Actually, espresso grinders can’t be set up in this simple manner. Once you understand what it is, then it’s just a case of twiddling with a few dials to get the best out of your coffee. Opening a new bag of coffee or, indeed, changing your burrs makes no difference to the process.
Being a barista myself, I’d be more than happy to take you through ordering your coffee grinder so that no matter how you plan on brewing each shot, they will be perfect in balance and taste.
What Does Dialing In Mean?
Basically, dialling means getting the perfect grind size for your coffee, one that provides a flavour of utmost quality or, as they say, the sweet spot. Ideally, a well-dialled coffee beverage should always lie within the range of being neither over-extracted nor under-extracted in the shot.
Under-extracted Coffee
Under-extracted extraction when coffee beans were not submitted to acceptable qualities of water yields sour and watery coffee.
Over-extracted Coffee
On the other hand, thick, dry, flat, and astringent coffee comes from over-extraction, where the water has been in contact with the coffee grind for a long time, and the aim is to pull out undesirable flavours.
At the correct grind, water should be allowed to percolate through just at a proper pace, neither lingering to that point at which few flavourings would be extracted nor to such a point that over-extraction of unwanted influences would be caused by too many grinds.
Important Definitions
Boulder
This is the coarsest of coffee grounds, and it will under-extract.
Fines
These are fine particles found in grounds, which could cause over or under-extraction.
Under-extracted
The bad flavours arrive in an over-extracted sour coffee with time.
Over-extracted
The coffee is roasted to the ideal fine and brewed for too long dull and dry coffee.
How to Dial In an Espresso Grinder
Start with a Good Recipe
Well, even before actually groping the grinder, it is very important to note that you do have a brew recipe in mind with which you are comfortable. A general place to begin with a latte is a ratio of 1:2, which means you take 18 grams of ground coffee and hope to get back 36 grams of liquid espresso. Your extraction time should be somewhere between 25 and 30 seconds.
This will give you a basis to work backwards. More importantly, when you have a good basis in mind, you’ll know exactly what variable to change: size, dose, or time.
Prime the Coffee Grinder
Your second tool would be the coffee grinder. It will be used appropriately whenever it is needed to make an espresso, hence grinding the beans to a powder.
Perhaps it’s your first use of a burr-type grinder, and you’ve just recently purchased this or changed the burrs. So assume the grind’s going to be coarse. But put your grinder on the side with the finer setting first. On a burr grinder, a lower number on the dial means finer grind, and vice versa.
Clean Other Parts of the Grinder
This is how to do the steps: Purge a few coffees from the grinder before pulling your first shot, as it knocks loose old grinds for the new coffee to pass clean through the burrs in order to take the accurate measurements.
Mix Your First Cocktail
Now that you have your grinder dialed in with your recipe, it is time to go ahead and pull a shot. When pulling an espresso shot, you want to use a scale for consistency, so use one—this will help. Now, if your shot finishes very aggressively in under 25 seconds, you are probably grinding, too, of course. And if it dribbles along too slowly and takes way over 30 seconds, well, you’re probably on the fine end of things.
Just play with some mild variation on the grind in small incremental chops shoots in saturation until it is the volume and timing you are looking for. Flush a little coffee between grind settings—especially after coffee chino to flush out old coffee held in the chute.
Enjoy and Take Action
If your shot is well timed, which this exercise tries to achieve, drink it. Does it taste sour? Then, the shot is under-extracted—grind finer. If it never tastes sweet and dries over, then it would be typical of over-extraction—go coarser.
First of all, and above everything else in this game, the flavour is everything. Just taste with your mouth, then play a little with it until you get your shot right: the right mix of sweetness, acidity, and body.
Pro-tips for Dialing In Espresso
Always Coarse Grind First
When fine grinding, make it an absolute must that the burrs are turning; otherwise, you’re stuffing the machine.
Use Fresh Coffee
That roast will contain all its lovely oils and CO2. Most extractions rely on the fat content in the ground coffee. Beans roasted in the last two to four weeks should be what you use.
Grind Size Matters
Grind size matters more than you can imagine. Too coarse, and you’ll always lose all the subtle flavor. Too fine, and you’ll swallow this awful bitter taste. You must keep adjusting the grind size each time you open a new bag of beans.
Record Your Grind Setting, Recipe, and Extraction Time
This could come in handy if you’re testing a new cup of coffee and want to recreate a specific flavor. You may record parameters such as the precise grind setting, recipe, and extraction time so that you can reproduce that particular experiment again.
Fix Your Espresso Shot
Even if the espresso roast comes from the same bag, there are still loads of variables going to affect the shots: storage of the beans, climate, humidity, or how long since the beans have been roasted. Here’s how to troubleshoot:
- Shot Pulses Too Rapidly: Your grind is too coarse. Smaller grounds slow water down, giving it just a little more time to pull the beans.
- Shot Pulled Too Slowly: Not fine enough grind. If the grounds are too coarse, water flows easily.
- Sour or Under-extracted: You think of a shot as being over-filled, but maybe it’s a tad too bright, sour, or far too green to bring out all your florals. Your grind is too coarse. Go finer.
- Bitter or Over-extracted: If the flavour is astringent or tastes dry, then it’s over-extracted. Grind coarser.
Perfectness
There’s nothing that cannot be achieved. Perhaps, of course, the most fascinating skill—once learned, it serves forever. The major one is getting there systemically: from a basic recipe, through slow tweaks, taste, and go again. It will still be necessary to adjust to every new coffee, but these steps will allow you to get a proper and tasty espresso every time.
Buy a Good Grinder
The grinder is not less important in perfect espresso machine settings. Grinders at this level can pretty much guarantee a decent espresso machine setting due to the persistent unevenness of the particles—excess boulders and too many pieces of dust. If you are passionate about making great espresso drinks, it would be wise to purchase high-end burr grinders that will help you control grind size and thus perfect the espresso shot.
That is why, after you brew clean coffee beans, do not rush; allow the coffee to stay and clear the flow.
Cheers! Happy brewing!
