Espresso Brew Guide

The Espresso. A firm favorite to some, a headache inducing no no to others. A difficult one to get right but with the correct tools and a lot of practice you can pull an amazing shot!

There are a lot of opinions about what a beautiful shot is, but for us it’s all about balance and sweetness. If not extracted correctly it can be bitter, sour or just down right terrible. So:

Step 1 - Coffee

Remove your portafilter from the espresso machine’s grouphead. Place it on a scale and zero the weight. For a double shot, grind approximately 18.5 grams of coffee into your basket. The proper grind is crucial to a balanced, delicious shot of espresso. It might be necessary to adjust its fineness but In general, the grind should be quite fine.

Step 2 - Purge

Purge your grouphead thoroughly. Remove any old grounds that may be stuck in the heads shower curtain.

Step 3 - Levelling out

Level out the coffee by tapping the portafilter gently against a surface and drawing a finger across it in a series of alternating swipes. Your aiming to have a nice flat surface ready for tamping!

Step 4 - Tamp

Place your portafilter on a flat surface and position your tamper level on top of the grounds. Apply pressure downward. You don’t need to tamp incredibly hard – just enough to seal the coffee in evenly. If you find your self leaning into it your pushing too hard!

Step 5 - Pull The Shot

Slot your portafilter in the grouphead and start your shot. The consistency should be slow and dark to start, it should almost look like syrup. Then after a few seconds it should develop into a gentle, even stream. Your looking at a 25 second extraction time or about 36g of espresso.