Challenging traditional brewing norms is a good thing and not many can actually go that route. Ofcourse scientific validity is important as well, however one does not need to wait for a research document in order to get a better cup of coffee. You have put in a lot of hardwork in making many interesting unorthodox videos which a lot of our viewers enjoyed. People are free to replicate your methods and decide whether it works for them or not.
It’s also not like Lance have done a few not reliable tests and made a quick conclusion. I think he have done enough tests to share his findings - and it has inspired other people to do more tests. Most important is that he is transparent with how he comes to his conclusions. As to your point we can then decide ourselves.
yeah I wasted money trying those shakers out and they are all bad designs with obvious design flaws, not to mention that they do nothing useful for me! Since then, I regard Lance as a snake oil vendor, which is a shame because he has so much he has positively contributed.
I wonder if the first person to say “9 bars, 30 seconds, 18g in 36g out” was met with so much hate. I feel like your channel does a great job sharing info and new techniques to try and see what tastes best for me. Maybe there isn’t a “one size fits all” for people, but I think those who want to should try things out and see what works and tastes best for them.
Funny story: a long time ago, I once got scolded at some coffee subreddit because I did a pour over using an aeropress and recommended others to try it out. They said I "should just use it for what it was designed for". Months later, companies started selling 'zero bypass brewers' which basically looked like oversized aeropress tubes without a plunger and no one even batted an eyelash. Moral of the story? Never assume that your average vocal coffee 'elitist' actually has any critical thinking skills. 😂 Few ever try to understand what they are doing and even fewer go the extra mile of gathering/consolidating proper statistical data to prove their point.
Another thing is that even though a lot of the youtube specialist coffee community used to be professional coffee shop baristas, they make content heavily targeted at home baristas. Assuming the best, I'd say the premise of their content is that a home barista will likely never have either the experience required nor the pressure that would warrant learning to do things by feel and with "tricks" and with high-efficiency workflows. But actually making coffee at a busy café is a totally different world from making coffee with RDT and WDT and a two decimal place scale and so on. What these channels preach to the point that it sounds like an imperative is like a Japanese tea ceremony. It's mostly stuff that intellectually satisfies the barista but has a small to negligible effect on the actual output in the cup. A skilled barista familiar with their tools does not need a scale to use a dose within a range that produces consistent output. A skilled barista with a good grinder does not need a special tool or technique to evenly distribute the grind in the filter; Just a couple of seconds and a couple of taps. And the RDT may be a free increase to grinder performance, but it is not a significant one (in a café context; at home it helps reduce marginal waste that can add up over time, but very little will actually be wasted throughout the day in a café). It's not like the recent development in the meat cooking world that we should actually be cooking steaks from frozen because they end up cooked more evenly and (actually quantified at) 9% juicier on average (which is huge). It's a marginal gain that has practically no implication for output quality or time efficiency if you instead use the less "precious" solution of a lever operated sifter.
Your research is pushing the coffee industry forward. Would also love to see some “behind the scenes” on Onyx coffee lab EU. Maybe a video in roasting coffee?
I find it ridiculous people were complaining about your research findings. I found it interesting that shaking the grinds didn’t produce clumping and your video made me interested to get one purely on better work flow and what you said about direct dosing. I normally grind into the portafiler and when you mentioned your time as a barista and the extractions shifting to a side interesting. This made me decide to get it. Sure it’s in an influencer sense I chose to make the purchase but the eduction and information you give the community is eye opening. Hope you have a great day Lance
Beat me to it, was going to say basically the same thing. I don't know what the deal is, wasn't there a time when empirical data was given proper weight?
Shaking grounds has transformed my shots (commandante/flair pro 2). Like: better taste, better flow, bigger doses. Can't image someone complaining about that
I bought a blind Shaker based on your video, yes, but that's because you compiled, analyzed, and shared the data so well that I also subsequently subscribed. Can't believe there's controversy persisting over even the first video
This video isn’t necessary you don’t have to explain yourself to people that jump to conclusions you are not a controversial man your a delight to this community, I would never get a blind shaker but those experiments are interesting to watch.
sorry that you have to go through all this. i am so grateful to you for helping me and so many other home baristas with some great advice. i am brewing the tastiest espresso I have ever brewed (this shindig with espresso started 11 years ago for me) and so the proof for me is in the cup. keep up the good work. thank you.
When you consider the amount of variables we can control and change when making espresso it can seem overwhelming to beginners trying to learn how to make something that tastes good. The most important thing is exactly as you've said, focus on taste and start with just a couple of variables. But the great thing about discovering things like the impact of shaking vs wdt is that it means it gives us all a chance to keep learning and experimenting. For those that love espresso as a hobby to explore curiosity it just keep giving and giving. That wouldn't happen without people like you pushing the boundaries
Love the kind of tongue in cheek comment about if I wanted to make money I would have endorsed a more expensive product. It self reflects the desire for efficiency in the thing that he’s being criticized for. ❤
In all things, I think it's beneficial to have a group who push what is taken as the norm/standard and a group that acts as a stick in the mud for any change and then a very large group in the middle that is willing to update their priors, but needs convincing. Serving as the norm challenger is an important role, but occasionally you'll be wrong and often you'll get pushback. It's a valuable role, but sometimes not directly rewarding
Dear Lance, I hope you know that all your work, effort, dedication and knowledge about coffee is greatly appreciated. You’re awesome and keeping doing what you do. 🫶🏼 Much love from California! ☕️Cheers!
Your passion is contagious and positive. Continue your journey Lance. This discovery is huge for the coffee industry and will continue to evolve. Your name is on this one! What a cool legacy.
The critics forget that data is often like the coffee grounds we’re working with. We need to shake things up to get a better result. You stumbled on an important discovery and I’m sure it will help advance the craft of coffee for years to come.
Your attitude of "do what works for you!" is exactly why I keep watching your channel. Having been down so many rabbit holes with brewing - based on expert opinion yada yada - I finally came to the realization that all of the very careful persnickety this and that was actually *detracting* from my enjoyment of coffee. All the pfaffing around really stressed me out! So I kept the few things that really made an appreciable difference in *my* coffee drinking experience (weighing beans, weighing water, grinding fresh every time and taking time to bloom) and left the rest behind. Am I still interested in new info? Sure! But unlike my previous "need" to try every last tiny tweak I take it less seriously, and only try the new stuff if I'm curious (and have already fully enjoyed a good for my tastes cup). The idea that there is any "controversy" around making coffee is so absurd. Do people not have lives? Keep up the good work, Lance.
