Here’s a little video to encourage you to keep working to get your components prepped for the perfect shot. You do the work, and your shots will be perfect:
- coffee roasted into 2nd crack, and fresh
- a bit of monkey-work with your grinder to hit the sweet spot – be prepared to waste some coffee, dial it in. in my case, I do a click to courser when there’s a low front / rain, and back to finer when there’s high pressure / dry weather, and it’s pretty predictable.
- a sense of how much your particular machine should be dosed – for the coffee I’m using right now, and at the grind I’m using, my gaggia classic needs almost exactly 25grams, but that’s going to vary.
- excellent distribution, take more time, don’t be in a hurry!!! I always use the Weiss Distribution Technic. No, my barista down the street doesn’t do it, but I find that I need to, and I’m okay with that.
- tamp to 30 lb.
- 9 bar / 202 F or so
- Get your portafilter cut so you can see whether you’re doing a good job on distribution
- Your shot should look something like this:
This is sumatra, roasted to a rolling 2nd crack, ground on a Rancilio Rocky that is zeroed out pretty accurately, and this is about 12 on the dial, on a rainy day.
