In terms of the day to day, specifically speaking. I’m trying to figure out if we’re having inconsistencies with our blend stemming from the roaster we are working with or if something like this is very normal with beans in general.
At our first and very new shop, we use one blend for our espresso (and all espresso based drinks), always. It helps us at our early stages, training and find consistency especially with new employees.
How different should dialing in every morning be compared to the previous day in terms of recipe? I listen to the Cat & Cloud guys and they’ve said that recipes shouldn’t change very much from day to day especially if you guys have a house blend that you always use. I agree. There should only be little tweaks here and there to account for certain variables.
But random days, I’ll hear from our staff that maybe they had to spend an extra 30 minutes trying to dial in or change the Peak’s grind setting drastically from say ±4.0 down to 2 after being consistent for the last week.
We communicate often with our roaster to make sure we’re up to date as possible to maintain quality control. But I’d love to hear some of your guys’ experiences and please share some wisdom.
I still consider myself a new student to coffee and always learning. Please share any insight. Thanks guys!
How frequently are you ordering? I only ask because if you order once a week, say, the last bag from the previous order might be 7+ days old, then the first bag from the new order being maybe a day off roast could lead to a dramatic change in the coffee’s behaviour, rather than the gradual ‘drift’ in settings of the coffee ageing through the week.
I agree with @AlanBruce that it could be a degassing issue (I always prefer espresso that has been rested between 7-14 days). However I have been using a first edition Peak for QC and I’ve found it can be very inconsistent. Some times I’ll make a 1/4 of a number adjustment and get a large jump in time on my shot and other times I’ll adjust the grind by a full number or more and only get a second difference in shot time. Now I’m not using it in service, so maybe it’s more consistent when used in higher volume situations, but it’s something I’ve noticed. I’ve also talked to people with second edition Peaks that have said they don’t have this issue. I realize this might not be the most helpful comment, just something to think about?
Are you keeping your hopper full and making sure not to mix roast dates? And are you guys purging between grind adjustments? I find those factors are incredibly helpful for consistency. Aging your coffee the same amount of time after the roast could also help.
