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Robert McKeon Aloe

14 min readMar 9, 2022

New Book Coming Soon: Advanced Espresso

My Espresso Book: Engineering Better Espresso

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Affiliate Links: Trade Coffee

Latest

Sifted Coffee by Color and Size

Coffee Color Analysis by DiFluid Omni

The Duality of Bias and Credibility

Dirty Espresso Baskets

Gaggia Classic: Tricks and Critiques

Particle Analysis by DiFluid Omni

Silicon Rings to Reduce Side Channeling in Espresso?

Espresso Experiments: Adding Sugar

Improving Travel Espresso using Thermal Pre-Infusion

Decent Espresso Profile Analysis Across a Population

Experimental Coffee Roasts on the Roest

Espresso Shots Doing the Splits

Uneven CO2 Solubility during Espresso Extraction

60C Filter Coffee from an Espresso Machine

Coffee Influencers by Followers

Roasted and Green Bean Density

Thermal Pre-infusion for Espresso: Say Less

Correlating Taste to Extraction Yield: Deeper Analysis

Revising Dialing in Coffee

Coffee Bean Hardness: Inside Out

Coffee Roasting on the Roest

The Usefulness of Conductivity to Measure Coffee Extraction

A Critique of Radial Uniformity Experiments in Espresso

Testing the Meticulous Home for Espresso

Where to Start with Espresso: Beginner’s QuickStart

Brew Water for Espresso: Introduction to Exploration

Vacuum Chamber for Improved Coffee Degassing

IMS Big Bang Espresso Filter Basket: An Analysis

Does Drink Temperature Correlate to Taste in Espresso?

The Impact of the Diffuser and Shower Screens on Espresso

Quantifying Constipated Fines Migration in Espresso

How I used ChatGPT to Write a Book in 4 hours

Can You Guess the Strength of Coffee?

Speed Up Task Switching

The Impact of Flow on Espresso Extraction

Roast Analysis: Fast, Medium, Slow, and Baked

Do Fines Clog the Filter in Espresso?

Ending Pre-infusion based on TCF for Espresso

The Illusive Donut in Espresso Shot

Thermal Pre-Infusion: A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Espresso

Espresso Experiments with Added Farts

Blooming Espresso Profile Explorations

Coffee Grinder Comparison: Molar Z vs Niche

Where Laser Particle Analysis Went Wrong for Coffee

Onyx Coffee Transparency Breakdown

Cockroaches with Guns

Last Zombie Standing: Episode 4

WDT in Basket vs Dosing Cup for Espresso

Constipated Fines Migration in Espresso

Headspace in Espresso: Optimization

Decent Espresso DE1Pro vs Kim Express: Round 2

Dump Transitions for Blooming Espresso Profiles

Comparing Laser Diffraction to Imaging of Coffee Particles

Water Temperature for Espresso: Pump & Dump

Coffee Grind Differences with Variable RPM

Thermal Imaging of the Decent Espresso Grouphead

Coffee is a Neural Network

Quantity vs Quality in Coffee Data

DiFluid Refractometer for Coffee: Summary

Pump & Dump Salami Espresso Shots

Measuring Fines Migration with a Laser

Dirty Pipettes and Refractometers Coffee

Espresso Filter Basket Hole Changes After 2,000 Shots

Advanced Shower Screens for Espresso

Higher Precision Imaging of Espresso Baskets

Unifilter vs Wafo Spirit for Espresso

To Better Understand Effective Top Paper Filters for Espresso

Iterative Design of Top Paper Filters for Espresso

Dirty Refractometers and Coffee

Engineering Better Espresso, Spanish Edition (On Hold)