For me, you never gave the impression of being "shilly" biased, or anything like that. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I respect you for your neutral and "ultimately, you do you" approach. Don't let this get into your head, and keep pushing the boundaries of coffee!
Thanks for doing the hard graft for all of us Lance. Your content is excellent. The amount of effort you put into your testing and the videos that follow is immense and greatly appreciated. Any reasonable person can see that you are non-partial. Online, and in public, the minority are often the loudest and most irate. I wager that the vast majority of us gain huge benefit from your efforts. Thank you for continuing to create worthwhile content for the coffee community. Keep up the great work!
Way to respond! I appreciate your open minded science toward this. F around and find out. If we only did it one way forever, we would be living the hunter gatherer life still.
Lance - Thank you Sir for all of your wonderful videos. You have shared so much with us that it is greatly appreciated. For those that are upset with Shaking your grounds... " stop taking this so bloody serious " . I am always trying to improve the quality of my coffee, with improved methods and equipment, it will improve. Something work for me some things don't, that's life. Thanks Lance.
How can there be a controversy about the most passionate person, putting in the hours and trying to address every possible bias and source of error. Absolutely grateful for your work. My brews have massively profited from your knowledge. And I have to confess that I have a blind shaker and was able to see, without scientific data, more consistent and tastier shots. Please always stay hungry for innovation, enriching the coffee community.
We have incorporated the shaker into our workflow by direct dosing into it from the shaker from the e65gbw. We made a little attachment to fit the weight. We have two shakers to rotate so we can keep up the speed. The baristas didn't like it at the start, but everyone likes it. No, we're not super high volume, but the workflow still doesn't break down when we get busy. The shaker plus the de1s we have on bar are so worth the miniscule extra amount of time it takes to use the tools. Maybe we would feel differently if we were a cafe in downtown NY or something, who knows. Thanks for doing what you do. Always helping us brew tasty coffee
You are an absolute gem Lance. Amongst any group of enthusiasts there will always be those who are quick to argue or shoot down new ideas, despite their validity. The fact that your study caused this much controversy, shows just how significant it is. It's an absolute game changer. Maybe not right now, but eventually, you will get massive praise for this. In the world of coffee, you sir stand alone in S tier. Please keep doing what you're doing because it is so much appreciated!
I'm curious what the taste differences were between the 5 second shake vs the longer shake ? I thought shaking seemed to cause espresso shots to be smoother less acidity or bitterness which kind of made them more boring sometimes but maybe that's just an effect of a more even extraction. But thought it might have tasted a bit more blended flavour wise with more shaking. With less shaking the effects are less pronounced. I should probably do more back to back testing with shaken vs WDT. I hated the shaking workflow but with a good shaker its not too bad. To reduce stickage you do need to frequently clean the oils off them (I use light roast non oily coffee, even that still has oils).
I appreciate all of the work you’ve put into these videos. I already had an EG-1 but started using the blind shaker with my MC6 for espresso. It has made WDT way easier and shots are very consistent.
Dear Lance, You're a legend man, never sweat it, and to be fair it doesn't really look like you do! For my part we run a wee cafe space using, we use commercial style machines, in our case the Conti TDx
*Conti X One apologies, and I would love one day to see you rock and roll on commercial gear and perhaps somehow work your magical engineering mind over the process and work us up your tips and tricks. It would be cool to see... Grateful as always! Leo.
The brazilan nut effect is happening. The larger particles will stay on top and the smaller particles will go to the bottom. This will cause a disparity in extraction over non-shaken. This is why those in Avalance areas wear air bags on the back to expand if they get caught in a slide. It will make them "larger" and keep them on top instead of moving towards the bottom of the slide during the shaking. Take mixed nuts, shake them up and all of the smaller nuts will sink to the bottom. Brazlian nut effect.
So the shaking will have another/no effect if you use a simple cup? I mean the Weber Shaker releases all the grinds at the bottom, so they should arrive in similar order in the basket, I assume. If you use a cup and throw the grinds into the basket by turning the cup upside down the small particles should be on top. Or am I wrong? A solution would be to shake the basket. I will try that.
@@Kongo0tto My guess is that the fines get stuck in the pores of the larger grounds. So the fines still extract, but don't clog flow as they don't move as much.
That effect does easily happen with many forms of puck prep and the grinder fines distribution is a major factor. Easily remedied by NOT shaking or tapping too much, and if your grinder is wonky, grinding into a cup and rotating the cup whilst grinding.
Hey Lance, I that you have great contributions and you are a great asset for the coffee community. Internet is full of complainers, keep doing what you are doing. I have been watching you religiously since your beginnings. Much love from Montre❤al
To be honest it has greatly improved consistency for me. Which I think it’s the key to lessen the number of variables that we need to look at when dialing in
The data speaks for itself. I trust you and all the others who did the research. Thank you for your contribution to the society, you're awesome. Pay no mind to the criticism, some people (not just in the coffee world) always has something negative to say.
I’ve never felt pressured to buy anything you’ve reviewed or demonstrated even when you’ve proven a better result. I haven’t purchase one thing yet. I’m cheap! Appreciate you sharing your knowledge it’s helped me to brew something tasty with the equipment I have.
I guess that the blind shaker as showed by you, Lance, replicate the effect of the fluffy bed that you will get from high-end grinders, grinding directly into the portafilter while you move the portafilter to make sure you will get a good bed in the basket. I see that as a way to enhance the workflow for SD grinding into a dosing cup. Only issue that I saw in the videos is retention. Ready to check it as soon as the blind shaker will arrive and compare it with the WDT, which is meant to do the same, so to create a fluffy bed before distribution and tamping. Thanks Lance for keep doing innovation and show us new avenues, opportunities in the exiting world of the coffee and in particular, the espresso. Thanks!
Your approach is fine, I have watched much, and you are not a brand pusher. You will have critics, can't please the crowd. You ALWAYS say "this is not definitive". You are semi-pro tester Lance, experimenting which is great.
Please continue and ignore people who are too lazy and or narrow minded to explore. There is no need to explain or justify. Your videos are both extremely informative and fun. I love tinkering and have adopted many of your ideas. Thank you…. 👍
After you did a review on the shaker. I bought one to try it out. It is fun to try new tools. It has improved my espresso quality and I enjoy using the shaker. Keep up the good work.
Hey I still use WDT but I love watching all your findings. I enjoy my coffee and cbf getting the shaker tool but still find this and other findings great and I know most do. Don't stress too much about the haters Lance, we all love you!
