phoenix_bailey•1mo agoMost Upvoted

Shoutout to the guy who taught me about pre-infusion

I was pulling shots at a cafe in Portland last month. Watched this customer order a plain black coffee then argue with the barista about extraction times. So smug about his home setup. I almost rolled my eyes. But then he showed me how most people skip pre-infusion entirely. They just hit the button and let water blast through. He proved it with a timer on his phone. His shot took 35 seconds total. Mine took 12 and tasted like battery acid. Now I pre-infuse every single brew. Took me a week to dial in the pressure right. Anyone else think more shops should teach this to newbies instead of just selling them expensive grinders?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.joseph1mo ago

Read somewhere that pre-infusion actually matters way more for lighter roasted beans because they're denser and need that low pressure soak before the real extraction kicks in. The guy who showed you probably had a dimmer mod on his machine too, that's the real game changer for pressure control. I tried a 3 second pre-infusion on some Ethiopian beans and it went from sour lemon juice to actual fruit tones. Took like 8 tries to get the grind right though.

riverh491mo ago

Know that feeling. Started doing pre-infusion on my old Gaggia after a buddy showed me. Huge difference. Dialing it in is tricky though. I found that starting with a 5 second pre-infusion at 2 bar is a good baseline. Then adjust from there based on how the shot tastes. Too sour means more pre-infusion time. Too bitter means back it off a little.

the_max1mo ago

Damn, 8 tries? That's commitment right there. But yeah, Ethiopian beans are tricky. I'm curious though - when you say 3 second pre-infusion, was that at full pump pressure or did you drop it down first? Cause I've tried both and it seems like the low pressure soak matters way more than the time itself. Like a full pressure pre-infusion for 5 seconds just makes a mess for me. What's your pressure gauge reading during that soak phase?