Last week I waxed lyrical on the effects of extract chilling on espresso. The process involves extracting your coffee using your normal process over a frozen stainless steel whisky ball in order to immediately chill the extraction and capture some of the volatile aromatic compounds in the espresso extraction which would normally lost in gaseous form to the environment. I let you know that extract chilling is the biggest single espresso upgrade I've experienced in years!
I decided that we needed to determine whether extract chilling made a difference in milk-based drinks too. Helen and I tasted flat whites using a dual spout portafilter with one spout utilising the extract chilling process and the other extracting straight into the cup (I knew which cup was which but Helen didn't). We both agreed that we preferred the cup made using extract chilling. It was fuller in flavour and better balanced. If you've been trying extract chilling then please let me know your experience...
In the next few weeks I'll be letting you know what I have found out about using some cutting edge portafilter baskets from Weber Workshops and WAFO Espresso. Also I'm trialling the Hario Skerton Pro hand grinder to see how well this performs for pour over coffee. Caffeine oveload!! Watch this space...