100% agree with your comment about doing what tastes good. I found your testing interesting and thought provoking which led to my brother and I doing our own testing. Did we prefer the taste with blind shaker? No, but we had fun and enjoyed some coffee which I think is what your were promoting; the enjoyment of coffee. Please keep doing your thing.
Reminds me Galileo - let's x-communicate Lance for challenging the established truth! Yeah, that's how progress is achieved, killing new ideas as soon as they challenge the norm. Lance - you are a beacon in this industry, an inspiration, a raw model. And for that, WE THANK YOU.
Didn't realise there was a controversy. It all seems like a storm in a blind shaker (to re-coin a phrase). I admit I did end up getting a blind shaker on Amazon that is a knock-off Weber's one (but that cost around $30AUD instead of the $$$ Weber) and have been using since. Dropped the WDT (use it for V60 stirring) and as a plus the blind shaker fits nicely under my Ode grinder (with a magnet sticker to align it). Wouldn't say the cup quality has dramatically improved but it's definitely improved a little. Don't let the haters get you down Lance, keep on keeping on, we're all here for it!
I don't care what these people say and call controversial, your coffee knowledge and videos have helped me immensely with my espresso and filter coffee and I'm super grateful. Stay controversial, dude, you're shaking things up in a good way! 🤟🏼
Thanks Lance, good video/clarification; it's unfortunate that it was necessary. I really "like" (extreme sarcasm) people who jump to conclusions and make judgments about other people's goals, intentions, or underlying motives without ever first checking with the person or trying to get more information to clarify the issue and check whether or not their inferences and judgments are accurate. Instead they primarily just show their own biases, ignorance, preconceived notions, and/or thoughtless actions (and simple rudeness) and unnecessarily contribute to misinformation and controversy. I enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work!
I love the experimentation, the testing, and everything that comes from challenging what is currently a norm or widely held knowledge, that mindset and the sharing of it is how we get better and better coffee and have more fun in the process. I am curious with all of this though how it would differ with wildly different (read cheaper, well used) grinders, it has to make a big difference and since so many people who love coffee don’t have great equipment perhaps it would be worth looking into for someone :) nudge nudge
I'm old enough to ignore self-important haters in social media. Your videos help me brew better coffee and I love your data based approach to learn about coffee.
Different grinders make a huge difference. Prep. Bean type, roast level. ETC ETC. Keep it up. You have already said these things. This is my setup, this coffee, these methods. My water. My touch.
I'm a new home barista and I love the blind shaker workflow, I didn't like the wdt workflow at all, not because of the taste but because of the convenience. My 10$ aliexpress blind shaker makes me happy! :D Thanks Lance!
I’ve watched for months, because I personally know how mental things can get. Thanks for sharing all the insanity that can come from almost anything. Coffee was absolutely another rabbit hole.
From my perspective, I believe I can think for myself. I should be able to watch two conflicting videos and take away what resonates with me from each. I genuinely learn from your content and find value in it. However, that doesn't mean I'm beholden to every viewpoint. If that were the case, that's on me. Keep up the great work -- and know that you'll never please all of us at the same time.
I use a pressurised basket with a bottomless portafilter. Sprays into the cup and creates a foam. Let's me use much cheaper grinders and my specialita has gone unused for weeks now. Also never touch the steam wand anymore as crema foam is absolutely delicious and abundant. This method gets a good representation of the bean. My favourite being Movenpick Cafe Crema The grinder I use is the kitchenaid artesan and it's a pleasure to use. Gaggia classic is all you need for reliability's sake. How's that for challenging orthodoxy?
Thanks Lance, I like hearing your thoughts. Some I agree with, some I don't, but I haven't really got a good local coffee culture to banter with so I enjoy your thoughts. I also have a question to the audience; Lance says with the Weber blind shaker, it gives a center mound. I have an Ikape and end up very much with edge mounds. Is this a technique issue or an equipment issue? Does anyone have recommendations for explicit shaker technique videos, particularly removing the 'core'
Love your research. Please never stop. If people disagree after trying the techniques for themselves, simple answer: don’t use them. Thank you for the years of hard work and content. You’ve helped me tremendously and have contributed greatly to my experience in the coffee space. Thank you brother.
Honestly kudos to you for challenging the norm and having done research in something that made such an impact that some people were annoyed xD I had no idea people were complaining about you doing research on the shake technique, that’s crazy to me, but I guess once people feel they’ve “mastered” something they don’t want to have to learn something else that might be better or at least have different benefits/yield different results. Also I personally did not feel like I was being sold the blind tumbler so I’m not sure where that came from.
Lance, love your content! I know its not espresso related, but I've been trying gently swirling the grounds after each pouring section in my Chemex. I think the finished coffee turns out better than when not swirling. I know it's a small thing, but it does make a difference to my palate. Thanks for the tip, never would have thought of that myself.
Lance, thank you! I really,enjoy all your experiments! With that in mind, have you ever done the tamp tamp method! Taking half your expresso ratio and tamping it at half, then doing the other half on top of it and tamp! Then when done compare! In my thinking is this if your grinder is consistent! Then wdt or the shake should not be needed! Prove me wrong.
Unfortunately if you're passionate about the content you create there will always be haters who don't share your opinion and try to bring you down. Thankfully there will also be a much bigger audience of people who appreciate you for what you do.
I somehow missed all of this controversy as I didn't watch much coffee YT lately but I clicked on this one. Intrigued I bought a shaker (knockoff) on Amazon after I just bought a new WDT tool two weeks ago. I have to say the difference is crazy to me and I wish I had not missed the other videos. Without much testing this is already clearly tasteable and I'm sure there is room for improvement and experimentation on my end.
I switched to a more budget shaker that still has the slightly funneled bottom and my coffee improved significantly. Because I use the 54mm basket size at 9 bar, I sometimes will still use my WDT for the top 2-3 mm of the bed if it dumped inconsistently... otherwise I won't WDT at all. I get virtually zero variation now from shot to shot. I like the improvement of flavor, but what I really love is the repeatability of it, given that I'm often working from a finite amount of coffee in a bag before I have to switch and recalibrate my shots. Now, as long as I'm using my vacuum canister, my shots remain consistent from the time I dial them in until the beans are done, and that saves me a lot of money and time with tinkering... plus while the workflow is more cumbersome, the technique required to get a good shot is less... so the margin of error is bigger. What more can you ask for. It's much of the reason why I will do more immersion brews as well. Let's give ourselves the highest probability of getting a great outcome. Cheers.
I think Lance, you don't need to justify anything, always very interesting material and with the necessary explanation so that we all understand it. A lot of data and scientific study along with experimentation and sensations, that's what I think this world of specialty coffee is all about and that's mostly why most of us follow you. keep going like this!
