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How fresh is your coffee?
Did you buy the grinder new? - could the burrs be dull?
Are you getting a consistent dose of ground coffee?That’s the dry side of things, then check the machine is in good order - correct pump pressure, dispersion block and screen not obstructed by scale or dirt. Maybe get a new basket in case the holes have gone wrong.
Tamping just takes diligence but you can get all that fiddly kit that takes the guesswork out of basket prep.
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I don't make espresso that often (usually do french press) and i'm sightly ashamed to say that I only recently worked out how to get a fairly decent (to my taste) shot.
Turns out I was grinding too coarse. I just worked down the scale until I got about 10 bar on the gauge and 30 second shot time for a double espresso. Now I work to that and it seemed good enough - at least as good as a typical artisan coffee shop, probably not up there with the best but better than average.
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Stevethecoffee
ChasnotRobert
@ketsbaia
I've come to the conclusion I'm shit at pulling shots. Channelling every single fucking time. Can't even get the tamping level. No idea whether my grind size is right. Always seems to be way too much coffee in the basket. I'm almost at the stage where I need to look for the pressurised portafilters I filed away somewhere when I first got the machine to see if I can get a decent cup of coffee.
Admittedly the equipment I have isn't high level, particularly the scales (which are shit) and the grinder, which although good is incredibly fiddly to adjust and there's no gauge to see whether you're at least in the right ballpark. But I'm not blaming the tools; I think it's the manual dexterity I don't have that's the issue.
Anyone got any pointers? Or want to buy an Iberital MC2 so I can buy a fool-proof grinder instead?