Water Contact Time and Extraction in Espresso: an Experiment

Wafo Soe Classic vs VST for Espresso

Comparing My Espresso to Publicly Available Data

DiFluid R2 vs Atago for Espresso

Post-Mortem on a Kickstarter for a Book

The Birth of the Pump & Dump Espresso Profile on the Decent

Hidden Stories in Disney Princesses

Wafo Soe Spirit vs VST for Espresso

Humidified Roasted Robusta Coffee

DiFluid R2 Coffee Refractometer Device Variation

Deep Nutating for Espresso: Experiments

Vibration Tamping for Espresso

Water Distribution for Espresso

Changing Water Diffuser for Espresso

Side Channeling in Espresso: Thermal Impacts

Wafo vs VST: Espresso Filter Basket Analysis

Experimental Coffee Cherry Processing

Coffee Refractometer Accuracy: VST vs DiFluid R2

Measuring Groundtruth Extraction Yield for Robusta vs a Refractometer

Grinding Coffee with a Sifter

How Does Sifting Modify Coffee Particles?

Heat Pipes for Coffee Cooling

What Makes You Tick?

The Imprecision Filter Basket for Espresso

Moka Filter in an Espresso Basket

Multiple Samples for the DiFluid Refractometer in Espresso

Coffee Book Survey Says…

Does Espresso Extraction Produce More Fines, Part 2?

Does Espresso Extraction Produce More Fines?

Exploring Grind Size and Dose for Espresso

Fixing a Messed Up Robusta Espresso Shot

Single Sifter Staccato Espresso

Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 3

Tipping Explanation (Direct Link to Tip Me)

Salting Green Coffee Beans before Roasting?

Extract Cooling for Espresso

Debugging Vaporexpress Profile Espresso Shots

Hacking the Espresso Puck

The Books are Shipping!

CoffeeJack for Espresso After a Month: a Review

Does WDT Migrate Fines to the Bottom of the Espresso Basket?

Pre-Ground Coffee Particle Distribution

Shower Screen Deep Dive on a Decent Espresso Machine

A Possible Explanation for Paper Filters in Espresso

Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 2

CoffeeJack and Wafo vs VST, Flair and Kompresso Espresso Filter Basket

Coffee Density and Weight Loss in Roasting

Diversity in Coffee and the Coffee Industry

Rethinking Refractometers: VST, Atago, and DiFluid; Part 1

Bellowing During Coffee Grinding

Studying Coffee Migration Through Experimentation

Double Coffee Roasting to Save a Mistake

A Response to Lance Hedrick’s Video on the Ultimate Guide to Refractometry

DiFluid vs Atago for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in Espresso

The rest of the list of articles is after the videos.

Latest Videos:

Latest Articles:

Inside and Out Coffee Refractometer Measurements

Fines Migrate in Espresso: Stronger Evidence

Engineering Better Espresso: The Book is Printing!

Fines Migration in the Osma Coffee Machine

Counting Fines in a Cup of Espresso

Model United Nations: A Story of Anarchy

Intentional Channeling in Espresso

Measuring Coffee Fines Using Water

Steam Pre-Infusion for Espresso: A Summary

Refractometer Accuracy for Coffee and Espresso

Correlating Taste to Extraction Yield in Espresso

The Momentum Coffee Grinder

Coffee Particle Similarity Between the Niche and Ode Grinders using Pattern Recognition

Fermenting Indian Robusta Coffee Cherries

Measuring Refractometer Accuracy to Groundtruth for Coffee

How Unimodal is a Flat Burr Coffee Grinder?

The Best Improvement for Espresso since Pre-Infusion: Steam Pre-infusion

Miso Coffee using Koji

The Untold Story of Steam Pre-infusion for Espresso

Catching the Coffee Sneeze in Espresso

Third Wave Water vs Filtered Water for Espresso

Cupping Different Water for Espresso

We Don’t Talk About Robusta!

Decent Espresso DE1Pro vs Kim Express: Round 1

A Peer Review of the Origin of the Fines Migration Theory

Coffee Processed Six Different Ways for Espresso

Regrinding Coffee 5 Times for Espresso

Vinegar Soaking Robusta Coffee

iDroprep Tamper for Espresso

Speeding Up Coffee Sifting

Conical vs Flat Burr Coffee Grinders

The Coffee Bean is Not Homogenous: Sifted Salami Espresso.

