Today, we're gonna have a little bit of a rant
about espresso ratios and espresso recipes.
And the increasing confusion between the two
and some of the problems with those things.
So let's start with ratios.
Ratios refer to the ratio of ground coffee
at the start of your dose.
Let's say you brew with 18 grams
to the liquid weight of espresso.
So let's say 36 grams of liquid espresso in the cup.
So that's a two to one ratio.
Brewing ratios go back to maybe
I think around 2007, there was a load of work done
on the Homeroaster forum.
Particular shout out to Andy Schechter for producing
some of the first kind of tables
that kind of codified espresso ratios.
A couple of things happened.
One, it was around the time we were starting to transition
from measuring espressos volume to espressos weight.
And that really accelerated once refractometers came
on the scene and we began to really, really understand
the impact of the liquid weight in the cup
and how important maintaining those ratios were.
But back then, it was just kind of interesting way
to talk about espresso and begin to communicate it.
I think I found the first photo I took
of weighing a shot and I remember being kind of stunned
at the difference between the volume and the weight
of that espresso.
It was a ton of crema so it looked much bigger
than it weighed.
Now, this early work by people like Andy Schechter
began to kind of describe more objectively
what a Ristretto was, what an espresso was,
would a Lungo might be
and it was to do with these kinds of ratios.
So a one to a one or a one to 1.5.
That was kind of a Ristretto.
A ratio of one to two was kind of espresso
and a ratio say one to three was closer to a Lungo.
And that was useful because it gave us some definitions.
But at the same time, ratios were kind of
just abstract, philosophical ideas.
And they were also kind of shortcuts
for descriptions of strength.
A Ristretto brewed well at this ratios would be
maybe 13, 14%.
A Lungo, maybe six to 8%.
An espresso brewed well, maybe 10%.
And by that, I mean, 10% of that espresso
was dissolved solids.
90% of that espresso was still water.
What we've seen increasingly is roasters
begin to use ratios as a way to communicate
how to brew their coffee.
And I know I've done it myself,
thinking about it more and more,
it's actually not particularly helpful.
If I say brew espresso to two to one,
I'm kind of just saying make espresso.
Don't make a Ristretto don't make a Lungo, make an espresso.
And the implication is that 18 to 36 is really just the same
as 20 to 40 or 22 to 44.
And that isn't the case.
That isn't the case at all.
They should ideally have the same strength
if they've all extracted equally well
but in the real world, that's, that's unlikely,
because in the real world of espresso recipes,
there are a whole matrix of things that go into
impacting what a good recipe is going to be,
the size and quality of the basket
in your espresso machine is one.
The quality of your grinder is another.
The quality of your brewing water is another.
The espresso machine itself.
Then let's get into the coffee,
the roast level, the altitude that it was grown,
the density of it, the post-harvest process.
All of these things impact how easy it is
to extract that coffee.
And so saying anywhere is fine.
Any recipe is fine as long as it's two to one.
Well, that isn't really true because
if you take a light roast, very high grown washed coffee,
and you have a cheap entry-level grinder
and a cheap entry-level espresso machine,
you don't want to be putting 20 grams of coffee
into an 18 grand basket.
You will have a bad time.
And what we've failed to do is give, I think,
better and better guidance on starting dose
because that's really, that's the easiest thing.
If I give you a starting dose,
you can work out ending weight.
Brewing times, by and large, we're somewhere
in the 25 to 35 second region.
Unless you're doing weird things with pre-infusion.
And so some guidance there is useful,
but actually this ratio,
this relationship between ground coffee and liquid espresso
is really super important.
But ratios on their own are not enough.
They're not particularly useful.
You may as well say, "Hey, here's our espresso blend.
Brew it at 10% strength."
Because by saying brew it one to two,
that's the same thing.
You've said the same thing.
And you've said seemingly lots
but also nothing at all, nothing really super useful.
Now, as I said, I, I've been guilty of this.
You know, it became very easy to get wrapped up
in these super neat convenient recipes.
And I think that the other thing we've really failed
to communicate is that they are a starting point.
So you wanna start from a realistic place from your setup.
And I would always say, go go lower dose.
Unless you need a lot of liquid espresso,
set yourself up for success by starting
with a lower dose of coffee.
Don't start at 20. Don't start at 18.
Maybe start at 16 grams, right?
Unless you need a lot of liquid espresso for some reason,
let's say you're making a big milk drink.
Sure, you might wanna start with a lot more ground coffee,
but if you, you just want a really great tasting shot,
whether that's a thing 30 gram or 32 grandmas, 34 gram shot,
that amount of liquid variance doesn't matter
in terms of the drinking,
but the quality of extraction absolutely matters
to the enjoyment, to the aftertaste,
to the just delightfulness of that espresso.
Right.
So we're gonna start, let's say at 16 grams,
start with 16 to 32, but that's, that's our starting point.
And you have to accept that
your setup will need some tweaking and tuning.
Your brew water, your grinder, all of these things
mean you'll have to experiment.
And Barista Hustle have a great chart for navigating,
when to go finer, when to go coarser,
I'll link to that down below.
I'm not gonna try and reproduce their work.
That's super useful, but I do just wanna say,
take a ratio with a pinch of salt.
Ratios are abstract, philosophical ideas
that they're perfect because they're not real.
They're not the real world.
A recipe is the real world,
but a really prescriptive recipe should also be questioned.
Recipes should be starting points.
You should understand why the guidance is there.
I would always recommend brewing lower doses
of very high grown coffees and I would do low ground coffees
like a Great Estate Brazil, you can dose that up
a little bit more and probably enjoy the texture
that comes with those kinds of coffees brewed
at a one to two or even maybe less.
Now I get that there is an audience out there
that just wants a simple answer that has
bought the good coffee.
They've got the good setup.
Just give me, just give me the answer.
I've got limited amount of coffee,
I've got a limited amount of time,
get me to good quickly.
And I think by giving really prescriptive answers,
we do them a disservice
and the coffee that we roast and sell a disservice.
And I hate that there's no easy answer,
but there is no easy answer.
Before I wrap up, I will say that I will,
in the near future, shoot a version of this video
that has to do with how I actually go about
dialing in and creating a recipe for a coffee.
I'll get someone to give me something
with very limited information and I'll dial it in.
And I'll go through the steps
about what I'm thinking about,
the adjustments that I'm making,
why am I dropped my dose,
why am I changed my grind or increase
the amount of liquid in the cup?
I will go through all of that, but to wrap it up,
to wrap it up simply,
if you're looking for guidance,
understand that not all two ones are created equal
and just brewing at a two to one,
doesn't necessarily get you
where the roaster wants you to go.
And if you're a roaster or a barista trainer
or someone communicating recipes,
understand how limited the information
you're really communicating, even by giving
a really, really, really specific recipe,
let's say one to one to 2.255369,
that very specific, but also not at all specific whatsoever.
So I think we can do better.
I think we can communicate better.
And I think that we're getting as an industry, potentially
a little bit lazy with ratios.
And so that's why I wanted to have just a little,
just a little rant about that today.
All right, I'm done.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Let's have a little conversation about this.
As always, thank you so much for watching.
I hope you have a great day.