Continuing our exploration with the pressure profiles on the E61 group head, we’ve been playing around with the various profiles using the E61 presets in the DE1PRO machine. Specifically, we pulled a shot of espresso using the Decent Espresso preset profile named “E61 with fast preinfusion to 9 bar.”
A little backstory on the group head we are emulating, the E61. It’s is a design which has been manufactured since 1961, hence the name. The original E61 design uses a thermosyphon heating circuit. Simply put, it pulls and exchanges water from the boiler to the group head and back to the boiler to maintain stability.
With 18.0 grams of coffee in, the profile starts extraction with a quick low-pressure preinfusion for 5 seconds at 4 bars of pressure, which shoots up to a consistent 9 bar, for a pouring time of 30 seconds at 91.7 degrees Celsius. The total weight of the espresso after extraction was at 40 ml. Swipe to see the chart.
Using our house blend, the DC6, which is a blend of Guatemala Huehuetenango and Colombian coffees, our shot produced a smoky caramelized aroma with molasses flavor notes. Having quite a bitter hint, and a nutty chocolate aftertaste, with almost no acidity. The texture was smooth. But overall, the shot was not so pleasing because it lacked balance. But it had a sweet note to it which made overall taste tolerable.
This was honestly not the best tasting espresso. In a word, we found the espresso flavors to be confusing. It was sweet and bitter at the same time. Again, we are only changing the pressure profile from test to test, so we’re sure that you can adjust the recipe and have a good extraction with this profile. But in our test, we were not a fan of this particular profile.
Here’s the numerical breakdown on a 1-10 scale:
.
Aroma: 7
Flavor: 7
Finish: 7,
Aftertaste: 6
Acidity: 7.5
Body/Texture: 8
Balance: 6
Sweetness: 8
