So, lets talk about the fabled God Shot. Having read several descriptions of what a God Shot is, how it is prepared and what the experience should feel like - I have to disagree. Some experts would have you believe that it must be prepared on a high quality machine that has been well cared for and recently cleaned, also that it must be a double ristretto extracted from 15-20 grams of particularly fine coffee grounds over 25-30 seconds. Even the exact colour of the shot has been described.
My experience of the God Shot is quite different. And please note, that I am not a professional coffee taster - by any stretch of the imagination, just a humble barista. But I have definitely had two God Shots, although I wasn't certain at the time, some thirty minutes later, while enjoying the aftertastes, I was struck by the fact that I'd just had a life changing coffee. This thought continued to circulate my mind (both times) for the next week or so, and even now I get flashbacks. The first of these two coffees came from Bayleaf Cafe in Byron Bay, they were offering a single origin from a local Australian farm 'Green Cauldron' (this went against everything I knew - Australian grown coffee has a bad reputation, we really don't have the altitude for growing great coffee). It was extracted as a double ristretto from a La Marzocco Linea (I think) and poured as a piccolo. The taste was different to any coffee I'd ever had. All I could think was that it tasted of the earth. I still rate that as the best coffee I've ever had. The second was extracted at home on a Rancillio Silvia. It was a blend, equal quantities of Mexican Muxbol and Mexican Cassandra which I roasted in my Coretto roaster, also at home. The roasted beans smelled of chocolate and caramel through the bag. This particular shot was extracted four days after roasting, and was a double espresso extracted over about a minute and a half. This is done by grinding very fine, dosing very high and then drawing a half litre of water through the group (temperature surfing) before the extraction. The result was a thick syrup of caramel and chocolate with almost no acidity. But, could I do it again? No way! One thing that everyone agrees on is that the stars must align to achieve a God Shot - and, excuse the pun, thank god for that. If it were possible to achieve a consistent God Shot, the term would obviously become moot. The best description I have read is this: "I define a Godshot as a better shot than I've ever made before. Each time I pull one, the bar goes up a little and it will be harder to pull the next one. The Godshots get less and less frequent." - Karl Rice (found at: http://coffeegeek.com/opinions/coffeeatthemoment/11-12-2002)
So, in my opinion, although all the aforementioned strategies will certainly help extract the perfect shot, there are no rules and it really comes down to how the gods of coffee are feeling about you on that particular day.
janainaart
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