When filling my portafilter, which do you feel is more important. Filling it to overflowing and leveling it off, or getting the exact weight? I'm using a 3cup 21g basket, but 21g leaves a fair amount of room in it.

Exact weight. That's the only reliable way to ensure that you have the correct dose to achieve the target brew ration (weight of dose / weight of beverage). You should weigh the beverage, too.

For example, if you want a 50% brew ratio (a Normale), use a scale with 0.1g accuracy to weigh out 21g of ground coffee. After distribution and tamping, put the scale under the cup, tare it, and weigh the shot as it's being pulled. Pull until the shot weighs 42g. Set the grind so it takes 25-35 seconds to reach that weight.

Peppersass wrote: For example, if you want a 50% brew ratio (a Normale), use a scale with 0.1g accuracy to weigh out 21g of ground coffee. After distribution and tamping, put the scale under the cup, tare it, and weigh the shot as it's being pulled. Pull until the shot weighs 42g. Set the grind so it takes 25-35 seconds to reach that weight.

ah, I thought the shots should be within the 1g/1s frame, so 42 seconds from starting the shot until reaching 42 grams in the cup

Stanic wrote:ah, I thought the shots should be within the 1g/1s frame

Variable depending on many factors including time till first drop, how ristretto you want it, etc...

Peppersass wrote:Exact weight. That's the only reliable way to ensure that you have the correct dose to achieve the target brew ration (weight of dose / weight of beverage). You should weigh the beverage, too.

This.

Stanic wrote:ah, I thought the shots should be within the 1g/1s frame, so 42 seconds from starting the shot until reaching 42 grams in the cup

You will notice that as the portafilter baskets get larger, for example double vs. single, they have a larger area of holes in the bottom, which keeps the extraction time about the same for different weights and volumes of ground coffee.

Rocky

not sure if this applies comparing say VST 15g and 20g baskets though
does anyone here still use 7-9g baskets anyway?

aecletec wrote:Variable depending on many factors including time till first drop, how ristretto you want it, etc...

let's say I measure time since switching the pump on and the extraction is 1:2, i.e. espresso normale

Stanic wrote:not sure if this applies comparing say VST 15g and 20g baskets though
does anyone here still use 7-9g baskets anyway?

As the VST baskets go up in size, so does the size of the holes and total area of all the holes, which everything else being equal will result in a higher rate of flow over the same amount of time. You can see the data for 15g, 18g, and 22g VST baskets in the table in this discussion:

How filter baskets affect espresso taste and barista technique

Rocky

RockyIII wrote:You can see the data for 15g, 18g, and 22g VST baskets in the table in this discussion:

How filter baskets affect espresso taste and barista technique

Rocky

many thanks, great resource, very informative!