Shoutout to that barista who said I was grinding way too fine

I kept getting these bitter shots and blamed my beans, but after Dave at Brew Lab told me to back off the grind setting by 3 clicks my espresso finally ran at 28 seconds instead of 45, anyone else stubbornly ignored grind advice for months before trying it?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarar6717d ago

Honestly I was the opposite for a long time. I kept thinking my shots were under extracted and kept grinding finer and finer until my machine almost choked. Took me way too long to realize the bitterness was from over extraction, not under. Dave sounds like a good guy though, most baristas just hand you the drink and move on.

alice33617d ago

Six months of my life gone because I was convinced my shots were sour and kept going coarser. Turns out I was just using stale beans that tasted like cardboard no matter what. @zarar67 you hit it exactly right, that bitter over extraction trap is sneaky. Dave deserves a raise just for having the patience to talk us all off the ledge. I finally bought a little kitchen scale after that and it saved me from myself.

laura_wright17d ago

Dave is a lifesaver honestly. That 28 second mark is pure magic once you hit it right. Sometimes we just need someone to smack the truth into us.