Has there been the same controversy for the slow grind method? I've implemented both in to my workflow but it's the slow grind that was the most jaw dropping, simply because it increased the flow rate so significantly.
I wonder if shaking will also have a good even extraction upon hand grinders/ lower tier grinders which tend to result in larger amount of chunks from grinds.
One wonders what could explain the extraction differences between the results when using blind shaking versus using a WDT? One possibility occurred to me: Blind shaking would (a) break up any clumps of the grounds and then (b) when you stopped the shaking, the grounds simply fall to the bottom of the container in a totally random distribution. Then knocking the side of the portafilter a bit to level out the grounds (essentially) maintains the random distribution of the grounds. However, using a WDT (a) also breaks up any clumps of grounds, but (b) in doing so the thin wires necessarily must push aside the grounds in their path. Therefore, though it may be only fractions of a millimeter or even at a microscopic level, the WDT wires leave tiny paths through the grounds where they traveled and at the same time leave slightly compressed areas of grounds along the sides of and between those paths. Thus making routes for the water to travel through the grounds in a different (less uniform) manner than if the grounds were in a truly random distribution throughout the puck. Seems possible. (?)
Turn-of-the-century pro, home barista and roaster on Flair 58 and Argos for espresso, otherwise AeroPress and V60. Combined with my previous go-to (VST) and my new go-to (Sworks 58 and 58/49 step down) I get vastly different, more nuanced espresso yum with the shake-n-rake than I was getting before. I started out shaking with my Niche Zero dosing cup and an old Bodum strainer lid, now with a Weber and a Bomber. Shaking is shaking. Mostly I hand grind again (Kinu M47 Classic) because the flavor differences for my yum are significant over my C40 or the NZ. Anyway, I’m no scientist but I work data for a living and am happy enough with the methodology and intelligible presentation, and coffee is my solace. I love The Controversy and bringing inChapGPT on that…spot on. Keep it up. Press across the soft to the hard edges and open frontiers. Dirty job and glad you do it so I can routinely benefit. Go, Lance, Go…
Curious if we should be shaking for pour over methods as well? I dont have a great grinder so it wouls be cool to see if extraction can increase while maintaining grind size.
I find your videos, theories and experiments quite interesting. Im equally entertained how pissy and offended some people can get when you {gasp} share a different perspective and question conventional wisdom.
I have done the test myself and yes I agree with Lance that bind shaker alone did a much better flow rate and extraction comparing to WDT alone as well as blind shake then WDT. I think it is correct that WDT did undo some of the good thing that bind shaker does.
I don’t dislike the shaker method because it doesn’t work (it does) I dislike it because it’s messy and adds another thing I have to clean. No matter what I do (RDT, dish soap cleaning the shaker, etc) coffee seems to cling to the shaker requiring cleaning each time. If anyone can recommend how to reduce that, I’d appreciate it… Otherwise, grinding into the basket will have to be what I do.
I removed shaking and stirring from our bar's routine after watching your original video on this but that was only possible because of a grinder upgrade. The old grinder required more extensive puck preparation.
I do wonder whether it makes any difference if the shaker sits on top of the portafilter rather than hovering way above it. I personally find the workflow easier if I can just place it on top but it doesn't product the same center mound.
I like the blind shaker. you used to point out that Weber were not the only source for them. oddly you do not point that out here and give much prominence to the logo. co-incidence likely so. but Lance, you certainly know exactly what you are doing and saying - as you are very good at this. so I just find it an odd way to quell the controversy, making such a weber-centric vid. anyhow it works - I would just say (as indeed, Lance has previously stated) seek out one of the less expensive alternatives in a blind shaker.
How very interesting. I just watched this video after a friend told 11:11 me about the shaker he bought. I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm just a home espresso maker but this dounds very interesting. Thanks for presenting the information for us to make our own conclusions.
If you knock the “bell” part, that you pull up to drop the coffee, of the blind shaker against the side to get all the grounds to fall, don’t you end up mashing some of the grounds against the side and compressing them more than the other grounds? Does this matter, or would tamping even everything out anyway? I’ve been trying to twist the center stem to get grounds to fall rather than tinging it against the side.
Anything unusual scares the crowd, no matter how beneficial it is! Only the top of the Gaussian normal distribution is happy and keeps quiet. And that’s your audience.
I would love to see the a comparison between the blind shaker with it's funneling design vs shaking in a regular catch cup with some kind of lid and then just pouring that into the basket vs no shaking or distribution. I feel like that would highlight whether the center mounding makes a big difference
Challenging traditional brewing norms is a good thing and not many can actually go that route. Ofcourse scientific validity is important as well, however one does not need to wait for a research document in order to get a better cup of coffee. You have put in a lot of hardwork in making many interesting unorthodox videos which a lot of our viewers enjoyed. People are free to replicate your methods and decide whether it works for them or not.
Spot on mate.
It’s also not like Lance have done a few not reliable tests and made a quick conclusion. I think he have done enough tests to share his findings - and it has inspired other people to do more tests. Most important is that he is transparent with how he comes to his conclusions. As to your point we can then decide ourselves.
Lance being accused of being in the pocket of Big Shaker is so funny.
Yes, it's quite funny that he doesn't mention that there are other brands that are much cheaper!🤫🤔
@@dejedejsson You didn't even watch the video you're just being an asshat.
@@dejedejsson he might have mentioned it but Weber And Craig Lyn were the original designers I believe and he might be against knock off brands.
yeah I wasted money trying those shakers out and they are all bad designs with obvious design flaws, not to mention that they do nothing useful for me!
Since then, I regard Lance as a snake oil vendor, which is a shame because he has so much he has positively contributed.
@@dejedejssonshould he mention then all of the shakers that are exist?
I wonder if the first person to say “9 bars, 30 seconds, 18g in 36g out” was met with so much hate. I feel like your channel does a great job sharing info and new techniques to try and see what tastes best for me. Maybe there isn’t a “one size fits all” for people, but I think those who want to should try things out and see what works and tastes best for them.
Funny story: a long time ago, I once got scolded at some coffee subreddit because I did a pour over using an aeropress and recommended others to try it out. They said I "should just use it for what it was designed for". Months later, companies started selling 'zero bypass brewers' which basically looked like oversized aeropress tubes without a plunger and no one even batted an eyelash.
Moral of the story? Never assume that your average vocal coffee 'elitist' actually has any critical thinking skills. 😂 Few ever try to understand what they are doing and even fewer go the extra mile of gathering/consolidating proper statistical data to prove their point.
