I really enjoy pulling singles on my La Peppina spring lever because it gives me double the practice on pulling shots and double the opportunity to enjoy an espresso versus the double. With the open-boiler kettle and the PID I installed, the La Peppina is very temperature stable so I don't have to worry about overheating the group or the coffee and I can keep pulling shots until I've overwhelmed my pallet or over-caffeinated myself, which with singles can be quite a while.

I use the same grinder setting for singles and doubles, but as my friend Pawel said I use a completely different pull to get the proper extraction. When I first got the La Peppina, I could not pull a good single, and after much reading, I resolved to stick with doubles and give up on pulling a good single. Good thing I came back to it later, though, because I really enjoy the single and have now worked out the techniques to satisfy myself with both shots.

For a single, I usually use right around 7 grams. Sometimes up to 10, but usually only when I am at the bottom of the jar and don't have enough coffee to make a double and so just throw in the last of the coffee into a single. First, I'll pull hot water through the portafilter and filter basket into the demitasse to pre-heat the cup and clean, rinse, and heat the portafilter/filter. I'll grind and use the Bakelite tamper that came with the La Peppina to tamp both doubles and singles, it's small and I really only use the tips of my fingers to press it down until the top of the disk is level with the top of the basket after nutating the puck. I do apply pressure, and you'd be surprised at how much pressure you can use with just the tips of your fingers, but it's not a hard tamp. Then I'll lock in the portafilter and for a single, I'll pull the lever all the way down, let it raise up about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way (stopping if I feel resistance) and back down. If I've felt some resistance due to the water hitting the puck (after pumping out the air) I'll release the lever right away to start the extraction, otherwise I'll do another partial pump and then let the spring push the water through the puck and the lever rise up.

For doubles, after I've pumped out the air and felt he resistance and tried to stop it just at the point before the first drops start to come out of the spouts, I'll pull the lever down (to take the pressure off the puck) and wait ten seconds for pre-infusion before letting the spring do the work.

When I pre-infuse singles, I get an over-extracted, unpleasant cup of espresso. When I don't pre-infuse doubles, I get weak espresso without good crema. Once I worked this out, I was much happier. I posted some videos last year on this Spring Lever Video thread of a double and single extraction.

As for taste, I wouldn't say that my singles taste the same as my doubles. The singles seem to have more clarity and less complexity then the doubles which can have more depth and a richer flavor.