The past couple of weeks have been very enlightening for me on the espresso preparation front.
You'd think that in all my barista years that I would have a pretty good grasp of how everything works, and certainly I would be familiar with my machine.
I stand corrected.
Two years ago when I really upgraded myself to a high quality espresso machine, I knew from the get go that I wanted a Siebträger (portafilter), as I prefer to be involved in the whole activity, rather than getting a fully automatic machine. I did my own research as well as seek guidance from a friend who is particularly enthusiastic about espresso.
I got my machine and have been absolutely thrilled. My buddy gave me some suggestions on products to clean and backflush my machine, and for the most part I have done my regular maintenance. And, save for a few minor incidents, my espresso shots have been pretty darn good.
The other week, however, I started noticing some leakage around the brew head, and this was a little concerning. Normally this means that the espresso machine needs to be serviced, and with products like mine, that service is better performed by an authorized repair center. At the time I purchased my machine, I elected to purchase online, as my local espresso machine retailer did not offer products from the specific manufacturer that I wanted. That also meant that they offered no service for that manufacturer.
I checked the official (Italian) website of my manufacturer but was unable to get much information about service in Germany. A few additional searches also resulted in diddly squat.
"A little concerning" in my definition is pretty simple. On a scale from "mildly curious" to "holy shit panic," a little concerning slots in at level 2 or 2,5. In other words, not a big deal. For clarification, my dishwasher that currently takes 14-15 hours to complete it's wash cycle is at level 3,5 ("damned annoying but manageable - wait til it takes 20 hours")
Of course I mentioned my situation at the kiosk one Monday, and Mono (who not only has an espresso machine but is also capable of taking the thing apart and putting it back together; he knows how stuff works) asked me about the last time that I had descaled (entkalkt) my machine.
"Nie."
There is no direct German expression that is equivalent to "you don't know beans," but if there was, Mono would have used it, as it was certainly an appropriate time to do so. Ironically, beans are a critical part of espresso (for obvious reasons), but I will come back to that in a minute.
I grew up drinking tap water, and never really thought much about water until just before a family trip to Mexico when I was about 14 years old. My mother was particularly concerned for us, and for the whole trip made sure that we only drank bottled water. Bottled water was not really a big thing back in the 80s, at least not in Texas. It wasn't until my sister moved to Spain (a decade later) that I got more accustomed to buying drinking water, and by habit, I continued purchasing bottled mineral water for the next 15 years.
Upon my arrival in Germany, I was regularly buying crates of drinking water at the supermarket, and stayed very strict on crunching up the empty plastic containers for recycling. In fact, I had built up a little stack of empty crates in my kitchen, prompting my German teacher to ask me where the empty plastic bottles were.
It was during that lesson (which started with her saying, "you don't know beans") that I learned about Pfand in Germany. I had never lived anywhere that had container-deposit legislation, so in fairness, it was not something I immediately noticed, even when I saw fellow German shoppers lugging empty crates of bottles back to the store. I somehow assumed that those were glass containers, and since I was using plastic, I just continued putting my empty plastic bottles in the yellow container, just as I had done in Spain.
My German teacher set me straight, and since that time, I pay attention to the Pfand. That said, I actually have progressed further, and while I still purchase bottled water (for drinking) from time to time, I tend to re-use the plastic bottles with water from my tap, as the drinking water in Frankfurt is really good (and clean).
True, I have always been aware of the difference between soft and hard water, and yes, Frankfurt water is considered hard. But it has taken me a little longer to grap the full significance of what this means for an espresso machine. Fortunately, Mono patiently took the time to explain how best to entkalk my machine, and that more than likely, I would certainly see an improvement in how my machine would operate after the process.
The very next day, I went to my local Drogerie and purchased a natural product for descaling machines. I had hoped for a product specifically designed for espresso machines, but in the end, the process works about the same, even with a standard descaling product.
Such products use citric acid to get the lime off of the components. (Sorry for stating the obvious) The process worked really well, and would have been an exceptional experience had it not been for the fact that I did not rinse my machine quite sufficiently, which meant that my next espresso was a bit lemony (not to be confused with orangey from the other week), but that quickly went away as I flushed more water through the brewing filter.
My espresso machine was working better than before, but I was still noticing a bit of leakage. During my "here's how you descale your machine, you dipshit," discussion with Mono, he mentioned that he did filter his water for use in his machine, so as to minimize the build up of lime and stuff in the machine. I had never really considered doing this, but gave it some consideration over the next couple of days.
