Hello,

another newbie question...

My wife and me enjoy the great coffee out of my Millenium and Demoka grinder very much so most of the time i am using the double portafilter to make two shots, but there are times, when i am at home alone.

Previously i just bit the bullet and either drank both shots or dumped one (when the counter was already on 4 or 5 that day ) because i heard, getting great single shots is more difficult and the grinder setting has to be changed.

So, what do you do? Either stay with one type of portafilter like i did until now or use both depending on the situation?

Enjoy the doubles on your own. It's not that much more caffeine in moderation. As you've noted, it only becomes an issue when you've been "juicing" exhuberantly. If the buzz becomes an ongoing issue you can always keep some decaf (gasp!) beans on hand for mitigation.

When I first started with espresso I used the single basket and pulled four or five shots per brewing session. Since discovering "the espressonets" I've switched to the double basket and pulling two or three. Tastier shots more easily achieved and less cleanup. Now the only time I use my single basket is when I get to the end of a bag of beans and don't have enough for a double.

Funny you should ask today.. yesterday I added a chapter to my website on this very subject. I had some leftover grounds and used them to pull a single shot for the first time and used it for a mini-Americano (I called it an "Americanito"). It was delicious!

Ciao Christian,

Nowadays I pull both with single & double baskets -- but it may be easier to get good singles with certain machines (for ex., spring levers and Elektra Semiautomaticas). In my case I enjoy the double ristrettos more. But when I just want a little taste, and prefer not to use up so much coffee, I pull singles.

I alternate between doubles (morning shot) and singles (the rest of the day) without any adjustment to my machine or the grinder. I get singles and doubles in about 26 seconds. If I am switching coffees and have to adjust the grind, it works for both size baskets.

Grinder: Mazzer Mini.
Machine: QM Alexia.

If your Millennium basket is really small like my old pre-Millennium Pavoni, then I would probably just stick with the double basket. But for an E-61 machine, the single is as good as the double.

Bill

Sometimes . . .

Straight doubles in the morning. Straight single at night.

roastaroma wrote:Ciao Christian,

Nowadays I pull both with single & double baskets -- but it may be easier to get good singles with certain machines (for ex., spring levers and Elektra Semiautomaticas). In my case I enjoy the double ristrettos more. But when I just want a little taste, and prefer not to use up so much coffee, I pull singles.

A single pull from my Cremina has become easier. With practice.
I love the taste and clarity I get with a single. For me, the only caveat is that my Penny (espressme) tamper is just a wee bit too large for both my single Cremina and Elektra basket. Got it stuck one day, worked like heck to get it unstuck
I think what makes the single a bit more difficult for those of us lever-ites, is that dose and DISTRIBUTION become even more critical. The pull must be very even.
If I could describe the difference in taste other than clarity, I'd say the cup is more "coffee-like." Meaning, a bit less intense, but to my taste a touch sweeter. More sink shots, though.

I alternate between my baskets (singles, doubles, triples) all the time. My goal isn't getting different shot volumes but rather different tastes. I home-roast and I enjoy experimenting with different extractions from the same beans.

Generally (there are exceptions):-

- Doubles for milk based drinks or Americanos
- Singles to drink straight

The time to pull a shot varies a little between the two, but not enough to make me want to adjust anything.

The only inconvenience, is that with a single group machine is you can't keep 2 portafilters hot and ready to go So there's an immediate excuse for an upgrade if you ever need one.

I mainly pull singles, but it depends on the bean.

For example, recent Yirgacheffe and Sidamo singles have been to die for good.

On the other hand, Londinium Esopresso has roasted my Wild Bean 1 degree less and it makes a fabulous difference. Wonderful in singles but now also very very good as a double. Did I say very very good?

The Blawan Java I have recently fallen in love with is nice as a single, but as a double ristretto it is amazing....

Call me fickle, but I think you have to be flexible and follow the bean

Cheers

Mike

A while back, I picked up a La Marzocco Single basket and played around with some single origin coffees that you wouldn't make your first choice on a 18gr dose... Some of them did quite well.

aside from that little experiment. . . I dont do singles.

If Im making shots, or even when Im making a cappa, its the double basket. If Im making two drinks, build two shots. In a 6oz cappa, a 1.5-1.75oz shot is great. After getting used to it, I tried it with a single basket pull, ending up a bit under 1oz. The drink lacked the deep flavor that Im used too.

Im not against singles, and if there is a coffee which someone tells me is exceptionally good as a single, I will give it whirl. On my Anita, I used only the LM Single basket, and I had a nice fitting tamper I made so I could pack only the inner recess. I have not yet attempted singles my VII, Im still getting a handle over the doubles.

Oh, the singles from some Yemen coffees! One in particular still brings me to (near) tears...
A Yemen Matari from about 2 years ago, not sure where I purchased, I think SM's.

Also, some wonderful singles from my former Anita with a Yemen Ismaeli, maybe 6 years ago.
My Cremina singles have improved a lot due to a grinder change.

I use the LM triple basket in an open PF. The coffee is right up to the line inside the basket. I don't know exactly how many grams of coffee it is because I time the doses. I suspect it's in the 25 gram range. I will have to weigh it one of these days. Most drinks are 10-15 oz in size.

My Espro tamper doesn't fit the single or double LM baskets very well.

I only use single baskets in my Elektra Semiautomatica. The single basket for this machine holds about 9-10 grams of ground coffee; that, I believe, puts it somewhat between the smaller 7 gram single baskets - and the double baskets.

Howard

I use a double basket almost exclusively. Occasionally I will switch to a triple basket when I need the extra caffeine boost or just want a change. I tried using the single basket that came with my Miss Silvia and it was an awful experience that turned into a sink shot and the basket returning to the drawer where it has been collecting dust. I have not revisited the single basket since. If I want less volume than a normal double then I will adjust the grinder/tamp and pull a ristretto.

This week I have continued to use the double basket for the cappuccino that my wife enjoys each day while dialing in my other Zassenhaus grinder for my single basket. Heretofore the single shot basket has seen very little action, but I wish to enjoy espresso without the full caffeine dose. As it turns out I have the grind almost right after five days but have had two shots each day because I was not pleased with the first one. I would say one of the ten shots was superior to the flavor from the double basket.

I plan to continue this practice. Single shots for me off one grinder and double shorts for her drinks off the other grinder. My single basket choked the lever on a grind set for the double basket.

Not sure I'll ever really use the single basket. It's been a double basket for the last couple of years. On occasion I'll pull out the triple basket, but that's just a bit much.

<Mark>

I change between doubles and triples; lately I've been pulling 2 triples in the morning, 2 in the afternoon.

Interresting. On March 11, 2009, I wrote:

zin1953 wrote:Straight doubles in the morning. Straight single at night.

No longer true, if it ever was . . .

Typical morning has now become a doppio alto lattè, or "DAL"*, for my wife and a double cappuccino for myself. This is most often followed by another DAL for the older of my two teenage daughters, and a second double cappuccino for me.

During the rest of the day, the routine varies with how much work/"running around" I have to do. I've noticed that I rarely pull singles if I'm busy, but if I have the time to "sit and savor," I will often pull out the single basket -- even if I end up pulling two singles (back to back, not simultaneously) -- to enjoy the different flavor profile the single shot provides.

Cheers,
Jason

* Old-time Peet's customers may remember the "DAL," from the pre-Starbucks days when the drinks were tracked on a white board (as opposed to computer screen), and a "small" wasn't a "tall" . . .