For a Good Puck
Have you ever had your coffee-making analysed by someone who sticks their fingers in your spent pucks? Have you ever decided not to use a particular espresso basket or recipe because the grinds are sloppy after brewing? If you’ve answered yes to any of these, this post is for you. You can stop worrying about…
A Guide to the DIY Extraction Tasting
A guide to conducting the Barista Hustle espresso extraction experiment.
Everything Is a Blend
Every coffee is some kind of blend. This post details how processes at the farm affect evenness, with help from producer Aida Batlle.
To Blend or Not to Blend
An exploration of the ‘dark art’ of blending coffee.
Distribution Test Results
Testing distribution methods for espresso is turning out be quite a journey. This post is another step toward understanding what’s actually going on between the grinder and espresso machine
WBC 2016 Rules Shake-up
Discussing the significant rule changes to the World Barista Championship.
Distributing for Espresso
Distribution is the act of evening out the coffee grinds in an espresso machine’s basket before tamping. This helps the water pass through all of the coffee grinds at the same speed and pressure, increasing the evenness of the extraction. Baristas around the world are distributing with needles, toothpicks, credit cards, knives…
Let’s Talk About Roasting
This is a post about how to talk about coffee roasts. It isn’t a post about how to roast coffee (although there’s some nuggets in there).
Brew Local, Act global
This is a condensed version of a talk I gave in Shanghai and Taipei last year for Tamper Tantrum
The Most Important Thing About Brewing Coffee
The concept of an even extraction
Coffee Extraction – The 80:20 Method
The 80:20 rule or “Pareto Principle” states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes
Surface Area and Time
In this post I’ll be covering how to increase or decrease the overall extraction of a brew from a theoretical standpoint
Coffee Extraction and How to Taste It
This post will cover some basic extraction theory and the tastes associated with over, under and ideal coffee extractions. Extraction is arguably the most important and least understood aspect of coffee brewing. It’s everything. Without extraction, you don’t even get a cup of coffee. Here’s my super simple and…
About The Hustle
If you’re wondering what The Hustle is and how it works, you’ve come to the right place. T
Pergtamp™
A tamper for use with the EK43.
Extract More Better
A brief post about why I aim for higher extractions.
The Downward Spiral Of Death
Why using a refractometer creates harmony and التوازن between barista and roaster.
The EK43 Part Three
Analysis and explanation of graphs illustrating the EK43’s superiority
The EK43 Part Two
Understanding more about the EK43 and why it makes coffee taste better. Part 2.
The EK43 Part One
Why the Mahlkonig EK43 is better at making coffee smaller. Pt 1
2013 WBC Finals
Video of Matt Perger’s 2013 World Barista Championship routine.
Refractometer Method
A video detailing the steps in using a refractometer
Man vs Volumetric
Explaining why your espresso bar will be grossly inconsistent if you’re not using volumetrics or weighing every single shot’s dose and yield.