I packed too much espresso. An expert explains the ideal amount for each shot

Brewing a pot of coffee requires a certain amount of precision to get it right. Experts use golden number for drip brewing, but there is a similar equation for making creamy, balanced espressos. Pack too much, as I was, or not enough, and you’ll notice that it doesn’t quite taste like what you get at an upscale coffee shop or Italian cafeteria.

Espresso is surely one of the most demanding forms of coffee, so if you’re going to follow all the steps to make cappuccinos, lattes, or flat whites at home, you might as well do it right.

The good news? You don’t need a thousand dollar espresso machine. Good espresso is all about technique. If you perfect your measurements and brewing skills, you can make high-quality shots with a economic model.

After realizing I had been looking at my espresso measurements, I decided to ask an expert. Specifically, I wanted to know the exact amount of coffee to use for a single serving.

Kaleena Teoh is a coffee educator and co-founder of Coffee Project New York. She shared her thoughts, tips, and common mistakes to watch out for when packing pucks and making espresso.

Espresso Basics

“The word ‘espresso’ itself is not just a beverage, it’s actually a brewing method that involves passing hot water through a compacted coffee puck,” Teoh said, which can be done using a machine with a boiler or manually, such as in a stovetop espresso maker. This requires specific pressure and temperature calibration, but a high-end machine is not necessary.

“The two most important things are the machine’s ability to maintain pressure and temperature when you fire the shot,” she said. In most home-use models, you may not be able to make any adjustments, but gauges or displays showing pressure and temperature can be reassuring.

Be sure to closely follow the manufacturer’s process, which may include preheating the water before brewing. Ensuring your espresso machine is clean is also essential for quality control, as regularly brushing grounds from the portafilter loading point and rinsing them periodically with hot water are crucial steps to maintaining optimal performance.

1. Pay attention to the grind size

Because espresso is a process, not a drink, espresso beans don’t really exist, and you can choose a provenance and roast that suits you for even a light espresso. The grind of the beans you choose greatly affects the outcome of the shot you fire.

“The grind size should be on the order of fine sand,” Teoh said, which is smaller than that used for filter coffee, French press or pour-over coffee, but not as fine as the powder used for unfiltered brews such as Turkish coffee. This element makes it all the more important to have a grinder that allows you to fine-tune the grind size with a dial, rather than a few predetermined settings that may not provide the necessary nuance.

More than the coffee machine itself, Teoh recommends another crucial piece of equipment for the best home espresso. “If you have a basic machine that can maintain pressure and temperature, that’s enough, but if I have extra budget, I would spend it on a grinder,” Teoh said. “Having a good grinder, especially a good burr grinder, is very, very important for espresso.”

Teoh also naturally recommends the freshest coffee beans for the best espresso. Grinding to order is good, but you’re also looking for beans that have been roasted as recently as possible, ideally within a few weeks.

2. Master the coffee/water ratio

The “golden ratio” differs for espresso versus drip coffee, French press, or pour-over coffee because you generally have limited control over the amount of water that goes into the brew. Instead, you’re looking for a specific ratio between the amount of ground coffee and the amount of liquid espresso that comes out, and yes, professional baristas weigh the finished espresso to ensure its quality.

“The coffee-to-water ratio is between 1 and 1.5 and 1 and 2.5, which means for every gram of ground coffee we put in there, we want to get between one and a half and two and a half grams of liquid espresso in the cup,” Teoh said. “That ratio usually gives you pretty good quality, what we call ‘strength.’ It wouldn’t be too intense. It wouldn’t be too liquid either. »

For simplicity of calculations as you experiment with these ratios, 1 to 2 is an average range to aim for. The lower the ratio of grounds to liquid espresso, the stronger the coffee.

If your espresso machine has controls to adjust the coffee strength, experiment with them. Otherwise, other factors you can control that can affect the outcome in terms of your ideal ratio are grind size, consistency, and puck pressure.

3. Prepare the puck properly

After measuring your grind into the portafilter, based on its size and the manufacturer’s recommended measurement for a single or double shot, level it before tamping. “Use your fingers to make sure it’s evenly distributed before packing,” Teoh said, so you don’t end up with an uneven puck.

She said that water will always seek the path of least resistance between the reservoir and your cup, so if there is an area in the portafilter that holds a smaller volume of grounds or is less pressurized because it was uneven to begin with, that’s where the water will primarily go, resulting in improper extraction.

A heavy, high quality pad should be applied, properly sized for your portafilter. Portafilters come in different sizes, typically 51 or 54 millimeters in diameter for domestic espresso machines. You’ll want to upgrade if your machine doesn’t include a tamper or uses a lightweight plastic one.

Tamping the puck doesn’t involve applying extreme force, but “you’ll want to push to a point where it feels like it’s pushing back,” Teoh said. “You’re not using your full body weight on it, but it’s also not like stamping a card. You want to press down and create a dense, tightly packed puck.”

If you want to be specific about pressure, some advice suggests applying between 20 and 30 pounds. Teoh also notes that spring tampers are available, making it easier and more consistent to apply adequate pressure.

4. Taste and adjust

It’s your espresso, so it’s your palate that matters most for the result. Slight variations in coffee freshness and roast, grind size, grounds measurement, tamping pressure and consistency, and temperature – to the extent you can control them – will all affect different results.

Experiment with the adjustments above to achieve a balanced brew with a nice mouthfeel and pleasant flavor length, until it suits you.

“You may not have experience making espresso, but you have experience as a consumer,” Teoh said, “so you know what you should taste like in your cup, and if that doesn’t suit you, then you know something needs to be adjusted.”

Considering all the possible variables above, I’m hoping this is just a matter of tweaking a few things rather than needing a whole new system.

How important is the cream?

Cream or foam layer on your shot may be desirable. Still, it’s not necessarily an indicator of a properly fired shot, nor does it significantly affect flavor.

Teoh said carbon dioxide is trapped in coffee beans during roasting and then released during brewing, creating a frothy crema. However, it is not the density of the puck that determines its appearance during mixing.

“Your cream is not only CO2, but also oils and insoluble materials in coffee,” Teoh said. “It has a lot of flavor compounds, but the real flavor of your coffee is in the darker liquid at the bottom. The cream doesn’t really have much flavor on its own, but it enhances the mouthfeel.”

The lack of cream may have less to do with the mechanics of the firing and more to do with the roast itself. “The freshness of the coffee makes a difference,” Teoh said, “and some coffees, if they’re very lightly roasted, won’t have much cream in them either.”

To maximize your cream potential, you look for darker roast beans that have been roasted recently.