Sometimes 'elitist' is just another spelling of 'snob'. I hope to be neither. Keep experimenting people ! 🙂
@@michaelrossmaessler200 sometimes? i think you mean most times
Another thing is that even though a lot of the youtube specialist coffee community used to be professional coffee shop baristas, they make content heavily targeted at home baristas. Assuming the best, I'd say the premise of their content is that a home barista will likely never have either the experience required nor the pressure that would warrant learning to do things by feel and with "tricks" and with high-efficiency workflows.
But actually making coffee at a busy café is a totally different world from making coffee with RDT and WDT and a two decimal place scale and so on. What these channels preach to the point that it sounds like an imperative is like a Japanese tea ceremony. It's mostly stuff that intellectually satisfies the barista but has a small to negligible effect on the actual output in the cup.
A skilled barista familiar with their tools does not need a scale to use a dose within a range that produces consistent output. A skilled barista with a good grinder does not need a special tool or technique to evenly distribute the grind in the filter; Just a couple of seconds and a couple of taps. And the RDT may be a free increase to grinder performance, but it is not a significant one (in a café context; at home it helps reduce marginal waste that can add up over time, but very little will actually be wasted throughout the day in a café). It's not like the recent development in the meat cooking world that we should actually be cooking steaks from frozen because they end up cooked more evenly and (actually quantified at) 9% juicier on average (which is huge). It's a marginal gain that has practically no implication for output quality or time efficiency if you instead use the less "precious" solution of a lever operated sifter.
Honestly, people getting mad about how other people pour hot water over roasted seeds to release stimulants is just wild. Like what are we doing here?
@@peterlin6419 Some people just want to drive the fun out of everything
Your research is pushing the coffee industry forward. Would also love to see some “behind the scenes” on Onyx coffee lab EU. Maybe a video in roasting coffee?
I find it ridiculous people were complaining about your research findings. I found it interesting that shaking the grinds didn’t produce clumping and your video made me interested to get one purely on better work flow and what you said about direct dosing. I normally grind into the portafiler and when you mentioned your time as a barista and the extractions shifting to a side interesting. This made me decide to get it. Sure it’s in an influencer sense I chose to make the purchase but the eduction and information you give the community is eye opening. Hope you have a great day Lance
Beat me to it, was going to say basically the same thing. I don't know what the deal is, wasn't there a time when empirical data was given proper weight?
Shaking grounds has transformed my shots (commandante/flair pro 2). Like: better taste, better flow, bigger doses. Can't image someone complaining about that
I bought a blind Shaker based on your video, yes, but that's because you compiled, analyzed, and shared the data so well that I also subsequently subscribed. Can't believe there's controversy persisting over even the first video
This video isn’t necessary you don’t have to explain yourself to people that jump to conclusions you are not a controversial man your a delight to this community, I would never get a blind shaker but those experiments are interesting to watch.
sorry that you have to go through all this. i am so grateful to you for helping me and so many other home baristas with some great advice. i am brewing the tastiest espresso I have ever brewed (this shindig with espresso started 11 years ago for me) and so the proof for me is in the cup. keep up the good work. thank you.
It feels like a waste of your time to address toxic behavior all the time. Let them stew in their own ridiculousness.
I bought a generic version of the blind shaker and it has dramatically improved my shots. Thank you!
Yep. I also got a shaker because of Lance.
@@QuickQuips It's the dopest trip
I was looking in the comments for anyone who had the cheaper version because I've got that in my wish list.
When you consider the amount of variables we can control and change when making espresso it can seem overwhelming to beginners trying to learn how to make something that tastes good. The most important thing is exactly as you've said, focus on taste and start with just a couple of variables.
But the great thing about discovering things like the impact of shaking vs wdt is that it means it gives us all a chance to keep learning and experimenting. For those that love espresso as a hobby to explore curiosity it just keep giving and giving. That wouldn't happen without people like you pushing the boundaries
Love the kind of tongue in cheek comment about if I wanted to make money I would have endorsed a more expensive product. It self reflects the desire for efficiency in the thing that he’s being criticized for. ❤
Don’t stop never stop. Your pure raw coffee passion is infectious. Respect and blessings to you.
In all things, I think it's beneficial to have a group who push what is taken as the norm/standard and a group that acts as a stick in the mud for any change and then a very large group in the middle that is willing to update their priors, but needs convincing. Serving as the norm challenger is an important role, but occasionally you'll be wrong and often you'll get pushback. It's a valuable role, but sometimes not directly rewarding
I like your videos a lot, Lance. Keep educating and shining.
Dear Lance, I hope you know that all your work, effort, dedication and knowledge about coffee is greatly appreciated. You’re awesome and keeping doing what you do. 🫶🏼 Much love from California! ☕️Cheers!
With a Cafelat Robot you simply have to put your hand over the top of the portafilter and shake. No extra tool required.
I’ve gotta try that!
Me too
I was wondering the same... Time to make an espresso and try it out! :D
Your passion is contagious and positive. Continue your journey Lance. This discovery is huge for the coffee industry and will continue to evolve. Your name is on this one! What a cool legacy.
The critics forget that data is often like the coffee grounds we’re working with. We need to shake things up to get a better result. You stumbled on an important discovery and I’m sure it will help advance the craft of coffee for years to come.
Your attitude of "do what works for you!" is exactly why I keep watching your channel. Having been down so many rabbit holes with brewing - based on expert opinion yada yada - I finally came to the realization that all of the very careful persnickety this and that was actually *detracting* from my enjoyment of coffee. All the pfaffing around really stressed me out! So I kept the few things that really made an appreciable difference in *my* coffee drinking experience (weighing beans, weighing water, grinding fresh every time and taking time to bloom) and left the rest behind. Am I still interested in new info? Sure! But unlike my previous "need" to try every last tiny tweak I take it less seriously, and only try the new stuff if I'm curious (and have already fully enjoyed a good for my tastes cup).
The idea that there is any "controversy" around making coffee is so absurd. Do people not have lives? Keep up the good work, Lance.
For me, you never gave the impression of being "shilly" biased, or anything like that. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I respect you for your neutral and "ultimately, you do you" approach. Don't let this get into your head, and keep pushing the boundaries of coffee!
Thanks for doing the hard graft for all of us Lance. Your content is excellent. The amount of effort you put into your testing and the videos that follow is immense and greatly appreciated. Any reasonable person can see that you are non-partial. Online, and in public, the minority are often the loudest and most irate. I wager that the vast majority of us gain huge benefit from your efforts. Thank you for continuing to create worthwhile content for the coffee community. Keep up the great work!
