Spoiler, its RDT
In case people do nto know what RDT is, which they really should if they have been into coffee for a little while as it makes a big difference:
RDT is Ross Droplet Technique, which is very much adding water to beans. Named after David Ross who came up with it back in 2005
This post is like 3 levels of coffee interest removed from mainstream. RDT is unknown outside of whatever small circle the listener is part of which does not overlap with other, known definitions of RDT.
This post is almost gatekeeping because of how much jargon and technobabble is required to know for this very specific subject. Hopefully you see the value in helping others enjoy your hobby and make any future explanation more open to new users!
For folks who make espresso at home, especially if you’ve worked with a manual grinder of any sort, this is extremely well known. In fact when you first get started and start searching for how to deal with the static problem (cause it’s the first major problem you’ll encounter), it’ll be what comes up. So for future scientists.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=how+to+remove+static+from+coffee+grinder&l=1
For the first result I get: https://www.javapresse.com/blogs/grinding-coffee/how-to-deal-with-static-in-coffee-grinders-3-tricks-you-can-try-at-home
Which as #1:
- Ross Droplet Technique
How does a static problem affect the taste?
I don’t understand how rdt leads to better tasting espresso. Maybe an easier cleanup session, but taste?
So espresso is very picky about measurements. 18g of beans into your grinder ideally yields 18g out. Not getting that amount of ground coffee out of the grinder and hence into your portafilter will heavily influence the taste.
Wow.
So what happened was that someone asked a question and while I answered the question someone else answered with a completely incorrect answer. My answer was then down voted and the incorrect one (which has since been edited to add in the right answer) upvoted.
So yeah, you are a bit late to the party here.
At not fucking point did I refuse to answer a basic question.
Spoiler - it’s RDT
How can it be a spoiler if we have no fuckin clue what RDT is? 😂
Well, in that case I suggest Lances video on this very paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqVUsMPs-U
I’m continually amazed at the effort espresso drinkers put into making a coffee
That is not what RDT is for coffee beans, lol. RDT is Ross Droplet Technique, which is very much adding water to beans. Named after David Ross who came up with it back in 2005
Edit: post I replied to has now been edited to include the correct answer. The original answer was from chatgpt and completely incorrect so extremely misleading
Christ on a bike, how were we meant to know that?!? Is it too much trouble for you to type something out for us so we can understand you, without having to Google it?
Excuuuuse us for making you press some keys 😂
Not gonna lie, I’m starting to hate lemmy for having the most lazy users. You can literally google “coffee rdt” and the first five links explain in detail what OP is talking about. Meanwhile, they’re getting shit on for something he still ended up explaining anyways and even their correct explanation that people asked for is downvoted. It seems like nobody even read the article or has an opinion on it, they’re just mad that OP didn’t spoon feed them.
As a espresso person I’m here mostly because the most popular espresso community on Lemmy is pretty dead.
I do really feel like we’d probably be better served if we posted espresso content in a espresso specific community.
RDT is useful for pour over as well, really helps improve majority of grinders and grind types.
True but I would believe the general level of enthusiasm for a conversation about RDT would be substantially higher in a modern espresso group vs filter coffee folk.
Also my previous comment is bit of a inner monologue as someone who posted very randomly detailed things on r/espresso back in the day and rather uncertain if/where I would post that stuff on Lemmy.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !espresso@infosec.pub
How does wet beans not gum up the mill?
You add a very very small amount of water. Like one spray from a tiny spray bottle.
If you make them that wet you are doing it wrong, lol.
You only need a drop or two of water for espresso and only slightly more for a larger amount of beans for a pour over, it’s a tiny amount. People have been doing this since 2005 without problems.
Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqVUsMPs-U&t=2620s
If you don’t believe me
Ok, thanks. I’ve got a decent mill with a hopper. Would something as simple as suspending a damp sponge in the hopper be sufficient to raise the moisture content to reduce static charge or does it have to be physically applied to the beans to be effective?
I wouldn’t recommend that approach, its more suited to single dosing, which is based around grinding only the amount of beans you need for that single lot of coffee by only feeding the hopper with the amount of beans needed rather than using the hopper for bean storage.
So weighing out your beans first for a single espresso or pot of pour over, wetting those beans with a drop or two at most of water, giving them a shake/stir, then feeding them into the hopper and making sure everything comes out that you put in.
Single dosing makes it easier to get the exact amount of coffee by weight each time from cheaper grinders and can lower retention (how much ground coffee the grinder holds in its burr chamber and spout) when combined with RDT and flushing out the grinder with something like bellows and discarding what comes out as its mostly chaff and fines that you do not want. Coffee tends to build up even in expensive grinders without flushing it out, this goes stale over even a few hours and works its way into your normal cups of coffee.
Grinding by weight is still pretty limited availability, most with a hopper tend to offer grinding by time, which is nowhere near as accurate. Grinding by weight makes it easier to make your coffee more predictable, its especially important for espresso as you are trying to fill the basket almost but not quite the top. Espresso is better measured by volume as coffee density varies by roast type and by time since the beans were roasted, but that is much harder to do than by weight on a regular basis so most people just use weight.
Not the science we asked for, but the science we need.