Aligning Flat Burrs on Fellow Ode

Yeast Green Coffee Processing: Additional Experiments with Water and Chocolate

Fully Extracting Coffee from Espresso

ROK Beats Niche: A Summary of a Coffee Grinder Comparison

Jesus Didn’t Perform Miracles

Extraction Yield (EY) in Dried Pucks and Espresso using Initial Coffee Moisture

Reusing Coffee in Espresso

Modifying the Single Espresso Basket

Can You Espresso using a Kitchen Baster?

Developing a Decent Profile for Espresso

Salami Espresso Shots

Sourdough Green Coffee Fermentation

Total Dissolved Solids Measurement in Coffee is Slightly Affected by Sample Temperature

Does Initial Coffee Extraction Predict Final Extraction?

Total Dissolved Solids Meter Compared to Groundtruth in Coffee

The Fellow Shimmy Sifter: A Data Driven Review

Starting a Successful Coffee Kickstarter

Don’t Buy a Cheap DeLonghi Espresso Machine

“Raise” is the Best Starting Word for Wordle

Medium

Subscribe to My Medium

Buy My Espresso Book

Twitter

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Equipment/Technique

Espresso Machine: Kim Express and Decent Espresso Machine

Coffee Grinder: Niche Zero

Coffee: Home Roasted Coffee, medium (First Crack + 1 Minute)

Shot Preparation: Staccato and Inside-Out Staccato

Pre-infusion: Long, ~25 seconds

Infusion: Pressure Pulsing

Filter Basket: 20g VST

Other Equipment: Atago TDS Meter, Acaia Pyxis Scale, Kruve Sifter

Metrics of Performance

I use two metrics for evaluating the differences between techniques: Final Score and Coffee Extraction.

Final score is the average of a scorecard of 7 metrics (Sharp, Rich, Syrup, Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Aftertaste). These scores were subjective, of course, but they were calibrated to my tastes and helped me improve my shots. There is some variation in the scores. My aim was to be consistent for each metric, but some times the granularity was difficult.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) is measured using a refractometer, and this number combined with the output weight of the shot and the input weight of the coffee is used to determine the percentage of coffee extracted into the cup, called Extraction Yield (EY).

Intensity Radius (IR) is defined as the radius from the origin on a control chart for TDS vs EY, so IR = sqrt( TDS² + EY²). This metric helps normalize shot performance across output yield or brew ratio.

My Future Book

Collection of Espresso Articles

A Collection of Work and School Stories

Personal Stories and Concerns

LEGO Story Splash Page

Photography Splash Page

A Summary of the Staccato Lifestyle

All Articles

Total Dissolved Solids Meter Compared to Groundtruth in Coffee

My Links

The Fellow Shimmy Sifter: A Data Driven Review

Starting a Successful Coffee Kickstarter

Don’t Buy a Cheap DeLonghi Espresso Machine

“Raise” is the Best Starting Word for Wordle

Evaluating the Kruve EQ Cup for Espresso

Staccato Espresso on a Super-automatic Machine

Improving Coffee Extraction Metrics: Intensity Radius

Sifting vs Imaging Coffee Grind Distributions

The Lazy Staccato Espresso

Staccato Espresso Preparation Tips

Moisturizing Green Coffee Before Roasting

Double-Blind Coffee Studies

Simple Clumps and WDT Test: Espresso

Comparing Methods for Measuring Extraction Yield in Espresso

Shredded Cloth Filters in Espresso

Peeling Back the Mystery of Espresso Extraction in Staccato

The Woes of Black Ice

The Coffee Sneeze in Espresso

Symptoms of O-Ring Failure in an Espresso Machine

Farewell BoJack Horseman!

Tamp Pressure for Espresso: Redux

Stability of Grounds Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Samples in Spent Coffee

Comparing Kruve Coffee Sifters: New and Old

Superfine Staccato Espresso

Repairing a Rok Coffee Grinder

Does Chaff Impact Taste in Espresso?