Way to respond! I appreciate your open minded science toward this. F around and find out. If we only did it one way forever, we would be living the hunter gatherer life still.
Just ignore random dudes on the internet that try to make a big deal out of everything.
Also, ignore random dudes that tell you to ignore random dudes
ignore all random dudes.
Lance - Thank you Sir for all of your wonderful videos. You have shared so much with us that it is greatly appreciated. For those that are upset with Shaking your grounds... " stop taking this so bloody serious " . I am always trying to improve the quality of my coffee, with improved methods and equipment, it will improve. Something work for me some things don't, that's life. Thanks Lance.
How can there be a controversy about the most passionate person, putting in the hours and trying to address every possible bias and source of error.
Absolutely grateful for your work. My brews have massively profited from your knowledge. And I have to confess that I have a blind shaker and was able to see, without scientific data, more consistent and tastier shots.
Please always stay hungry for innovation, enriching the coffee community.
We have incorporated the shaker into our workflow by direct dosing into it from the shaker from the e65gbw. We made a little attachment to fit the weight. We have two shakers to rotate so we can keep up the speed. The baristas didn't like it at the start, but everyone likes it. No, we're not super high volume, but the workflow still doesn't break down when we get busy. The shaker plus the de1s we have on bar are so worth the miniscule extra amount of time it takes to use the tools.
Maybe we would feel differently if we were a cafe in downtown NY or something, who knows.
Thanks for doing what you do. Always helping us brew tasty coffee
You are an absolute gem Lance. Amongst any group of enthusiasts there will always be those who are quick to argue or shoot down new ideas, despite their validity. The fact that your study caused this much controversy, shows just how significant it is. It's an absolute game changer. Maybe not right now, but eventually, you will get massive praise for this. In the world of coffee, you sir stand alone in S tier. Please keep doing what you're doing because it is so much appreciated!
I'm curious what the taste differences were between the 5 second shake vs the longer shake ? I thought shaking seemed to cause espresso shots to be smoother less acidity or bitterness which kind of made them more boring sometimes but maybe that's just an effect of a more even extraction. But thought it might have tasted a bit more blended flavour wise with more shaking. With less shaking the effects are less pronounced.
I should probably do more back to back testing with shaken vs WDT.
I hated the shaking workflow but with a good shaker its not too bad. To reduce stickage you do need to frequently clean the oils off them (I use light roast non oily coffee, even that still has oils).
I appreciate all of the work you’ve put into these videos. I already had an EG-1 but started using the blind shaker with my MC6 for espresso. It has made WDT way easier and shots are very consistent.
There's no controversy here. Thanks for all the work you do to deepen our collective understanding of all things coffee!
Dear Lance,
You're a legend man, never sweat it, and to be fair it doesn't really look like you do!
For my part we run a wee cafe space using, we use commercial style machines, in our case the Conti TDx
*Conti X One apologies, and I would love one day to see you rock and roll on commercial gear and perhaps somehow work your magical engineering mind over the process and work us up your tips and tricks. It would be cool to see... Grateful as always!
Leo.
The brazilan nut effect is happening. The larger particles will stay on top and the smaller particles will go to the bottom. This will cause a disparity in extraction over non-shaken. This is why those in Avalance areas wear air bags on the back to expand if they get caught in a slide. It will make them "larger" and keep them on top instead of moving towards the bottom of the slide during the shaking. Take mixed nuts, shake them up and all of the smaller nuts will sink to the bottom. Brazlian nut effect.
I find fines get stuck on the lid
So the shaking will have another/no effect if you use a simple cup? I mean the Weber Shaker releases all the grinds at the bottom, so they should arrive in similar order in the basket, I assume. If you use a cup and throw the grinds into the basket by turning the cup upside down the small particles should be on top. Or am I wrong? A solution would be to shake the basket. I will try that.
@@Kongo0tto My guess is that the fines get stuck in the pores of the larger grounds. So the fines still extract, but don't clog flow as they don't move as much.
That effect does easily happen with many forms of puck prep and the grinder fines distribution is a major factor.
Easily remedied by NOT shaking or tapping too much, and if your grinder is wonky, grinding into a cup and rotating the cup whilst grinding.
Hey Lance, I that you have great contributions and you are a great asset for the coffee community. Internet is full of complainers, keep doing what you are doing. I have been watching you religiously since your beginnings. Much love from Montre❤al
To be honest it has greatly improved consistency for me.
Which I think it’s the key to lessen the number of variables that we need to look at when dialing in
The data speaks for itself. I trust you and all the others who did the research. Thank you for your contribution to the society, you're awesome. Pay no mind to the criticism, some people (not just in the coffee world) always has something negative to say.
Love ya Lance, always thoughtful, intelligent and entertaining. Keep probing, asking, exploring and updating us on your journey! Thanks mate.. Mark.
I’ve never felt pressured to buy anything you’ve reviewed or demonstrated even when you’ve proven a better result. I haven’t purchase one thing yet. I’m cheap! Appreciate you sharing your knowledge it’s helped me to brew something tasty with the equipment I have.
Got it! Off to buy a second Weber shaker so Uncle Lance gets his 💰💵 🤑
Haha, keep making the videos that inspire you!
I like your high quality videos and respect the additional voice and data. Thanks for doing the work
I guess that the blind shaker as showed by you, Lance, replicate the effect of the fluffy bed that you will get from high-end grinders, grinding directly into the portafilter while you move the portafilter to make sure you will get a good bed in the basket. I see that as a way to enhance the workflow for SD grinding into a dosing cup. Only issue that I saw in the videos is retention. Ready to check it as soon as the blind shaker will arrive and compare it with the WDT, which is meant to do the same, so to create a fluffy bed before distribution and tamping. Thanks Lance for keep doing innovation and show us new avenues, opportunities in the exiting world of the coffee and in particular, the espresso. Thanks!
Your approach is fine, I have watched much, and you are not a brand pusher. You will have critics, can't please the crowd. You ALWAYS say "this is not definitive". You are semi-pro tester Lance, experimenting which is great.
Please continue and ignore people who are too lazy and or narrow minded to explore. There is no need to explain or justify. Your videos are both extremely informative and fun. I love tinkering and have adopted many of your ideas. Thank you…. 👍
After you did a review on the shaker. I bought one to try it out. It is fun to try new tools. It has improved my espresso quality and I enjoy using the shaker.
Keep up the good work.
How dare you distribute coffee and do tests so others dont waste their time or money figuring this out!
