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One of the joys of having private lessons with so many wonderful home baristas is learning and reverse engineering memories from their travels. Last week, Rob and I dialed in one of his favorite drinks from Germany, the Kaffe Crema. This 10:1 ratio super long shot sounded like a mythical beverage, but we able to achieve it with a little research and a few experiments on our Slayer LP Espresso Machine.
We started off by dialing-in our May 68 Espresso | Medium Blend | Organic Espresso Blend in our typical Specialty Coffee Association 2:1 ratio. We taste notes of chocolate, nut butter, and blackberry acidity. This particular roast date was a fantastic and accurate representation of those tasting notes. Our May 68 Espresso blend features 2/3 South American coffees from Peru and 1/3 from Rwanda. It’s a delicious blend with richness and a hint of blackberry tartness.
We diluted this 2:1 shot down with 130 grams of water to a final out weight of 150 grams. After letting it cool, we took a sample for our VST Coffee Refractometer and got a 2.11 TDS. Using the Coffee Tools application, we got an overall extraction of 17% – less than the targeted range of 18% – 22% for a properly extracted shot of espresso, but to be expected since we diluted it. The crema was washed out with the addition of hot water, but the tasting notes were still very pronounced. Milk chocolate, blackberry or raisin acidity, and a very syrupy mouthfeel. It was a damn fine cup of coffee, even if it was slightly under the preferred 18% extraction yield.
Then came the German style Kaffe Crema, or coffee creme, or coffee crema. We found lots of different spellings, but the recipe is the same. Use a coarser grind to extract 150 grams in 25-30 seconds. Our shot ended at 26 seconds and was a bit messy, but we achieved our overall goal. We used a grind setting of 2 on our Mahlkonig EK43 lab grinder. The shot pulls fast and furious, but the end result is beautiful. The top held that crema we expected and was a much more appealing beverage compared to the americano. We did the same test with this shot, letting it cool and taking a sample for the VST Coffee Refractometer,
We got a 2.40 TDS reading. Using the Coffee Tools app, we ended up with a final result of 20% extraction yield. More in parameters with the suggested 18 – 22% for drip coffee and espresso according to the SCA. The taste test revealed totally different tasting notes! Dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, low acidity, and a dry finish on the palate. It didn’t coat the mouth the way the americano did, it dried the tongue and left notes of dark chocolate on the palate. There was no berry acidity and almost all that nuance of the Rwandan coffee was totally lost in the 10:1 extraction. How interesting!
We learned a lot from these two ends of the espresso ratio spectrum. While both are technically correct, with the americano was arguably a little more diluted, but it retained more of the preferred flavors from our May 68 espresso blend. The kaffee crema was technically well-extracted within range, but lost all the nuance and specialness of the African origin.
Try this at home and let us know what you think! Or even better, what’s your favorite ratio? Happy experimenting.
Kaffe Crema
Origin: Germany
Ratio 10:1
18g coarse espresso
25-30 seconds
150 grams out
2.40 TDS
20% extraction
Kaffe Crema Tasting Notes:
Dark Chocolate
Low acidity
Herbaceous
Dry
Americano
Origin: Italy
Ratio: 2:1
18g fine espresso
25-30 seconds
38 grams out*
2.11 TDS
17% extraction
*dilute with hot water to 150 grams
Americano Tasting Notes:
Milk Chocolate
Berry acidity
Sweet
Syrupy Body
