When trying to dial-in a coffee, I frequently find the shot can go from a little too acidic to a little too bitter with seemingly only small changes in either dose, grind and/or extraction time (i.e. blonding point). The extractions look okay with a naked portafilter: no glaring channeling or other significant defects (at least to me eye). And they can taste good, though not great.

So it has me wondering, when trying to zero in on the "sweet spot" of balance and optimal flavor, and you have a decent tasting shot, how big of a change might you make to get into "great" (or dare I say exceptional) territory? 0.5 gram? 1-2 second change in blonding point? 1-2 clicks on the fine setting of a Vario or 5 degree turn on a Pharos (my grinders)?

Ultimately, I am not sure what I should focus on to improve the taste of my shots. Lately, I question if I am spending enough time refining the dialing-in of a coffee. I recently saw Dan comment (in Vesuvius: shot profiling potentials and pitfalls ):

HB wrote: ...We only spent 20 minutes dialing in and had a mix of participants from pro to newbie....

Where he notes only 20 minutes, 20 minutes can be moderate to long time for me. The time isn't important (though the idea of running through coffee is ), but I may not be making fine enough adjustments in my shot parameters and hence, my question.

The thing about the Vesuvius, is with its pressure profiling capability there is a whole new world of variables to tweak. You could probably spend all day making minor changes to pressure profiles.

With a standard machine, I would say 20 minutes is more than enough time to dial in. If you're getting a reasonable brew ratio in a reasonable amount of time, and the result tastes good, you're fine. Sometimes I'll tweak something from there and try to make a "better or worse" assesment, but that's about it.

If Im going to mess with dose, I usually change by at least a half a gram. With grind a pretty fine tweak goes a long way, 2-5 degrees on my pharos.

The window is fairly large with the HG One (being about 5-6 clicks assuming my tamp is the same).

With my Vario (using now since the HG One is in the shop), it's completely random and I feel like from shot to shot the grind changes without changing the setting. I put only enough in the hopper that ill use, everytime.

It will depend on the coffee.

Imagine the variables for shot making -- grind fineness, dose, pressure, temperature, shot time -- as a dimensional space. The sweet spot is a ball in that space. For some coffees, it's a big and fuzzy ball; for others, it's a pinpoint.

The big and fuzzy ones are much easier to dial in, since even when you are far away from the best spot, you're still in the fuzzy zone, and there's lots of taste clues for the direction you need to go. But when you are off base on the pinhole coffees, the taste can be so out of whack and distorted, that it's hard to tell in what direction to make the change, especially as a newbie.

another_jim wrote:It will depend on the coffee.

Imagine the variables for shot making -- grind fineness, dose, pressure, temperature, shot time -- as a dimensional space. The sweet spot is a ball in that space. For some coffees, it's a big and fuzzy ball; for others, it's a pinpoint.

I definitely feel like I am wandering around the sweet spot, but getting spun around a bit and not sure which way to go sometimes. A significant part of the problem is that I've never had "exceptional espresso" and probably rarely great espresso. Cafes in the Bay Area, at least in my mileage, have been inconsistent. So, triangulating on a taste target can be challenging. (I probably need to seek out some local HB'ers )

For coffees with the big and fuzzy sweet spot, are their particular origins or varietals you'd recommend?

Ethiopian coffees are very well behaved; Bourbon varietals from Central America as well.

csepulv wrote:I definitely feel like I am wandering around the sweet spot, but getting spun around a bit and not sure which way to go sometimes. A significant part of the problem is that I've never had "exceptional espresso" and probably rarely great espresso. Cafes in the Bay Area, at least in my mileage, have been inconsistent. So, triangulating on a taste target can be challenging. (I probably need to seek out some local HB'ers )

Reading this, I feel like I am at the same point. Bouncing around a sweet spot. Nothing good local to compare to.

Really what I think I need to do is work on training myself to properly identify sour vs bitter. Need to buy the items Jim used or just sit down with some lemon juice and lemon rind possibly. I know what changes to make to move the proper direction, but I think as the differences become more subtle I frequently go the wrong direction. I ran across this post with good input from Jim last night that I thought was very helpful (interesting that I got to the point of searching Google terms like 'learn sour bitter' and it brought be right back to HB.)

Balance in Espresso is Intense Bitter and Sour Cancelling Each Other Out

another_jim wrote:Ethiopian coffees are very well behaved; Bourbon varietals from Central America as well.

Thanks Jim.

Bikeminded wrote:Reading this, I feel like I am at the same point. Bouncing around a sweet spot. Nothing good local to compare to.

As you noted, Jim's bitter/sour experiments are a good education. Another one, also suggested by Jim, was in response to a question I asked about learning to taste better. I suggest reading the thread Tasting and Sticking with One Coffee vs. Trying Several Coffees. (Jim's suggestions in that thread have been very helpful to me.)

Given his sweetspot comments and suggestion that a brewed cup can be the blueprint for its espresso, my plan is to dial-in a coffee with a brewed cup of that coffee sitting next to me and use it as a guide for judging flavor and making adjustments.

I suspect every newbie goes through this exact experience (as I am also). I've had maybe two or three really good shots so far, now on my 3rd week of daily use. I've bought a couple pounds from online sites that may have been coffees with smaller sweet spots. Perhaps someone could post a specific coffee us newbies should try that's felt to be a high quality roaster and "easier" to dial in.
Also was wondering what adjustments to temp I should be exploring. Every few shots I try adjusting the temp up or down a few degrees, but I can't pick up any taste differences.
On the whole I'm having fun with my new hobby, I was just hoping to serve my family something consistently better than Starbucks by now.

I've recently ordered the first coffee from the Favorite Espressos 2015. (I am not naming it here as the review is still pending and the name is hidden behind spolier tags; but you can find it in the thread).

It seems to be a good, forgiving blend. I am looking forward to seeing how it is to pull, and of course, how it tastes.