Wetting the puck before brewing

MediumRoastSteam

Modern semi-auto espresso machines are starting to add pre-infusion to the process. Lelit, Rancilio, Profitec, ECM…

But there’s also a belief that just wetting the puck prior to brewing doesn’t do much. The water should, at least, be under mild pressure (e.g.: 2bars) otherwise it’s a bit pointless.

So I tried the manual way: ground the coffee, distributed and tamped. Then, using the hot water tap of the Elizabeth (it’s from the brew boiler so it’s the right temperature) I wetter the coffee puck, and then locked and pulled my shot. The shot ran faster, and it tasted slightly different than usual (obviously).

Has anyone tried that? I tried a few times and I can consistently repeat he results.

giampiero

I tried me too time ago, at the end i did realized that this method is basically a sort of blooming , so it should require a finer setting of the ground, so not all beans are suitable for such brewing method, but what you experienced it was exactly what i got.

I theorize that once we poured water manually the puck it began to swell and once pressure is applied, there are more cavities for the water to pass through, resulting in a faster shot.

Anyway, i gave up almost immediately, and i never thought to explore more about the blooming.

Cuprajake

I’ve found a massive difference in shot times using a metal filter on top Vs a paper filter. Like 10s

Systemic

Guessing paper takes longer due to being less porous than a metal filter?

Cuprajake

Not sure, it 100% allows more swelling of the puck initial Vs the screen compacting the puck