Hey I still use WDT but I love watching all your findings. I enjoy my coffee and cbf getting the shaker tool but still find this and other findings great and I know most do. Don't stress too much about the haters Lance, we all love you!
100% agree with your comment about doing what tastes good. I found your testing interesting and thought provoking which led to my brother and I doing our own testing. Did we prefer the taste with blind shaker? No, but we had fun and enjoyed some coffee which I think is what your were promoting; the enjoyment of coffee. Please keep doing your thing.
I hope you keep having fun and dont let the haters get to you. I just enjoy the nerdy exploration of subjects.
Pushing the envelope isn’t controversy it’s the way forward and learning. 💪☕️
.
Reminds me Galileo - let's x-communicate Lance for challenging the established truth! Yeah, that's how progress is achieved, killing new ideas as soon as they challenge the norm.
Lance - you are a beacon in this industry, an inspiration, a raw model. And for that, WE THANK YOU.
Didn't realise there was a controversy. It all seems like a storm in a blind shaker (to re-coin a phrase).
I admit I did end up getting a blind shaker on Amazon that is a knock-off Weber's one (but that cost around $30AUD instead of the $$$ Weber) and have been using since.
Dropped the WDT (use it for V60 stirring) and as a plus the blind shaker fits nicely under my Ode grinder (with a magnet sticker to align it). Wouldn't say the cup quality has dramatically improved but it's definitely improved a little.
Don't let the haters get you down Lance, keep on keeping on, we're all here for it!
I don't care what these people say and call controversial, your coffee knowledge and videos have helped me immensely with my espresso and filter coffee and I'm super grateful. Stay controversial, dude, you're shaking things up in a good way! 🤟🏼
I'd give your response ten thumbs up if the system allowed it.
Thanks Lance, good video/clarification; it's unfortunate that it was necessary. I really "like" (extreme sarcasm) people who jump to conclusions and make judgments about other people's goals, intentions, or underlying motives without ever first checking with the person or trying to get more information to clarify the issue and check whether or not their inferences and judgments are accurate. Instead they primarily just show their own biases, ignorance, preconceived notions, and/or thoughtless actions (and simple rudeness) and unnecessarily contribute to misinformation and controversy. I enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work!
I love the experimentation, the testing, and everything that comes from challenging what is currently a norm or widely held knowledge, that mindset and the sharing of it is how we get better and better coffee and have more fun in the process. I am curious with all of this though how it would differ with wildly different (read cheaper, well used) grinders, it has to make a big difference and since so many people who love coffee don’t have great equipment perhaps it would be worth looking into for someone :) nudge nudge
I'm old enough to ignore self-important haters in social media. Your videos help me brew better coffee and I love your data based approach to learn about coffee.
Having haters means you are successful 😊
I am always thankful you are sharing your work!🎉 thank you Lance!
Don't let that stuff get under your skin, Lance! I for one value your systematic and yet openly subjective approach to coffee brewing very much.
Different grinders make a huge difference. Prep. Bean type, roast level. ETC ETC. Keep it up. You have already said these things. This is my setup, this coffee, these methods. My water. My touch.
I'm a new home barista and I love the blind shaker workflow, I didn't like the wdt workflow at all, not because of the taste but because of the convenience. My 10$ aliexpress blind shaker makes me happy! :D Thanks Lance!
I’ve watched for months, because I personally know how mental things can get.
Thanks for sharing all the insanity that can come from almost anything.
Coffee was absolutely another rabbit hole.
From my perspective, I believe I can think for myself. I should be able to watch two conflicting videos and take away what resonates with me from each. I genuinely learn from your content and find value in it. However, that doesn't mean I'm beholden to every viewpoint. If that were the case, that's on me. Keep up the great work -- and know that you'll never please all of us at the same time.
Thank you Lance... I love that you try hard to be transparent.... You should call the comparison video, "Espresso Grounds, shaken, not stirred" 😅
I use a pressurised basket with a bottomless portafilter. Sprays into the cup and creates a foam. Let's me use much cheaper grinders and my specialita has gone unused for weeks now. Also never touch the steam wand anymore as crema foam is absolutely delicious and abundant.
This method gets a good representation of the bean. My favourite being Movenpick Cafe Crema
The grinder I use is the kitchenaid artesan and it's a pleasure to use.
Gaggia classic is all you need for reliability's sake.
How's that for challenging orthodoxy?
I appreciate you making several videos about it. ❤
Thanks Lance, I like hearing your thoughts. Some I agree with, some I don't, but I haven't really got a good local coffee culture to banter with so I enjoy your thoughts.
I also have a question to the audience; Lance says with the Weber blind shaker, it gives a center mound. I have an Ikape and end up very much with edge mounds. Is this a technique issue or an equipment issue? Does anyone have recommendations for explicit shaker technique videos, particularly removing the 'core'
Love your research. Please never stop. If people disagree after trying the techniques for themselves, simple answer: don’t use them. Thank you for the years of hard work and content. You’ve helped me tremendously and have contributed greatly to my experience in the coffee space. Thank you brother.
Honestly kudos to you for challenging the norm and having done research in something that made such an impact that some people were annoyed xD
I had no idea people were complaining about you doing research on the shake technique, that’s crazy to me, but I guess once people feel they’ve “mastered” something they don’t want to have to learn something else that might be better or at least have different benefits/yield different results.
Also I personally did not feel like I was being sold the blind tumbler so I’m not sure where that came from.
Lance, love your content! I know its not espresso related, but I've been trying gently swirling the grounds after each pouring section in my Chemex. I think the finished coffee turns out better than when not swirling. I know it's a small thing, but it does make a difference to my palate. Thanks for the tip, never would have thought of that myself.
Lance, thank you! I really,enjoy all your experiments! With that in mind, have you ever done the tamp tamp method! Taking half your expresso ratio and tamping it at half, then doing the other half on top of it and tamp! Then when done compare! In my thinking is this if your grinder is consistent! Then wdt or the shake should not be needed! Prove me wrong.
Unfortunately if you're passionate about the content you create there will always be haters who don't share your opinion and try to bring you down. Thankfully there will also be a much bigger audience of people who appreciate you for what you do.
I somehow missed all of this controversy as I didn't watch much coffee YT lately but I clicked on this one. Intrigued I bought a shaker (knockoff) on Amazon after I just bought a new WDT tool two weeks ago. I have to say the difference is crazy to me and I wish I had not missed the other videos. Without much testing this is already clearly tasteable and I'm sure there is room for improvement and experimentation on my end.
