Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/659497
F O A M : T E C H N O L O G Y CASE STUDY: SYNESSO MVP HYDRA AS ARGUABLY THE CENTER OF United States coffee culture, the Pacific Northwest is home to some of the best espresso machine manufac- turers in the world—including Synesso, which we use in Case Study Coffee Roasters' three Portland, Ore., cafés. When the folks at Synesso called and asked if we were interested in giving the first production MVP Hydra a home at our busy downtown coffeehouse, we jumped at the chance. The MVP Hydra offers a host of technologies centered around speed and usability. When we combine coffee and technology in a busy envi- ronment, I think the goal is to have the technology step out of the way and offer tools that are visceral, that feel analog. A paddle-driven grouphead is the perfect example of the move away from keypads and drill-down menus that remind us we're really just operating a computer. The MVP bridges this gap by essentially offering an analog experience combined with the programmability and recall-ability that good technology should provide. Synesso's MVP eliminates the manufacturer's previous volumetric grouphead, which was offered as an add-on to their manual groupheads. No longer do Synesso users need to choose which combinations of groups they want. The MVP technology allows any group head to run in Full Manual Mode (M), Manual Mode with Pressure Profiling (MP), or Volumetric Mode with Pressure Profiling (VP). THREE PUMPS PLEASE For our always-busy downtown shop, located at Portland State University, having a pump dedicated to each grouphead is a must. An important part of our barista training is teaching new hires to multi- task among the multiple groupheads. In the case of the MVP Hydra, the "Hydra" is denoted as Synesso's four-stage pressure-profiling option utilizing a dedicated motor and pump per grouphead. This allows each grouphead to behave as its own separate machine, auton- omously running through each of its profiling stages independently. Typically, when a pump is shared with all three groupheads, only one grouphead can be used at a time. If you're pulling a shot on group one, you usually don't so much as rinse another grouphead in fear of affect- ing the pressure on grouphead one. In a busy shop, this will kill your speed on the machine, or greatly diminish the quality of the espresso if you pull shots in unison. Having three pumps literally allows you to pull shots on all groupheads at the same time. ENTER THE MVP In the last couple of years, the move to brewing espresso with an eye toward extraction yields created a boom for the scale market. While we have not found the holy grail of grinders (yet)—that is, grinding consis- tently within a tenth of a gram—we do have the holy grail on the other end: measuring our out-going yield through the use of volumetrics. Strangely, this technology has been around forever and has come full circle. Incorporating extremely accurate flow meters into the MVP has allowed Synesso to push the envelope of volumetric technolo- gy. Synesso's new four-magnet flow meters offer twice the accuracy of previous units. In turn, Synesso's flow meters have eliminated the need to weigh every shot output, freeing the barista to multitask a busy bar. Working with this new kind of accuracy has really brought to light the precision of our dosing. Inaccuracy in our grinders' dosing now becomes readily apparent. We have an overall greater sense of how the coffee is behaving, especially during busy rushes when there is little time for troubleshooting. The confluence of these different technologies is what the MVP is about. Now that we have a machine that can accurately "weigh" our final espresso, we have one less thing to worry about. Changing between any of the three modes—M, MP, or VP—is as simple as holding the paddle for a few seconds. Moving from Full Manual Mode to Volumetric Mode is something we find ourselves doing constantly throughout a hectic shift. PUMP UP YOUR PROFILE While volumetrics are nothing new in coffee, pressure profiling is the latest trend. Espresso machines have always created unintentional profiles, the natural result of motors, valves, and levers doing what they do. It wasn't until more recently, after other areas such as tem- perature stability were conquered, that the nuances imparted by the changes in pressure could be understood and manipulated. Case Study Coff ee Roasters in Portland, Ore., is among the fi rst to have Synesso's MVP Hydra technology, and the baristas love it (top photo). Lower photo: Baristas from around the United States dropped in to Case Study's Westside location during Coff ee Fest Portland last fall to try it for themselves. 28 barista magazine