Kim Express vs La Pavoni: Espresso Face-Off

Oil Analysis for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Readings in Coffee

Humidified Coffee over Time

Rok Beats Niche? Another Angle to Grind Coffee

My Kickstarter for Coffee Data Science

Staccato Pasta

Kim Express Espresso Machine Instructions

Head Space for Espresso

Overcoming Fear to Write a Coffee Book

Espresso Coffee Farts: Examining Gases in Staccato

Fines Migrate in Espresso, but Not Far: Part 3

How much I got paid for 600k+ views on Medium

Inside-Out Staccato Espresso

Fines Migrate in Espresso, but Not Far: Part 2

The Root of Anti-Mask/Anti-Vax is Gun Rights

Cold Brew Coffee with Kompresso

Fines Migrate in Espresso, but Not Far: Part 1

COVID, You forced me to move without letting me say Goodbye

Comparing Coffee Grounds with LBP and K-means Clustering

Staccato Espresso is Fundamentally Better than Regular Espresso

Coffee Grounds Expand with Water

Increasing the Pressure for La Pavoni: Espresso

Humidified Coffee for Faster Degassing and Better Espresso

Cavitation for Cold Brew Espresso

Salami Coffee Grinding

Bottomless vs Spouted Portafilter for Espresso

Channeling in Espresso on Purpose

Variables of Espresso

An Allegory of Techology by Johannes Vermeer

Blowing an O-Ring on a Lever Espresso Machine

Espresso Baskets: Precision vs. Regular

Housing Turnover as a Metric for Home Buying

Shower Screens for Espresso

Brew Ratio for Espresso

ROK Defeats Niche Zero Part 3

Pre-Infusion for Espresso

ROK Defeats Niche Zero: Part 2

Water Temperature for Espresso

ROK Beats Niche Zero: Part 1

Forcing Bimodal Coffee Distribution for Espresso

Cross-Sectional Espresso Puck Slicing

Tamp Pressure for Espresso

Metrics of Performance: Espresso

A Taxonomy of Lever Espresso Machines

Espresso Coffee Flow: Pre-Infusion

Dose Settings for Espresso

Not a Scandal, just a Crime Against Humanity

Grind Settings for Espresso

Cloth Filters for Espresso over Time

Grandma’s Death and Reincarnation into a Goose

Post-Shot Quality Metrics for Espresso

Culture Shock Leaving the US and Upon Return

Espresso Puck Analysis from the Bottom

The Lost Potential for Super-automatic Coffee

Linearity of a Coffee Grinder

Spicy Coffee Grind Distributions

What is Espresso Powder?

Extraction Potential across the Espresso Puck using Grounds TDS

The Frequency of God-Shots

Rebuking Fines Migration in Espresso

Writing Process for ADHD

Don’t Filter Coffee TDS Samples

Estimating Coffee Extraction Across Particle Size

Building a Raised Garden

Other Coffee Measurements using a Refractometer

Adding Baking Soda to Espresso

Varsity Blues: A Review

Tiger Stripes in Espresso are Signs of Channeling

Refurbishing an Enrico of Italy Espresso Machine

Coffee Flow Analysis By Shot Type

Examining Single Filter Baskets for Espresso

Hourglass: a Book Review

I felt like an Idiot in High School

Metal Meshes and Espresso

Green Coffee Selection Process

Kids are Messy: a Camera Technique to Help Cope

Particle Distribution Per Coffee Bean

Determining Peak Flavor of Coffee using Bean Density

Improving Chores using Data

Glow in the Dark Espresso in Search of Fines Migration

How Zero is the Niche Zero?

Variability in Coffee Particle Distribution Measurement

Drying Out an Espresso Shot

Measuring Extraction and TDS across Coffee Grind Settings

Measuring Coffee Grounds vs Jonathan Gagné’s Technique

The Death Knell to Fines Migration

So you spilled your fresh roasted coffee beans on the floor…

Producing Good Spent Coffee Grounds for Experiments

Does a Good Short Shot predict a good Lungo Espresso?

