LPowners.org Beginner guide

by Steven Ornish

Beginner’s quick guide to pulling shots (with rich crema)!

These are my personal tips that work for me for my pre-millennium professional model, which is a single switch model with a pressure gauge and pressurestat. I’m sure others have their own preferred techniques. Please peruse the files on this site, which are packed with tips, resources, scientific theory, and collective wisdom.

  1. Buy a quality grinder such as a Baratza Vario or the Niche Zero. Without a quality grinder, pulling shots will be an exercise in frustration! The Baratza Vario, which I own, has ceramic burrs, which remain sharper longer and dissipate heat more efficiently. The Niche Zero is also an excellent grinder, and has received outstanding reviews, but cost approximately $350 more than the Baratza Vario and there is a waiting list.
  2. Avoid coffee that has been pre-ground, even if from a roaster, since dialing in the exact grind fineness based on the resistance to the pull is one of the keys to pulling a good shot (see point 15). Moreover, pre-ground coffee loses its flavor quite quickly, even if stored in an airtight container.
  3. Buy freshly roasted whole beans. Beans need to “degass,” and the ideal post-roast period to use beans is typically 3-10 days. Beans that are lightly roasted or insufficiently “degassed” will be on the overly “bright,” fruity, acidic side, so start with beans that are fully roasted and a few days past their roast date. Although it is a matter of taste, I recommend a full city to full city+ roast. Crema takes a nosedive after two weeks post-roast date. Nice link about the importance of bean freshness and degassing. These are two of my favorite roasters (but since writing this, I have taken to roasting my own beans): Pannikin Coffee and Intelligentsia.
  4. Buy a 60-90°C liquid crystal temperature strip and a 90-120C liquid crystal temperature strip and apply them to the grouphead.
  5. Here is some physics and chemistry theory behind the art of making espresso: Ornish Tipsheet: GH temp control is key!
  6. Fill the boiler with quality spring water just below the top of the site glass. Do not overfill the boiler, or there will be insufficient room for steam. Screw on the boiler cap firmly (never, ever open the boiler while it is pressurized, or you will be badly scalded!) Always take note of the water level before turning the LP on. Never turn on with an empty boiler!
  7. Turn on the LP. For those with a pressure gauge on the LP, 0.8-1.0 bars is about right. If the boiler pressure is too low, the superheated boiler water will not be sufficiently hot, and the espresso will be under-extracted, sour, and acidic. If the boiler pressure is too high, the superheated water will be too hot, and the espresso will be over-extracted and bitter.
  8. Weigh out 14 grams of coffee (approximately one full scoop of beans) and grind. While doing so, soak the portafilter and basket in hot water to preheat it.
  9. Overfill the “double” portafilter basket with ground coffee. The AeroPress funnel fits the 49 mm portafilter basket perfect.
  10. With the funnel still in the portafilter basket, rap it on the counter to collapse air pockets, then with a straight edge scrape flush, which will leave you approximately 14 grams in the pre-mil portafilter basket.
  11. Tamp with medium pressure. I tamp firmly using just my thumbs and index fingers.
  12. Purge boiler of “false pressure.”
  13. Place the portafilter basket with coffee in the portafilter holder and place on the counter next to the LP.
  14. With your left hand, lift the lever handle 1/2-way or a little more until temperature strips on grouphead read 90C (but no water should be coming out at this point).
  15. While holding the lever still 1/2-way up, with your right hand pick up the portafilter and lock it into the grouphead. The reason you want to do this while the lever is half-way up, rather than raising the lever from its lowest position, is to minimize the vacuum that occurs in the grouphead when you lift the lever, which can cause a disruption of the coffee puck.
  16. Lift the lever all the way up and count to ten. There should be no espresso coming out at this “preinfusion” stage. Unlike what others will claim, in my opinion if espresso is dripping out, the grind is likely too coarse.
  17. Slowly pull your shot into a preheated espresso cup. There should be a moderate amount of resistance to the pull. If the pull is too easy, the espresso will be acidic, sour, and under-extracted, so grind finer and try again. If the pull is difficult or almost impossible to depress the lever (known as “choking”), the espresso will be over-extracted and bitter, so grind coarser.
  18. To pull a second shot, slowly disengage the portafilter to bleed the residual pressure in the grouphead to prevent hot coffee grounds from spraying all over (known in the vernacular as a “sneeze”). Hold a ramekin of cold tap water with a couple of small ice cubes in it under the grouphead until it reads 90C (gently swirling the ramekin will permit the grouphead to cool down faster). Then pull your second shot.
  19. Clean the underside of the grouphead of coffee grounds with a grouphead brush. I like to first engage the portafilter with an empty basket and lift the lever all the way to create a “back-flush,” which I find will further flush out residual grounds in the grouphead.

Addendum:

A technique that I now use which has permitted me to achieve even greater consistency between the first and subsequent shots is to engage the empty portafilter with the empty basket and lift the lever all the way up, which flushes hot water through the portafilter and preheats the portafilter and basket. I then disengage the portafilter, add coffee to the basket, and tamp. The grouphead temperature at this point is approximately 100-105C. I hold a ramekin of cold tap water with a couple of small ice cubes in it under the grouphead until it reads approximately 90C (gently swirling the ramekin will permit the grouphead to cool down faster). I re-engage the portafilter and pull my shot. I clean the grouphead of residual grounds with a brush, reengage the portafilter holding an empty portafilter basket to back-flush the grouphead, which further flushes out the residual grounds, and repeat the process with a ramekin of ice water to cool down the grouphead to 90C for the next shot.

Created 20-MAR-2018 | updated 30-AUG-2022 | BCP