What Is Extract Chilling, and How Does It Work?
Imagine a shiny stainless steel ball that can transform your espresso into something magical. This seemingly ordinary sphere has a unique power – it rapidly and evenly cools down your espresso while keeping its delicious flavours and enticing aroma intact. By cold-extracting the first 40% of your espresso, you can unlock some wonderful volatile aromatic compounds, resulting in a coffee that's beyond exceptional.
Aroma:
Coffee brewed with the Extract Chilling Ball releases a softer, more gentle aroma. It might not be as bold, but it offers a comfy and well-rounded experience for your nose.Flavour:
Especially when your coffee is still hot, you'll notice a richer mouthfeel. It's like your taste buds are treated to a more complete and complex flavour experience.Structure:
As your coffee cools down, you'll appreciate how well-structured it is. It leaves a lasting impression on your palate with a satisfying, lingering finish that doesn't overpower.
Is This Just a Gimmick, or Is It Pure Genius?
As we wrap our heads around the world of compound chilling, we're standing at the gateway to a whole new level of coffee enjoyment. With each chilled extraction, you're preserving delicate notes, and creating a vibrant canvas of taste. Cold compound chilling isn't just a fancy trick; it's a revolution in the science of coffee. It opens the door to richer, more nuanced sips, forever changing how we experience the world of coffee.
Low Clearance Espresso Machines:
While the Coffee Alive Extract Chilling Balls are quite small, they do take up a bit of room and for low clearance espresso machines and manual espresso makers having a scale under a shot glass takes up too much room already.
The Coffee Alive Extract Chilling Ball has a sneaky trick that solves this problem. You can simply flip it upside down so that the ball sits in the espresso glass / espresso cup, slimming down the height of the ball and fitting under your coffee machine!
Can you Extract Chill Pour Over Coffee?
Absolutely, in fact you can even purchase brew stands such as the Paragon that is specifically designed to hold a chilled ball under the bottom of the dripper, the Paragon is actually quite cleverly designed as it can very easily be swung out of the way after chilling the first half of your brew.
If you don't have a paragon but you want to try this at home, try using one of the Coffee Alive Chilling Balls or using one of the Paragon balls and placing it inside a second coffee dripper.
Just be extra cautious if you plan on moving the hot coffee around while brewing. You can use the Extract Chilling Balls for Pour over but we recommend using a stand for this, if you don't have a stand then try placing the extract chilling ball on top of your server and then with your non-dominant hand hold your V60 or pour over brewer of choice so that you can pour your water with your dominant hand.
This technique is a little tricky but can still be done and helps save some money by avoiding the need for a stand.
Extract Chilling Espresso with a Spoon?
Not everyone has access to a Coffee Alive Extract Chilling Ball or a Paragon Ball but did you know you can extract chill at home by using a spoon?
Simply place a spoon in your freezer over night and in the morning you can try pulling a hot over the back of it.
A couple of limitations to this is that usually the thin metal doesn't stay cold as long as a solid ball so the effects of extract chilling / blanching is reduced, as well as this having to hold a spoon under your shot is not hand's free and for manual espresso makers this could be impossible to do.
Why you should still try this:
Extract chilling is a great way to enhance your espressos taste, taking the time to try this with a spoon requires not a lot of effort and still will help to show you the potential for extract chilling. If you love the results you can get from a simple spoon, we have full confidence the Extract Chilling Ball will make a great addition to your coffee tool arsenal.
Paragon Espresso Extract Chilling Rocks:
Nucleus Coffee Tool's Paragon Extract Chilling Rocks is Ona Coffee's solution to Extract chill espresso, it features a golden chilling rock supported by a plastic handle that can sit directly under an espresso portafilter.
While both products are very similar the Paragon Espresso Extract Chilling Rocks are priced a lot higher in comparison to the Coffee Alive Extract Chilling Balls.
The Nucleus Paragon Espresso Extract Chilling Rock is also liquid filled and a lot smaller compared to the Coffee Alive Extract Chilling ball.