HB wrote:Really? It's been awhile, but I recall covering both ways. As for the original question (volume vs. weight), I use both techniques, depending on the pace. For preparing back-to-back drinks for a group, I strike off and tamp. For preparing just for myself and especially when testing, I weigh every dose.

I stand corrected! I was referring to the consistency videos (part 1) where you work on the K10. When you use the vario in the first video you weigh the dose. I personally glossed over that as it was early in the series and I had no idea what it even meant just yet! My apologies.

With practice, striking off and tamping can work well. My shots are fairly consistent. I'm not going to claim this is better but it can be more convenient. For reviewing a coffee I weigh. Early when I was starting I attended a cupping by a professional barista who used to train people for the bar at Stumptown. He said they would allow them to serve when without weighing they could get within 0.4 gm consistency from dose to dose.

How about beverage out? Blonding?

It seemed there's still some split between using a visual stop point vs. numerical.

Yes, of course I'm looking for liquid yield and I stop shots when they're blonding. These are especially easy to control with a lever where I allow a generous time for preinfusion. Mainly these days I adjust by taste.

Problem I have is that when I fill by capacity rather than weight, it seems to just jam up and I get nothing out. This is related to the issues I'm having in general I think, regarding consistency. Still, filling by weight I can get a good shot out, so that's what I'll stick with.

Hello baristas,

I use 14 g of whole bean coffee and yield 60g in 60 ml in 22 seconds. The espresso has good looking crema but it tastes like crap. The taste is strong, bitter and yucky. Definitely not sweet and aromatic like how baristas like to describe it. What am I doing wrong?

I use a Cafe Roma, I taper properly, the grind is at 9 from 60 on a Breville grinder. If I use a presurized or non-presurized portafilter, the result is very similar. The shot starts pouring after about 5 seconds, color seems to be ok, etc.

Thank you for your help.

Hi,

First of all, welcome to Home-Barista!

If I were you, I would start a new thread to ask for advice. You'll get more answers that way. But, my first advice would be to lower your ratio a lot. 14g in and 60g out is more than 1:4. I'd aim for around 28 g in about 25-30 sec. Your grind is probably WAY too coarse if you're able to get 60g in 22 sec.

Start by grinding finer and see where it leads you. Good luck!