Since March, I avoided going to a lot of speciality shops, not because I did not want to support the economy, but more in the interest of safety, etc. So, I have been using some espresso bean purchased from my local supermarkt instead of going to my beloved Rösterei. But, having a freshly descaled machine prompted me to go out and get proper coffee bean again, so last week I returned to Wacker's, where the friendly woman greeted me excitedly, knowing that I was not the only customer to have gone through a lock-down for the previous months. Furthermore, she immediately knew which type of bean I wanted (since I buy about 1 kilo every 10 days), and kind of giggled and gushed as she said, "hey, the beans are just freshly roasted and delivered! They are still warm."
The roasting company is local, and deliver to their little shops, of which there are 3 or 4 around Frankfurt, including the one in my neighborhood.
It was a nice little experience, and I returned home, eagerly anticipating my next espresso. Quick pause to state that I am still satisfied with the beans that I purchased from my bio-markt, but as good as those beans are, they just cannot compare to a local roaster.
During those few days between descaling and new bean buying, I did order a more professional descaling product, which arrived the same day as my trip to my roaster. I had purchased the product on the reputation of the brand alone; all my other espresso maintenance product comes from the same manufacturer; they know what they are doing. However, the instructions for the descaling process were a little vague, so (as you do), I did a quick search to see if anyone was using the same product to descale the same espresso machine. Strangely enough, I only found one video experience, shared only a few days prior. I found this unusual because the manufacturer of my espresso machine is pretty widely known, and the cleaning products are almost industry standard. Why only one experience?
Well, I watched the video, and could easily connect with guy who made the video; he did so because he, too, found the instructions a little vague. His video was informative, and I figured I would know what to do the next time I needed to descale.
Meanwhile, I realized that as a little "bonus," my espresso machine manufacturer had included a little water filter with the complete unit, indicating it was a really good idea to use to improve the quality of my espressos. I installed the little filer as instructed, and got ready to use new bean, fresh water, and a freshly descaled machine for a brilliant espresso.
And it was great.
I almost made a homemade commerical, then wisely reconsidered as I noticed my next shots were all over the place. Or, perhaps better expressed, not even really coming out of the filter.
I had forgotten about how my guatemalan beans behave in my grinder, and furthermore, had not recognized just how all the changes I had made to the machine were all factoring together. On top of that, we have had the warmest temps so far this year, combined with extra high humidity.
Again, I understand how all these factors come into play, and while I DO know my beans, I know that you have to be prepared to tweak a little during grinding, shot pulling, etc.
But, I got there in the end, and even with the weather being somewhat uncomfortable, my coffees are quite the delight.
Filtering my coffee water (in the interest of the machine as well as the flavor of the espresso) seems like a long term plan for me, so I opened up the user's manual to find the product code for their special water filters. They have one for 35 liters and one for 70 liters, and I really just wanted to do the finanical calculations on how much the water treatment would cost over the course of a year.
My rating scale momentarily triggered a 7,5 as I read the statement in the user's manual: do NOT under any circumstances, use a descaling product in your espresso machine. How the hell I overlooked that sentence when I first bought the machine (or over the past couple of weeks) I do not know, but as I continued to enjoy my espresso and immediately placed an order for some water filters, I took a moment to reflect. It's not as if my machine was going to suddenly explode, or fall apart, or something really really horrible just because I descaled it.
I made a mental note to inform my youtube buddy (who clearly did not read his owner's manual, either) then considered the power of public service messages. Indeed, the manufacturer should know better than anyone else on how their product should perform. In the interest of marketing, they will throw out the DANGER - PANIC - VERBOTEN kind of messages that immediately capture the attention.
Consider the messages that the flight attendants said for the better part of 2 decades: don't use your mobile telephone during the flight, as it could interfere with the aircraft equipment, which hinted strongly that any malfunction of the aircraft could result in a very unfortunate situation.
I have been a little dismayed over the years to see how casual people adhere to this message during flights, though I do recognize that the message is not nearly as strong as it was 20 years ago. That being said, I still avoid using my mobile on any flight, full stop. I see no point in creating further risk just for the hell of it, and to be honest, I still take it as seriously as lighting a cigarette while filling up the gas tank: why would you do it?
At any rate, I think a one time descale on my machine will be okay, especially if I continue filtering my water in the future. In the event that my machine craps out or attacks me or something, I will be sure to provide an update via this blog.
keep the faith
bryan
No comments:
Post a Comment