Hello All,

About 8 months ago now, I purchased a Silvia and Rocky. My shots are pretty ok, I think. I've always been sure they could be quite a bit better - they mostly taste like a really strong coffee. Despite my best attempts, not a whole lot of flavor to speak of. Recently, I purchased a triple basket to try and decided I'd keep my routine the exact same for the first shot. Same grind setting and all. Well, the machine was on the verge of choking but managed to squeeze out 1/4 to 1/2 oz or so in ~35 seconds. I thought for sure this would be a terrible shot but I figured I'd take a sip anyways. Holey moley! It was fantastic! The coffee was bursting with sweetness. Tasted like a chocolaty, fruity honey. I tried and managed another of those shots today in a double basket so I know my taste buds weren't playing tricks on me.

My question: Is this what your shots taste like? I've never come close to anything this good on a normal 25 second/2 oz pull. Is it just the act of jamming a shot worth of flavor in to such a small volume? Nothing else (beans, technique, etc) has changed - just the taste. Thanks

Hi Jim - Thanks for the reply. I do have a naked portafilter and have always been frustrated my shots never look anything like the ones in the link you posted. Much shallower cone and thinner stream. I've tried several techniques - dosing straight in to basket and tamping, dosing and tapping portafilter to settle grinds and tamping, dosing and stirring grinds then tamping - they all seem to produce the same result though. My beans are always super fresh as I buy them directly from a local roaster. Maybe I'll take a few pics for diagnostic purposes and post them tonight for an example. I usually have a few spritzes here and there but the puck always looks to be intact and the flow doesn't change speed drastically at any point. Thanks again.

What coffee are you using?

I've pretty much exclusively used an espresso blend from Mighty Good Coffee in Ann Arbor. It's local so I can purchase it the day it's roasted. I recently tried the espresso blend from Great Northern Coffee Co. in Traverse City with similar results. That's the extent of what's been in my machine though I have some ambrosia from Caffe Fresco coming soon.

joel wrote:I've pretty much exclusively used an espresso blend from Mighty Good Coffee in Ann Arbor. It's local so I can purchase it the day it's roasted. I recently tried the espresso blend from Great Northern Coffee Co. in Traverse City with similar results. That's the extent of what's been in my machine though I have some ambrosia from Caffe Fresco coming soon.

It will be easier for folks here to help once you have a coffee other people have experience with.

joel wrote:It's local so I can purchase it the day it's roasted.

Coffee that's too fresh can pour thin, with a dull, baking soda like flavor. Most blends peak around days 4 to 7. Why coffee needs to ''rest'' before making espresso presents a good discussion of this topic, but be forewarned that not everyone agrees that allowing coffee to rest (good!) is any different than allowing it to stale (bad!).

Back to the original post, I would say: congratulations! Just keep doing whatever you did that generated results that you enjoyed.

As to the "thin cone" issue, to me, this indicates the extracted solute concentration is low, so the puck mass should be increased.

You might try a different basket as well. Oh wait he did that, and it worked.

I just ran across this thread on what should good espresso taste like that seems relevant, though more advanced.

Start with the basics until you get a consistently good result.

I wish I had run into the other thread a week ago and tried Another_Jim's advise (about 7 posts down from the top) on my ashy, too hot roast of Sweet Maria's New Classic Espresso to see what effect updosing and grinding coarser would have on it. I had made the mistake of roasting a smaller batch without compensating the profile for the reduced bean mass and ended up with high ET, divots, and a first crack that ran into second on this batch. Something to try if this happens again.

-Chris