I'm hoping this was an additional video for this week and that this week wasn't wasted on those being precious.
I switched to a more budget shaker that still has the slightly funneled bottom and my coffee improved significantly. Because I use the 54mm basket size at 9 bar, I sometimes will still use my WDT for the top 2-3 mm of the bed if it dumped inconsistently... otherwise I won't WDT at all. I get virtually zero variation now from shot to shot. I like the improvement of flavor, but what I really love is the repeatability of it, given that I'm often working from a finite amount of coffee in a bag before I have to switch and recalibrate my shots. Now, as long as I'm using my vacuum canister, my shots remain consistent from the time I dial them in until the beans are done, and that saves me a lot of money and time with tinkering... plus while the workflow is more cumbersome, the technique required to get a good shot is less... so the margin of error is bigger. What more can you ask for. It's much of the reason why I will do more immersion brews as well. Let's give ourselves the highest probability of getting a great outcome. Cheers.
I think Lance, you don't need to justify anything, always very interesting material and with the necessary explanation so that we all understand it.
A lot of data and scientific study along with experimentation and sensations, that's what I think this world of specialty coffee is all about and that's mostly why most of us follow you.
keep going like this!
Has there been the same controversy for the slow grind method? I've implemented both in to my workflow but it's the slow grind that was the most jaw dropping, simply because it increased the flow rate so significantly.
I wonder if shaking will also have a good even extraction upon hand grinders/ lower tier grinders which tend to result in larger amount of chunks from grinds.
You have integrity- it’s obvious just listening to your videos. But haters gonna hate.
Keep pushing forward Lance 👍🏻
Who was saying the bad stuff and making assumptions? I'm gonna GET THEM RAAAAAAH
One wonders what could explain the extraction differences between the results when using blind shaking versus using a WDT? One possibility occurred to me: Blind shaking would (a) break up any clumps of the grounds and then (b) when you stopped the shaking, the grounds simply fall to the bottom of the container in a totally random distribution. Then knocking the side of the portafilter a bit to level out the grounds (essentially) maintains the random distribution of the grounds. However, using a WDT (a) also breaks up any clumps of grounds, but (b) in doing so the thin wires necessarily must push aside the grounds in their path. Therefore, though it may be only fractions of a millimeter or even at a microscopic level, the WDT wires leave tiny paths through the grounds where they traveled and at the same time leave slightly compressed areas of grounds along the sides of and between those paths. Thus making routes for the water to travel through the grounds in a different (less uniform) manner than if the grounds were in a truly random distribution throughout the puck. Seems possible. (?)
Turn-of-the-century pro, home barista and roaster on Flair 58 and Argos for espresso, otherwise AeroPress and V60. Combined with my previous go-to (VST) and my new go-to (Sworks 58 and 58/49 step down) I get vastly different, more nuanced espresso yum with the shake-n-rake than I was getting before. I started out shaking with my Niche Zero dosing cup and an old Bodum strainer lid, now with a Weber and a Bomber. Shaking is shaking. Mostly I hand grind again (Kinu M47 Classic) because the flavor differences for my yum are significant over my C40 or the NZ. Anyway, I’m no scientist but I work data for a living and am happy enough with the methodology and intelligible presentation, and coffee is my solace. I love The Controversy and bringing inChapGPT on that…spot on. Keep it up. Press across the soft to the hard edges and open frontiers. Dirty job and glad you do it so I can routinely benefit. Go, Lance, Go…
Sweet. Great video. Thanks for the time and research you put into this.
I tried the shaking method. I'm convinced, thanks Lance !
Curious if we should be shaking for pour over methods as well? I dont have a great grinder so it wouls be cool to see if extraction can increase while maintaining grind size.
I find your videos, theories and experiments quite interesting. Im equally entertained how pissy and offended some people can get when you {gasp} share a different perspective and question conventional wisdom.
I have done the test myself and yes I agree with Lance that bind shaker alone did a much better flow rate and extraction comparing to WDT alone as well as blind shake then WDT. I think it is correct that WDT did undo some of the good thing that bind shaker does.
I still can't forget how you teach me how to froth my milk better... It made my year, truly.... So I trust you on this too....
I watch your videos because i'm a Lance fan, even though I don't have an espresso machine, just filter. Do you think shaking would help filter coffee?
I don’t dislike the shaker method because it doesn’t work (it does) I dislike it because it’s messy and adds another thing I have to clean. No matter what I do (RDT, dish soap cleaning the shaker, etc) coffee seems to cling to the shaker requiring cleaning each time. If anyone can recommend how to reduce that, I’d appreciate it… Otherwise, grinding into the basket will have to be what I do.
I removed shaking and stirring from our bar's routine after watching your original video on this but that was only possible because of a grinder upgrade. The old grinder required more extensive puck preparation.
Do you think that blind shaking is generally beneficial to filter coffee as well?
I do wonder whether it makes any difference if the shaker sits on top of the portafilter rather than hovering way above it.
I personally find the workflow easier if I can just place it on top but it doesn't product the same center mound.
I like the blind shaker.
you used to point out that Weber were not the only source for them.
oddly you do not point that out here and give much prominence to the logo.
co-incidence likely so.
but Lance, you certainly know exactly what you are doing and saying - as you are very good at this.
so I just find it an odd way to quell the controversy, making such a weber-centric vid.
anyhow it works - I would just say (as indeed, Lance has previously stated) seek out one of the less expensive alternatives in a blind shaker.
It wasn't intentional. I only have the weber one. The accusations were regarding weber. Those two things together made it seem that way.
How very interesting. I just watched this video after a friend told 11:11 me about the shaker he bought. I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm just a home espresso maker but this dounds very interesting. Thanks for presenting the information for us to make our own conclusions.
Please ignore all the haters and complainers. Your channel and explorations and tests are the best.
If you knock the “bell” part, that you pull up to drop the coffee, of the blind shaker against the side to get all the grounds to fall, don’t you end up mashing some of the grounds against the side and compressing them more than the other grounds? Does this matter, or would tamping even everything out anyway? I’ve been trying to twist the center stem to get grounds to fall rather than tinging it against the side.
Anything unusual scares the crowd, no matter how beneficial it is! Only the top of the Gaussian normal distribution is happy and keeps quiet. And that’s your audience.
I can’t quite remember the previous video. But did you try creating a central mound with WDT? I guess that’s difficult
I would love to see the a comparison between the blind shaker with it's funneling design vs shaking in a regular catch cup with some kind of lid and then just pouring that into the basket vs no shaking or distribution. I feel like that would highlight whether the center mounding makes a big difference