tampines with a simple hand grinder and a MyPressi twist - the shots that he has produced have consistently been of a much, much higher quality than the shot above, which was made with professional equipment. Why is this? He genuinely loves coffee, and has a very good understanding of coffee fundamentals - for example, how grind size and extraction times matter, and are inversely proportional to the quality of shots that are produced as a result.

Also, and this may seem like the most minor and trivial point to take issue with, I automatically deduct points when I see "expresso" on a menu. It's espresso. If you want to compete as a quality coffee place, show me that you understand the underlying product. Together with the issues above, it suggests that the level of coffee knowledge is sadly lacking, something that no amount of attempts at latte art will make up for.

As for the cappuccino (wouldn't be a complete post without an espresso and a cappuccino)...well, it's basically warm caffeinated milk, with absolutely no coffee character whatsoever, and with a powdery texture that remains in your mouth, due to the incorrect grind settings described above.

I like to give cafe's a chance to improve, and not to give them a bad review after only one visit. However, the problems above are fundamental, and I don't plan on coming back for more.

When Things Go Wrong, Part 2

It's time to break one of my golden rules. 

Every cafe - even the best - can have an off day, which is why I don't write blog posts after only one visit. Each post is the result of any number of Saturday mornings staring into the remains of an espresso shot, struggling to think up yet another variation of either "decent third wave indie roaster doing all the right things with espresso" or "sorry, taste buds, I didn't know they were going to do that to you".

However, some shots are beyond repair. Occasionally, I come across something that's just fundamentally wrong, and scurry away wondering how anyone could inflict such suffering on innocent coffee beans. 

Take a look at the espresso below. It looks fine - there's a medium dark brown crema - so at least the beans were roasted fairly recently. The volume was a little higher than it should have been for a single shot, but not hugely so. It's an over extracted shot, which can accentuate harsh or burnt flavours (source: coffeegeek.com/opinions/markprince/07-20-2004). 

Looks can be deceiving though, and tell you little about how the shot actually tasted. This was awful. There was an overwhelming burnt taste that drowned out any hint of complexity or nuance. Burnt is not a flavour, it's a mistake. Anything remotely interesting in the beans was incinerated, leaving something that is the antithesis of quality shots such as Jimmy Monkey's Ironbark, where different beans are brought together to produce a complex, well crafted blend.  

Whenever I taste a shot, I usually have a rough idea of the where the beans came from - however with the shot above I had absolutely none. Incinerating, rather than roasting, has that effect. The barista that I spoke to had no idea of the origin of the beans used, or if they were using a single origin, or a combination of beans from different regions. I don't expect everyone to have a detailed knowledge of coffee, but know something about what you're selling. I would like to have known if this was a blended variety consisting of predominantly robusta beans, in which case incinerating the beans would be a deliberate choice, an attempt to remove or offset their bitterness. 

An over extracted shot using beans which have been nuked, rather than roasted, is not quite the foundation for a decent anything, let alone a decent cappuccino. The layer of foam was far too thick, it took two mouthfuls of the stuff before I could even taste coffee. It's the opposite of the latte in disguise problem that I've mentioned in earlier posts, and is an issue in it's own right. It was quite thick also, and rather than the smooth mouthfeel associated with microbubbles, it was strangely reminiscent of marshmallow, as it did not mix with the liquid portion. Unfortunately, the burnt flavour was still very evident through the milk. Because the underlying shot was over extracted, the burnt flavour still managed to dominate what was a single shot drink diluted heavily with milk. 

The ratio of foam to milk to coffee is worth noting also. There was a large dollop of foam that remained in the mug after I was finished, which makes me wonder if the excessive amount of foam was added for cosmetic purposes - someone's idea of what coffee should look like. If so, it's coffee as candy, stripped of it's character and focus grouped beyond recognition.  

It genuinely frustrates me that anyone would try a shot like the one above, and conclude that espresso shots are supposed to taste burnt. If you were served a steak in a restaurant that had been burnt to a cinder, you would send it back without hesitation. The same sentiment should apply to coffee - it should not be ok to absolutely ruin what can be a wonderfully complex and interesting drink, and to charge a significant mark up for the privilege. Also, it doesn't have to be like this - approximately 10 meters away, a cafe / bar / restaurant was serving coffee from Papa Palheta, one of my favourite roasteries in any city, or any country. 

I've said this before, but it bears repeating - it's basically the whole blog summed up in one sentence - don't waste good money on bad coffee. There are so many independent roasteries and cafes producing complex and well crafted blends - Nylon in Singapore, Barista Jam in Hong Kong and Third Floor Espresso in my home town, Dublin, who are so much more deserving of your support. 

When Things Go Wrong

I try to be as fair as possible when I write a review. I put together a post based on a series of visits - I don't want to slate a cafe simply because the barista was new, or was having a bad day. However, some coffees have to be sent back - not something that I enjoy doing, but ultimately it helps the barista to improve their techniques. I'd argue that most baristas would rather know if something was wrong, and have an opportunity to correct it, rather than lose customers. 

The piccolo latte below is a good example of how things can go wrong, even in cafes which serve consistently good espresso shots. The initial hit of espresso was hardly tempered by the foam, which was coarse and irregular. As a result, the smoothness and mouthfeel that should be imparted was lost. A good piccolo latte will have foam that mixes with the espresso and milk mixture with every sip - however, this was not the case here. Over time, the initial hit of espresso faded, which left a watered down drink, and the interesting, if disconcerting, experience of a piccolo turning into a flat white halfway through.  

It's worth noting that this is an issue that can be solved - it's not something that would stop me from visiting the cafe in question again. The underlying espresso shots are good, which means that the foundation for a good coffee is still there.  

Are you a latte in disguise?

I make a point of trying to highlight cafes or roasteries which serve above average coffee. Since the idea of "good" coffee is entirely subjective, there are a number of objective criteria that I look for instead - dark espresso crema, the correct volume of fluid in a shot and the correct extraction time, to name a few. Occasionally, I come across examples of coffee where something has gone wrong - here are two things that I've encountered recently.

 

I've noticed a trend lately in a number of cafes. If you order a latte and a cappuccino, you will receive two drinks which are virtually identical. This is a bad thing - there is a specific ratio of espresso to milk to foam for each drink.

 

A capuccino typically has a ratio of one third espresso, one third steamed milk and one third milk foam. The layer of foam is thicker than a latte for a specific reason - it imparts a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the drink. A latte differs in that it has a thinner layer of foam - the same mouthfeel is not present.

 

Honestly, I don't mind if an order is mixed up - in a busy cafe, it will happen, and it's not something to lose sleep over (I make a point of never, ever being rude to baristas or kitchen crew). However, there is a difference between getting an order wrong and simply not knowing the difference between different drinks - one is an understandable mix up, the other tells me a lot about a cafe, and it's attitude towards making coffee.

 

I wrote in a previous post that it's hard to make bad coffee with a good espresso shot. Hard, but not impossible. The cappuccino in the picture below looks good, but unfortunately it wasn't. The milk appears to have been steamed either at an incorrect temperature, or for an incorrect duration - this resulted in foam which did not have the usual smooth mouthfeel. The layer of foam was too thin, resulting in a drink that resembled a flat white instead, but with a layer of uneven foam on top - losing the best parts of each drink.

 

 

I've been to the cafe before, and this was the first bad experience that I've had there. Also, reviews on the blog are based around a series of visits over time - I won't write a bad review simply because of one bad experience. The espresso shot that I also had was good, and they do some interesting and creative things with drinks - I'll still be back.