A note on the roast

Tuesday was the first foggy day in a while, so I made the most of it with the scale. Talia suggested adjusting the grind, so I gave it a go. I did the boring part first: roasting a small batch.

Where a sour shot came from in October

Last autumn I would have given up on the kettle at this point. Somewhere around 8 minutes it started to make sense.

None of this is new, but steaming milk is new to me. My thermometer turned out to be the most useful thing all week. Later, I bought a better kettle, and that seemed to settle things.

I'm learning that weighing every shot rewards patience more than effort. A few things I noted along the way with the portafilter:

• The espresso shot: 119 g roast
• Time spent roasting lighter: the whole morning, Saturday
• Mood: oddly calm, around 19 g of coffee
• 96 °C water, for the tamper
• The cupping session: a 1 to 15 ratio

I kept a pour-over cone close, just in case. Lesson noted about the grinder, and probably forgotten again by autumn.