Crema Removal Device

[sodium05]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, but passionate about making the best brews.

3 years ago, I watched James Hoffman's video on crema removal and intrigued enough to try it out. After experimenting a bit by scraping the crema off my high-crema shots with spoons, I found the shots to be way less bitter and much more complex. I went to a local coffee shop owned by a friend of mine, and shook their souls by bringing the contraption. After a bit of discussion and extremely suspicious looks, they tried it and really liked it! They slammed their hand against the table and yelled "Damn it I have to buy more lab equipment!" in front of a bunch of customers.

I made the device by mjf printing the upper, and cnc machining the base and handle/post. IU worked with a local glass blower to modify lab equipment to give me the exact glass shape I wanted.

How it works:
First you brew the shot directly into the Seprit (the name I'm using for now). Then you wait for the crema to separate. Once separated, you twist the valve at the bottom so allow the espresso to flow out. Once the espresso is out, you twist the valve again, trapping the crema inside, consistently getting 100% of it out of the drink.

Anyways, I posted about this thing on reddit and thought I would show it off here as well. It got way more popular than I expected to!

 

[CoffeeStainedTeeth]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, but passionate about making the best brews.

3 years ago, I watched James Hoffman's video on crema removal and intrigued enough to try it out. After experimenting a bit by scraping the crema off my high-crema shots with spoons, I found the shots to be way less bitter and much more complex. I went to a local coffee shop owned by a friend of mine, and shook their souls by bringing the contraption. After a bit of discussion and extremely suspicious looks, they tried it and really liked it! They slammed their hand against the table and yelled "Damn it I have to buy more lab equipment!" in front of a bunch of customers.

I made the device by mjf printing the upper, and cnc machining the base and handle/post. IU worked with a local glass blower to modify lab equipment to give me the exact glass shape I wanted.

How it works:
First you brew the shot directly into the Seprit (the name I'm using for now). Then you wait for the crema to separate. Once separated, you twist the valve at the bottom so allow the espresso to flow out. Once the espresso is out, you twist the valve again, trapping the crema inside, consistently getting 100% of it out of the drink.

Anyways, I posted about this thing on reddit and thought I would show it off here as well. It got way more popular than I expected to!

View attachment 13230View attachment 13229

Whaaat? The Crema is the best part

 

[Noah_da_Roastah]

Super cool looking device!! I've been doing a lot of playing with aging coffee longer for espresso, regularly preferring coffee a month off roast for espresso. It hadn't occurred to me that I probably like it because of the crema reduction due to less trapped CO2 in the beans! Can you share a link to the lab piece you started with to make this? I would love to play with this myself!

 

[sodium05]

Super cool looking device!! I've been doing a lot of playing with aging coffee longer for espresso, regularly preferring coffee a month off roast for espresso. It hadn't occurred to me that I probably like it because of the crema reduction due to less trapped CO2 in the beans! Can you share a link to the lab piece you started with to make this? I would love to play with this myself!

Interesting! I never really thought about aging like that before. My plan is to try this device on freshly roasted beans (<1 hour old) to see what immediately degassed maximum freshness tastes like.

Not really sure where I got the original piece, I think amazon? Your best bet for messing with this concept is to order a separatory funnel and modify that.

 

[sodium05]

Whaaat? The Crema is the best part

It's super pretty, but try it separated out. Crema alone without espresso is absolutely nasty

 

[Noah_da_Roastah]

A separatory funnel! Didn't know the name for it, I will definitely be picking one up and giving this a try! Working on a natty Guji for a local shop, the owner wants it on spro, and he loves coffee gizmos so I may have the perfect test subject!

 

[sodium05]

A separatory funnel! Didn't know the name for it, I will definitely be picking one up and giving this a try! Working on a natty Guji for a local shop, the owner wants it on spro, and he loves coffee gizmos so I may have the perfect test subject!

Awesome! Let me know how it goes! People seem to really like it so I'm thinking I might try and do a Kickstarter or something. I thought about it a long time ago, but then gave up. After seeing the chaos this thing sparked on reddit, I'm tempted.

 

[Noah_da_Roastah]

Post up the kickstarter link if you do end up launching! I would love to support your experimenting and product development.