HB wrote:Pshaw! Some roasters have the skill to pull off a good dark roasted coffee and I believe they're worth trying.

I'm back from pulling a sink shot. Got behind in my grind adjustments. These brutal winter nights in the mid-40's dry the beans out faster.

I used to include a dark roast in my espresso rotation for variety, but finally stopped because of the "yuck" factor. The oil clinging to the hopper, the beans jamming up and the clumpy grounds made me feel like I was turning the innards of the grinder into a grease pit. Probably an over-reaction, but I have plenty of other blends to chose from.

This isn't to say I won't live dangerously. I drink those 25% robusta blends that Angelo Minicozzi's likes when he offers them to me!

HB wrote: I have a standing monthly order with Paradise Roasters for whatever Miguel decides.

There used to be a few places that I frequented where the cooks (or chef) were so talented that I would just sit and tell the waiter, "Tell Janos (or AJ, or whoever) that I'm hungry. That is all the input I think I should saddle him with!" I love to be able to trust someone with my tastes like that. Someday I'll find a roaster that I trust like that... I am so jealous!

I voted 'none', for I have less then 1 in 10.
Surprisingly some of my singles that did not look very well (mid-shot-time channeling, or side-channelling) tasted good - actually they were sweet.
I make around 5 to 7 shots a day since I have my Vivaldi (more then month)

My sink shots dropped off considerably after I started using WDT.

My definition of a "sink shot" may have changed since I got the Max grinder.

With my giotto, only rarely did I sink a shot, but really, many of them should have been down the sink, but I just stomached them because I didn't want to waste the coffee and figured it would all be over in a little while. Ocassionally I would still sink a shot. Now, with the GS3, they are consistently good and I haven't needed to sink anything unless I'm changing blends. But once I get familiar with a blend, it's just a matter of writing down the temperature to set the GS3 at and dialing it in again. I've started keeping track of temperatures and other parameters on my wiki web and I'll refer there in the future.

Im afraid I am currently in the "or more" probably pulled a 0 out of like 20 something tonight. But I did drink 4....just becauase I couldnt stand to not have something....lol, going to be a late night now, and I will probably go practice more in a little bit!

I drink almost all my shots, since they hardly ever go visually awry. But on about 1 to 2 in 10, I wish I had sunk them

If you include "seasoning" shots and shots from when I'm dialing in a new coffee or experimenting - then I probably average around 3 or 4 shots out of every 10 I either don't drink or reject after one sip. In general, I rarely get below 3 out of 10 that are not consumed - and there are some times where it's more like 5 or 6 out of every 10 on average.

Then again, I probably tweak the grind at least once per day and well more than half my espressos are consumed as part of continued experimentation and tasting. I only drink espresso at home, not milk drinks. I rarely drink the same coffee for more than a couple days at a time. And when it comes to coffee, a long time ago I decided that there was no such thing as "good enough." So... I might be an outlier.

With the "New" La Peppina, I'm getting more sink shots while trying to dial in dose, grind, tamp, technique.

This number went way up when I started trying to pull singles on the lever after a few days and went back down again when I switched back to doubles. No sink shots tonight, though, hopefully it's not just a fluke.