Barista at a coffee shop in Portland showed me I was grinding way too fine

I stopped at this little place called Heart while visiting Portland last month. The barista pulled a shot from my own beans and it came out way faster than mine at home. He said my grind was choking the machine and I should back off a few clicks. Has anyone else had a pro fix their setup in under a minute like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean_murray23d ago

Wait, was this at the original Heart location or the one on Division? I've had a similar thing happen with my old espresso machine but it was the total opposite. My shots were coming out like a faucet and a guy at a shop told me I needed to grind finer and tamp harder. Turned out he was right for his setup but my machine was a total different beast with a pressurized basket and all that advice just made things worse. I spent weeks chasing sour shots before I figured out my machine needed a completely different approach than what a pro with a commercial setup would suggest.

grant_palmer23d ago

Honestly I see it a little different. A pro dialing in your beans in under a minute just means they know their machine and grinder combo really well. That doesn't necessarily mean your grind is wrong for your own setup. Every grinder and machine behaves differently even same model numbers. What works at a shop with a commercial grinder and a Linea might not work on your home machine. Tbh backing off a few clicks might just make your shots run too fast and taste sour. You gotta dial in based on your own gear not what someone else does with their expensive kit.