Get Your Perfect Espresso Shot At Home

Grind settings can mean the difference between a bitter, sour or perfectly balanced sweet cup of coffee. Before you run out to buy a new grinder or coffee machine in search of your "God-Shot", try to do some experimenting with your grind settings.

Experiment With Your Espresso Extraction Times (20-35 Seconds is good)

A simple way to know if your espresso extraction is too fast is when you get your full shot filled up in under 20 seconds. If you get it between 20-35 seconds you're in the right spot, and if you're above 35 seconds, you run the risk of having very bitter shots.

Working With An Average Or Budget Grinder For Your Espresso

We get it, a lot of people don't have the flashy burr grinders (although I really recommend it) but work with $79 ones you get at the the home appliance sections at the shopping mall. So here's what you can do with what you've got!

So if you're struggling with limited grind settings on your grinder, you can always adjust your dosing (aka how much beans to put) Consider getting a cheap gram scale if you can and weight out your grinds so you know how to adjust your doses. Adjust in positive or negative increments of 1g and write it down for the bean type you are using.

Keep on Practicing Your Espresso Extraction Process With Grind Setting Optimizations

Of course with every new bag of beans you're going to have to do some adjustments. But once you get really good with eyeballing your extractions, you will intuitively be able to adjust your grind and dosing settings to suit your perfect shot.

With enough practice, you'd probably do without the need for a timer because you'd know exactly how fast a great extraction should look like. It should look like syrupy and oily and shouldn't flow fast like pure water.

Keep up the practicing and always keep your roasted bean supply fresh so you never use stale coffee. 

Need some really good beans? Check out our full collection of espresso / v60 / chemex / drip ready freshly roasted coffee beans here.