Dye Colored Espresso Shots

Designing the Double-Double Sudo-Staccato Espresso Shot

Debunking Fines Migration in Espresso

Niche Coffee Distribution across Grind Settings

Flow Analysis over Multiple Espresso Shots

Regrinding Coffee: Particle Distributions

Conical vs Flat Burrs: Initial Data

Coffee Grinder Comparison via Particle Distribution

Ode to Memories

Decent Tamper vs Generic for Espresso

Diagnosing Bad Espresso Shots

Post-Espresso Shot Coffee Particle Distribution

Can a Pressure Cooker Brew Coffee with Whole Beans?

Retractable LEGO Wheels

Fines in Coffee Grinds: Searching for a Source

Retiring My ROK Coffee Grinder with a Niche Zero

A Summary of the Staccato Lifestyle

Measuring Coffee Grind Distribution

Working at Apple Pizza

Improving Coffee Grind Distribution using Adaptive Thresholds

Photographing Coffee Grounds for Grind Distribution Analysis

Lane Identification using an Adaptive Filter

How to make Sudo-Staccato Espresso with a Niche Grinder without a Sifter

Do You Feel Successful?

Measuring Fines in Coffee Grounds using Advanced Image Processing

Staccato Espresso Ritual: A Layered Approach

Improving Coffee Grind Measurement using a Sifter

Comparing Coffee Q-Graders

Measuring Coffee Grind Particle Distribution using Image Processing

Water into Coffee: Espresso

Paris: Photos Capturing an Instant in Time

What not to do with a Lever Espresso Machine

Cloth Filters for Espresso

Parenting Adults in the Wild

Espresso Basket Rumble: Robot vs Pullman vs Decent

Collecting a Hobby Dataset: Coffee

OCD Tools don’t work for espresso

The Duality of Coffee: An Extract and a Filter

Should we protect LGBT students? Circa 1999

Espresso Pre-wetting as Opposed to Pre-infusion

Espresso Puck Analysis

Caring for a LEGO Hospital

Apple’s best product

Experiments with a Transparent Portafilter for Espresso

LEGO Church

Robert’s Collection of Stories

A Collection of Work and School Stories

Data Science Splash Page

Work Character Splash Page

Wild Data Splash Page

Fruit Company Stories Splash Page

Job Search and Career Experience Splash Page

University Lessons Splash Page

A Collection of Espresso Articles

Espresso Baskets and Related Topics Splash Page

Espresso Opinions Splash Page

Transparent Portafilter Experiments Splash Page

Lever Machine Maintenance Splash Page

Coffee Extraction Splash Page

Coffee Reviews and Thoughts Splash Page

Coffee Experiments Splash Page

Coffee Roasting Splash Page

Improving Espresso Splash Page

Coffee Beans Splash Page

Paper Filters for Espresso Splash Page

LEGO Story Splash Page

Modeling Coffee Grinders

LEGO Adventures

Personal Stories and Concerns

Data Splash Page

Childhood Splash Page

Miscellaneous Splash Page

Family Splash Page

Cooking Splash Page

Photography Splash Page

Engineering Legos*

Launching a LEGO Rocket to the Moon!

Stumbling in Water: Espresso Water Experiment

Pompeii: Walking in an Instant in a Distant Time

Reusing Paper Filters for Espresso

Men taking Baby Bonding Parental Leave

The Paradox of Putting the Toilet Seat Down

Can Espresso be Turbo Charged?

How to Not Suck at Resumes

Goldilocks Paper Filter for Espresso

Yosemite: Photos Capturing an Instant in Time

Espresso Soak Test

How do Paper Filters Improve Espresso: Flow Rate

A Dangerous Way to Learn How to Drive

Data Review: Acaia Scale PYXIS for Espresso

Specialty Coffee: Comparing Grading Methods

Building an Education in Coffee using Data

Amantea: Photos Capturing Instants in Time

Comparing Coffee using Pattern Recognition

The Farm: Photographs capturing an instant in time

Shooting for Stronger Espresso: Intenso

A Review of Coffee Data: Grades and Flavors

Face Recognition: 3D Face Recognition from Infancy to Product

Re-Grinding Used Coffee for Espresso

Can Vacuum Jars Remove Gas from Coffee Beans Faster?

