It is a common misconception that because a whole bean coffee has ‘espresso’ or ‘espresso blend’ on its label that that is the only brew method in which you will find success. In fact, the opposite is true. Some of the best cups of coffee we have had have been an espresso blend on drip, a house blend on espresso, etc. Coffee is flexible, you just need to know the secrets and skills to making it bend.
Take our Dose Signature Blend, for example. Crafted with a wide variety of coffee drinkers and palates in mind, this blend is what our cafes serve on drip year round. However, with an adjusted grind size to make the ground coffee much finer, the same fruity, chocolatey notes can be found for a shot of espresso or in your at-home cappuccino. As the kids say, ‘She has the range’.
This is the reason we encourage our at-home drinkers to invest in a high performing grinder sooner rather than later. Products like the Opus or Ode grinders from Fellow, or the ever steady Encore from Baratzza, are products we have used in our shops and willingly vouch for. While it’s true that roast level is another key player in taste levels, the Dose whole bean line has a consistent roast level of light to medium. The ranges for our roast profiles are symmetrical enough that it does not play a significant role in taste or extraction as would say a more darkly roasted coffee.
The rule of thumb to remember when dialing in your coffees at home is that espresso will always be a much finer grind setting than drip. While each and every grinder is different, an example would be one of our most trusty grinders for commercial use, the EK-43. On this particular grinder, we grind our drip coffee at a 10 (grind settings on the EK range from 0-11). Espresso, however, is a 2. That is a massive difference in grind size, with one being like kosher salt and the other having the consistency and density of sand.
Sometimes it takes trial and error to get the profile just right. But that’s part of the fun! ‘Dialing in’ as it’s called is about imagination, exploration and calibration. The grind setting is your compass.
Time to brew your own adventure.