Barista course · Episode 6

Dialling in — setting up your espresso

The full text of this episode — to read, look up and quote.

Cold open

Three espressos. Same bean, same machine. The left one rushes through and is pale, the right one drips sluggishly and dark.

Only the middle one is exactly right. Today you learn how to read every shot and bring it deliberately to the middle. That is called dialling in, and it is the moment when everything from the last episodes comes together.

Where this sits in the five Ms

Two Ms work together here. The measure, your ratio of in to out, and the human being, that is you, working the dials. Dialling in means nothing more than set, taste, adjust, until it sits — and then remember the numbers.

Teaching: the three anchors

You need three anchors, and two of them you already know. First, the dose in. Eighteen grams, weighed.

Second, the yield out. Thirty-six grams, that is a ratio of one to two. And third, new, the time.

A good espresso runs through in about twenty-five to thirty seconds. Counted from the moment you start the pump. Those three together are your recipe.

If all three are right and it still does not taste good, you adjust the ratio. But usually it is the time that is off. And you control the time, as you might guess, through the grind.

Chart: the diagnostic matrix

Now the heart of it. The diagnosis. If your espresso runs through in under twenty seconds, sprays and looks pale, then the water ran too fast and dissolved too little.

That tastes sour and thin. We say under-extracted. Your move: grind finer.

More resistance. The water needs longer. If instead it drips sluggishly, takes over thirty-five seconds and looks dark, then the water ran too slowly and dissolved too much.

That tastes bitter and harsh. Over-extracted. Your move: grind coarser.

And in between, at twenty-five to thirty seconds, a calm, honey-coloured stream, the taste sweet and calm and round — that is your target. There you leave everything alone and write the numbers down. One more thing, the golden rule.

Only ever change one dial per attempt. The grind first. If you turn measure, grind and time at the same time, you never know what did the work, and you go round in circles.

Teaching: how to spot channelling

Sometimes it is not the grind that is at fault, but the preparation. If your espresso tastes sour one time and bitter the next, without you changing anything, and the bottomless portafilter sprays, then you have channelling. Do you remember?

The water found itself a channel. The answer then is not the grind, but back to episode five. Distribute more cleanly, tamp level.

Learn to tell the two apart. A grind problem or a puck problem.

Hands-on

Now you, and this is the royal exercise. Pull an espresso with your eighteen grams and take the time. Taste it and look at the clock.

Too fast and sour? Set the grinder one step finer and pull again. Change the grind only, nothing else.

Work your way towards it, attempt by attempt. Are you at twenty-five to thirty? And do you land on a round taste?

And then, this matters, write down bean, grind setting and time. That is your recipe for exactly this bag. Three stumbling blocks.

Common mistakes

One. Turning several dials at once. The safe road into chaos.

Two. Staring only at the clock. And ignoring the taste.

Time is a clue. The tongue decides. Three.

Not writing the recipe down. And starting from zero again the next day.

Recap and your task

Let us hold on to this. Three anchors. Eighteen in.

Thirty-six out. Twenty-five to thirty seconds. Sour and fast.

Finer. Bitter and slow. Coarser.

Only ever one dial. And write the recipe down. Your assignment.

Dial in the bean you have now until it tastes round. And note the numbers. In the next episode comes the part many look forward to.

Milk foam. omaneo. And YOU can do espresso.