The Under-Representation of Women in a Disney Book from 1983

An Affordable and Simple Transparent Portfilter for Espresso

Fines don’t migrate during an Espresso Shot

How to Rate Sweet Maria’s Coffee Cupping Metrics for a Good Comparison

Coffee Bean Storage: Vacuum vs Sealed Containers

Failing My Ph.D. Qualifier

Comparing Q-grades of Coffees: Regions, Years, and Processing

Coffees by Region, Process, Grade, and Price

Extraction over the Life of the Coffee Bean

Cupping Coffee with 10,000 People Worldwide

Data Presentation Essentials

The Economics of Home Roasting Coffee

Extracting Data from a Spider Graph

Simplifying Coffee Distribution for Espresso

Grading the Usefulness of Q-Scores for Coffee Grading

Balancing Creativity and Focus

Filter Syringes for TDS Coffee Measurements seem to be Unnecessary

Fighting to Own My Patent

The Effects of Roasting on Coffee Bean Hardness

Coffee Bean Degassing

Southern Indian Coffee

Coffee Grounds Freshness for Espresso

Teamwork in Practice: Humility

Crema, huh, what is it good for?

Interviewing Ph.D.’s

Espresso Extraction by Layer

Thoughts on Leaving

The Diminishing Returns of Tamping for Espresso

My First Week at Apple

Brewing Coffee Residue

Deconstructed Coffee: Split Roasting, Grinding, and Layering for Better Espresso

The Subtle Racism in Fun with Dick and Jane

Espresso Filter Comparison: Pesado vs VST

La Pavoni Lives!

Magical experience on my wrist

Can Kompresso get 9 Bars of Pressure for Espresso?

Hawaiian Coffee is Over-Roasted

Summer Vacations: Then vs Now

Pre-infusion for Espresso: Visual Cues for Better Espresso

The Shape of Coffee

Espresso Measurement: Solubility

I’m not a racist! I just benefit from racism

Espresso Baskets (VST): Ridged vs Ridgeless

Do Black Lives Matter? Do White Lives Matter?

To Stir or To Swirl: Better Espresso Experience

Economic Impact of Infection: COVID-19

Espresso Preparation: Grinding, Distribution, and Tamping

My Deaf/Blind Heros

Coffee is Not Round

Tips on Learning New Languages

Espresso Parameters: Pre-Infusion, Pressure, and Water Temperature

The Myth of Becoming Made

Coffee Extraction Photography: A Novel Way to Photograph Espresso

Eureka! An Accidental Improvement

Spicy Espresso: Grind Hot, Tamp Cold

Data in Living Color

Hot Breakfast: The Privileged Life of My Children

IMS Superfine vs VST: A Small Sample Espresso Filter Comparison

Handling Criticism

Staccato Tamping: Improving Espresso without a Sifter

Hello, is this still a good time to talk?

Improving Espresso with Paper Filters

Effective Circle Cutting to add Paper Filters to Espresso

The Shoulders of Giants

Pressure Pulsing for Better Espresso

Remote Working: Lessons from PC Days (Pre-COVID19)

Working From Home with Kids: A Problem unique to Corona Pandemic

Espresso Machine Donuts: Deeper Analysis into Extraction

Decisions by Consensus

Ode to Espresso: A Journey into the Cup

The GRE: A Scam of Graduate Proportions

Joffrey’s Disney’s Aulani Coffee Blend: A Review

The Responsibility of an Academic Rigor

For the love of image processing

Networking is Time and Patience

Affordable Coffee Solubility Tools (TDS) for Espresso: Brix vs Atago

Interviewing Tips

Getting Naked: Making My Portafilter Bottomless

Data Science: Essentials

Speaking Their Language: Becoming Multilingual

Measuring Espresso Extraction across the Filter

How to break into Data Science the easy way

The Ultimate Espresso Barista Challenge

The Duality of Good Culture and Good Management

Are Prince Harry and Princess Meghan pulling a ruse to distract from Prince Andrew?