Have you ever had an espresso shot that makes you contemplate life in a way you never thought possible?

I had wanted to make this type of shot with a few different layers at different grind settings. I knew it would take some experimentation, so I put it off. Then I happened upon a used Kruve sifter, and I wanted to try it. This device would make experimentation faster and easier than multiple grind settings. Also, I mainly wanted to use it for its intended purpose: to remove the particles that were too fine or too coarse.

The Kruve Sifter

The Kruve sifter takes two screens in which you place your coffee grinds, and after a few minutes, you have three levels of sifted particles. Unfortunately, I only had the 400um and 800um screens which are best for pour-over coffee. They recommend 250um and 500um for espresso.

I ran some tests. First, I made a shot with just particles less than 400um. The shot was okay, but it lacked a sharpness and the bitterness. After making a shot that was mostly above 400um, I realized part of the sharpness or bite of a shot came from the coarser grinds. I then decided, what if you put the finer grinds on the bottom with coarser on top in the same proportions as in the original grind. That’s when the magic happened.

The taste was unbelievable. The shot was balanced, and the amount of soluble extracts went up. I decided to continue the experiments, and I bought a 200um sieve and a 500um sieve. I did some tests on my grinder to understand the grind particle size distribution, and I made a four layered shot. It was amazing, even better than two!

Layered Shots

Four layered shots were impractical, but three layered shots were not. Switching sieves is timely and requires a lot more grinds to do the four levels (effectively five while sifting, but you don’t use the top one). So I aim to do three layers using two sieves: 400um and 500um. This produces three distinct levels:

Fine : particles < 400um Middle: 400um < particles < 500um Coarse : particles > 500um

The fine particles give the thick, syrup texture along with the sweet notes. I’m still unclear what the middle brings to the table, probably balance. The coarse particles bring the strength, the bitter, the sharp bite. Balancing these is much like tuning an equalizer on a stereo to get the best sound from the same music. It allows for dialing in a shot without adjusting the grind, merely the sifting ratio. The grinds are all from the same beans, which makes this so interesting.

I started with fine, middle, coarse in that order from bottom to top of the filter. After each layer, I distribute using a toothpick and tamp. The shot was delicious, but I was curious if there was a better way.