Gaggia Factory Hand Pressed Espresso

After heating the single boiler for a good few minutes, getting the grouphead hot is key, as well as releasing the false pressure in the chamber by letting out a few a small blasts of steam. Add 2 tbsp fine ground espresso to the portafilter, apply approx. 30 lbs of pressure with tamp, insert portafilter into the grouphead. Doctor your cup with sweetener, flavor or liqueur. Place cup or shot pitcher underneath portafilter. The boiler has a green light (out of view) that signals the correct millibars in the chamber. When light is ready, draw handle up slowly, feel the steam kick into the chamber and wait for the espresso to pour. Ideally the pouring espresso with resemble a mouse-tail. Let run until the pour begins to make droplets, then draw handle down, paying close attention to not press harder than the steam resistance will allow. It is important to not draw the shot with the handle in either position for too long, as the water will seriously affect the pH of the shot and crema. This Gaggia Factory is not pleasing to me in the ultra-rich crema department, but makes avery robust shot with a thin, albeit well-balanced crema.
This single boiler Gaggia allows for enough steam to get about 12oz. to velvety consistency, though I only use approx 2oz. for my tastes. Do not submerge the steam want deep to the bottom of the pitcher (of any size), instead insert near the surface. With steam coming, create a convection current in the pitcher where the milk is in vortex motion, it will 'fold' into itself creating wispy sounds, creating a fine velvet texture. A signature of bad drink can be heard in the steaming of milk. A bad barista will have the milk scream and howl when done improperly. (Keep your ears open next time you go to a Borders!) As the milk expands to its fullest and hottest, close the steam pressure and let milk settle. A countertop knock to the pitcher will help remove any large bubbles left over. Pour and voila!

This drink is a micro-latte by style (completely pouring in the non-settled milk/foam). Waiting a few moments longer for the milk to settle, I often take just the dollop of foam from the top of the pitcher and address my doppio shot for a true Italian Macchiato. (This is my first purposeful recording for youTube, please excuse the poor video quality)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Barista
• Gaggia
• Factory
• Espresso
• Hand-pressed espresso
• Steam
• Milk
• Cafe
• Doppio
• Latte

[nylchan]

thanks for sharing. i have a lever machine too. after watching yours i have a few questions.

1) when you do the pre-infusion , the coffee starts dripping even before you apply pressure. is that good or bad ? in conventional sense it is not the way of doing it because you want your coffee to be extracted evenly at ~9bar of pressure. However there's a modern way of brewing called pressure profiling which encourages variation of pressure throughout the extraction. did you do that in purpose ?



[goodsandsrvcs]

@nylchan

Hello! I'm glad that this has been of some help! First, I always fresh-grind beans for the day, I just store them in a airtight can for convenience. Secondly, I've noticed if the drips occur before lever pressure, it signifies a loose tamp-- it has been tough for me to tamp it perfect every time so I use the rate of dripping as an indicator of when to use the lever and with how much pressure I'll need, I suppose it's my own way of pressure profiling, albeit unconventional.

[nylchan]

2) why dont you fresh-grind the beans ?