Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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FEELING THE HEAT, PUTTING ON THE PRESSURE continued from page 33 varying effects on taste depending on the coffee used. "Most of the coffees we serve are fine right in that 202 degree area," says Joe Evans, founder of Salt Lake City café Nobrow Coffee Werks. "But some shots, when we get our profiles on them, like to be bumped up to 206, 207, 208. The ability to manipulate temperature gives you more flexibility to experiment with a coffee." The specialty coffee professionals interviewed for this story say it's hard to put a price point on PID controllers, but machines outfitted with them will generally cost more than those that aren't. "There is a premium you have to pay for the technology," says Jim Piccinich, who sells espresso machines from several manufacturers through his New Jersey-based company, 1st-line Equipment. However, he says more and more high-end cafés are opting for PID-equipped machines as a way to stand out. "You're going to see more coffee shops acquire that type of technology because as business owners they need to differentiate themselves from tra- ditional foodservice establishments," he says. "They need to show their customers that they're ahead of the curve." PRESSURE PACKED Pressure profiling typically Another espresso-machine feature capturing baristas' attention is the ability to manipulate the brewing pressure during an espresso shot. Traditionally, a barista produces a shot of espresso by applying nine bars of pressure for the desired extraction time, usually between 20 and 30 seconds. Pressure profiling typically follows a curve that starts with less pressure, increases to higher amounts and then comes back down. "When you're pressure profiling, you're starting by pre-infusing," says Evans of Nobrow. "You do a very low-pressure saturation of the grounds, you increase that pressure arch and then there's a taper off." The reason to pressure profile, baristas say, is that the practice can produce flavors that are more exciting than those coming from a typical nine-bar extraction. "What you follows a curve that starts with less pressure, increases to higher amounts and then comes back down. 34 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com