My journey has taken me from a fully modded gaggia classic, single dosing and weighing everything all the way to now: time based hopper grinding and “close enough” volumetrics. I went bambino plus for a while and the heat up time sold me on thermoblock. I wanted something more substantial so I found a used ascaso. Love this machine.
I found that i just wanted fast cafe quality milk drinks most of the time. I also became and dad and took on new job in that time so that probably has a lot to do with it. Something to be said for not having to think about how to pull a good shot at 5am. I don’t think I’ll ever single dose again… maybe upgrade to weight based grinder eventually, but this eureka might outlive me honestly. It’s a tank.
I digress.
Cheers.
by Ryewellington
12 Comments
Scale manufacturers hate this one trick
It would be interesting sometime, when the baby is down for a nap, to pull a shot as you’re doing, grinding by time, and to compare to a weight-based ground shot, and see if you notice any difference.
Second you on having a young family and a convenient grinder. Changes everything.
You are telling me you don’t slow feed your beans at 5am?? BANNEDD
Hey to each is his own. Enjoy the life without the scale, you can always change it up. I’m sure your intuition is like 90-95% accurate at this point.
Scales are great for measuring bean doses for the grinder. And that’s where their utility ends for me!
Babies change everything. Get the caffeine while you can!
I will say my twins are 7 and I am finally in a place where I love the routine again and have a minute to enjoy coffee!
My Allground Sense is so great that I almost get annoyed when I have to single dose with my Philos. I used to have a DUO and that really is a great machine as well. I got scared for you because I thought this post was going to include you using the DUOs volumetrics. The poor volumetrics was hands down the biggest knock of that machine.
I’m all about On Demand grinding, but my espresso machine is not an auto. I weigh the dose and the output and adjust the grind and or time accordingly, usually after the bag starts to get noticeably lighter. I watch the yield and drop the lever/cut the pump and my shots usually coast to the target yield. I have sense for how long it will drip after the first few shots out of that bag. I can sleep walk through this process and can usually get a drink in 2 minutes or so.
Grind by time ftw. Idk if some scales auto adjust time when you change grind size, but mine doesn’t, so that’s one time I need to get a weight.
I’m not into weighing beans (eureka time-based grinder for me), but I love my scale for pulling shots. The digits on it are big enough to read before putting on reading glasses. I used to crouch down and peer at the shot glass. Not anymore. Life is easy and certain with the scale.
Following this post I hope we see, “I gave up on bottomless portafilters” next.