uyeasound wrote:I've never even tried the single shot basket. Is it worth trying?

There are times it's nice to have a single shot, say as a small pick-up mid-morning. Or, maybe you're experimenting with what flavors you want to bring out in a particular coffee by changing dose and grind. Or you may want to try a couple of different coffees in a row. Some coffees do well with fine grind and down-dosing. If you have all large shots, you're over-caffeinated and you're done for that day before you've quite dialed in what you're attempting.

As you work with espresso, you may find that it's not always a matter of getting the most coffee into a cup. You'll see that too high a dose in some cases will hide some of the flavor subtlety, and that backing off of the dose will still bring you a dense and rich espresso. You'll learn to adjust technique to balance flavors and crema and brew differently for straight shots versus capps.

Much of the focus is on what you do with the grinder. And then you may find yourself trying different roasters or home roasting varietals. This is a journey of discovery that can take awhile.