Learning to pull a good shot of espresso can be incredibly frustrating in the beginning. One week every shot looks and tastes great until the next week, when all of your shots come out like a waterfall and taste somewhere between acid and a sour candy.
If you’ve ever stared down your espresso machine and wondered which of you two are the problem, you aren't alone. Making espresso is daunting at first, but with some tips you'll be on your way to mastering the art in no time.
Whether you just unboxed your first machine or you’re trying to level up your skills, here is a practical guide to pulling proper espresso shots.
1. It All Starts with the Beans (and the Roast Date)
You can have a $5,000 espresso machine, but if you’re using stale, pre-ground coffee from a grocery store shelf, your espresso will fall short. You can use any coffee you like, but for the best results, look for whole beans from a local roaster.
The golden rule: Check the roast date. You want beans that were roasted between 7 and 21 days ago. Too fresh, and the trapped gases will mess up your extraction. Too old, and they’ve lost that flavor that actually makes you want to drink it straight.
2. The Grind: Your Biggest Variable
If you take nothing else away from this post, remember this: the grinder is just as important, if not more important, than the espresso machine itself. You need a quality grinder that can make micro-adjustments. You do NOT want a blade grinder.
Espresso requires a very fine grind, somewhere around the texture of table salt or fine sand. If your shot pours out like a flood in 10 seconds, your grind is too coarse. If nothing comes out, or it drips like a leaky faucet, your grind is too fine.
3. The Dose & The Tamp: Consistency is Key
When pulling a shot, you want to eliminate as many variables as possible. This means weighing your coffee. Any scale that measures grams to the first decimal will work fantastic.
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The Dose: A standard double shot starting point is right at 18 grams of coffee. Weigh it out.
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The Tamp: Once the grounds are in your portafilter, level them out. Then, take your tamper and press down evenly. You don't need to put your entire body weight into it. Just press until you feel a decent bit of resistance from the coffee. If it’s tilted, the water will find the path of least resistance which leads to channeling, leaving you with a watery, bitter shot.
4. The Pull: The 1:2 Ratio
Lock your portafilter into the machine, put your scale and a cup underneath, and hit the brew button. Here is the baseline recipe you should aim for: a 1:2 ratio in 25 to 30 seconds.
This means if you put 18 grams of ground coffee in, you want to get 36 grams of liquid espresso out. The time it takes from the moment you hit the button to the moment you hit 36 grams should be roughly 25 to 30 seconds.
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Shot finishes in 15 seconds? It’s usually going to taste sour. Grind finer next time.
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Shot takes 45 seconds? It’s usually going to taste harsh and bitter. Grind coarser.
5. Taste and Tweak
The 1:2 ratio in 30 seconds is not a definite; it's just a starting point. All coffee is going to behave differently depending on a plethora of factors. Not to mention, what matters most is how the espresso tastes to you.
This is where the art comes in. Take a sip. Is it painfully sour and making your mouth pucker? That means it’s under-extracted (try a finer grind next time). Is it dry, bitter, and leaving a harsh aftertaste? That’s over-extracted (try grinding coarser).
Give Yourself Some Grace
Learning to pull espresso is a journey. You are going to make some bad coffee. You are going to go through half a bag of beans just trying to dial in your grinder. Embrace it and have fun with it!