BeanScene – August 2019

80 beanscenemag.com.au

TRAINING TACTICS

Babin Gurung is the New South Wales Barista Trainer of Suntory Coffee Australia.

Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on what coffee strength

means and how to achieve it.

D

uring my barista hustling

days, customers often

told me they liked

their coffee strong.

I had no problem

adjusting to customers’ needs, but

found many people had different ideas

of what “strong” meant. Some of the

things strength commonly referred

to was more caffeine, darker roast, or

sometimes, just bitter coffee. These

ideas aren’t necessarily wrong, but

here in the coffee world, when we

say “strong”, we mean the strength of

flavours contained in an espresso.

Bitterness in coffee can result from

a number of other things, like roasting

profile, staleness, over-extraction, or not

cleaning the machine properly – none of

which make your coffee stronger.

More caffeine does not always mean

a better coffee. Robusta coffee has a

higher caffeine content than Arabica

and some coffee brands prefer it because

of that. But for an espresso coffee, at

Mocopan, we generally stay away from

Robusta due to its harsh flavour.

Still, it’s not only the coffee you use

that determines caffeine content. An

ongoing industry debate is the effect of

roasting on caffeine. Some believe darker

roasts lead to higher levels, while others

argue the opposite. Various studies

have measured the amount of caffeine

produced through various roasting

profiles, but due to a large number of

variables, such as coffee variety, density,

and the molecular structure of the beans,

it has proved a difficult task. In most

cases, caffeine levels were consistent

throughout the roasting process.

So, the most common and consistent

method baristas use to make coffee

strong is by adding extra shots of

espresso to a drink. This means you are

getting a higher coffee-to-milk ratio in

the cup, making it taste stronger.

However, if you are looking to

increase strength in a single shot, you

will need to adjust the brew ratio. This

refers to the ratio of ground coffee to

water. Smaller ratios produce more

concentrated, strong coffee, while a

larger ratio results in weaker coffee.

There are three main ratios that

apply to most espresso-based coffees:

• Ristretto (1:1) – This has a ratio of
  one gram of coffee to one gram of
  liquid, which results in a stronger shot,
  and produces intense flavour with
  big body. A ristretto mostly captures
  heavier flavours but is known for
  lacking clarity of others.


• Espresso (1:2) – This is the most
  common ratio applied by baristas.
  Compared to a ristretto, an espresso
  has more water flowing through the
  same amount of coffee, which extracts
  more flavours, giving it a well-rounded

taste. Along with body, you get more

clarity of flavours.

• Lungo (1:3) – This style of coffee
  is not very common. The coffee is
  more diluted in this ratio, which can
  result high extraction of flavours but
  decrease in intensity. Coffees with
  delicate flavour notes could benefit
  from a lungo ratio.
  These brew ratios reveal that a
  stronger coffee is not always more
  flavoursome. If you want to achieve a
  higher extraction of flavours, you need
  to also understand the role of dose
  and extraction time.
  A coffee bean is a complex mix of
  soluble compounds that give coffee its
  colour, flavour, and aroma, along with
  caffeine. The flavour of coffee depends
  highly on its origin, variety, processing,
  and roasting profile, but generally
  speaking, it will have a combination of
  acidic, fruity, sweet, nutty, vanilla, and
  chocolate flavours along with dark and

Some like it strong

Insolubles

Sweet and earthy

Light and fruity

Nut, vanilla

and chocolate

Bitter, ashy, salty

Figure 1: an example of how the

composition of coffee affects flavour.

80 beanscenemag.com.au

TRAINING TACTICS

Babin Gurung is the New South Wales Barista Trainer of Suntory Coffee Australia.

Mocopan Coffee’s Babin Gurung on what coffee strength

means and how to achieve it.

D

uring my barista hustling
days, customers often
told me they liked
their coffee strong.
I had no problem
adjusting to customers’ needs, but
found many people had different ideas
of what “strong” meant. Some of the
things strength commonly referred
to was more caffeine, darker roast, or
sometimes, just bitter coffee. These
ideas aren’t necessarily wrong, but
here in the coffee world, when we
say “strong”, we mean the strength of
flavours contained in an espresso.
Bitterness in coffee can result from
a number of other things, like roasting
profile, staleness, over-extraction, or not
cleaning the machine properly – none of
which make your coffee stronger.
More caffeine does not always mean
a better coffee. Robusta coffee has a
higher caffeine content than Arabica
and some coffee brands prefer it because
of that. But for an espresso coffee, at
Mocopan, we generally stay away from
Robusta due to its harsh flavour.
Still, it’s not only the coffee you use
that determines caffeine content. An
ongoing industry debate is the effect of
roasting on caffeine. Some believe darker
roasts lead to higher levels, while others
argue the opposite. Various studies
have measured the amount of caffeine
produced through various roasting
profiles, but due to a large number of
variables, such as coffee variety, density,
and the molecular structure of the beans,
it has proved a difficult task. In most
cases, caffeine levels were consistent
throughout the roasting process.
So, the most common and consistent
method baristas use to make coffee
strong is by adding extra shots of
espresso to a drink. This means you are

getting a higher coffee-to-milk ratio in

the cup, making it taste stronger.

However, if you are looking to

increase strength in a single shot, you

will need to adjust the brew ratio. This

refers to the ratio of ground coffee to

water. Smaller ratios produce more

concentrated, strong coffee, while a

larger ratio results in weaker coffee.

There are three main ratios that

apply to most espresso-based coffees:

• Ristretto (1:1) – This has a ratio of
  one gram of coffee to one gram of
  liquid, which results in a stronger shot,
  and produces intense flavour with
  big body. A ristretto mostly captures
  heavier flavours but is known for
  lacking clarity of others.


• Espresso (1:2) – This is the most
  common ratio applied by baristas.
  Compared to a ristretto, an espresso
  has more water flowing through the
  same amount of coffee, which extracts
  more flavours, giving it a well-rounded

taste. Along with body, you get more

clarity of flavours.

• Lungo (1:3) – This style of coffee
  is not very common. The coffee is
  more diluted in this ratio, which can
  result high extraction of flavours but
  decrease in intensity. Coffees with
  delicate flavour notes could benefit
  from a lungo ratio.
  These brew ratios reveal that a
  stronger coffee is not always more
  flavoursome. If you want to achieve a
  higher extraction of flavours, you need
  to also understand the role of dose
  and extraction time.
  A coffee bean is a complex mix of
  soluble compounds that give coffee its
  colour, flavour, and aroma, along with
  caffeine. The flavour of coffee depends
  highly on its origin, variety, processing,
  and roasting profile, but generally
  speaking, it will have a combination of
  acidic, fruity, sweet, nutty, vanilla, and
  chocolate flavours along with dark and

Some like it strong

Insolubles

Sweet and earthy

Light and fruity

Nut, vanilla

and chocolate

Bitter, ashy, salty

Figure1: anexample ofhowthe

compositionofcoffeeaffectsflavour.