Hi,

Well, i've finally bought a digital scale and discovered i was dosing around 18-19 grams of coffee by volume. This came as a bit of a surprise since i was filling the basket without any tapping or knocking and was using a knife to level out the coffee. I thought i was almost under dosing... silly me.

So i've pulled a couple of shot at 14 and 15 grams and my pulls are too fast and my crema is thin(ner) and disappears quickly. They don't taste completely awful (in milk!) but i was doing better before, although on an inconsistent basis. Here are some observations at these weights:

- I can no longer level the dose since the amount of coffee is below the rim. I find this quite annoying but i'll get over it. I wonder why this is never the case in cafés, they always seem to fill over the rim and cut off the excess...

- Once tamped, the level of coffee is way lower than the rim, i'd say about halfway. I don't know what kind of basket i have, i have a low cost machine called Angeli from Faema in Montreal... i suppose it is a double

- After extraction, the puck has a layer of water on it, i can see a slight imprint of the screen nut but not the screen itself. Before, the puck would expand enough to get an imprint from the screen... do we care?

- Obviously, shots are a lot quicker than my usual 18-19 gram shots.

I guess the next step would be to grind finer to get back to the 60ml/25 sec norm right? The whole point is to get more consistency and possibly improve my shots a notch. I can never seem to get syrupy espressos like i get at my café (Myriade, they are one of the best here in Montreal)

I wouldn't bet that your local shop pulls at 16g - I asked our local third-wave shop what they do, and it's typically 22g ristrettos (probably 1.5oz liquid). They are fantastic, blow your mind shots. Check with your local cafe and see what they're doing if you're happy with their results.

Not every coffee works best at 14/15 grams. You say your shots run fast so you need to address that issue before you can really see what kind of cup you are getting. Tighten up your grind and get your timing squared away. Then see what kind of results you are getting in the cup. You need to be tasting straight shots to really see what your results are, you mention you are drinking them in milk which will mask many things.

For distribution at this lower dose level, this technique might help you:
Nutation: how to do it right

Thanks Dave, i should have mentioned that i've been pulling two shots per serving, one for my wife's cap and one straight shot for tasting results.

I did tighten the grind and seem to have come back to a more regular extraction. Interestingly, i'm now closer to the factory setpoint on my Mazzer than i've ever been when i was using 18-19 gram doses. I had wondered why i was so much coarser than the setpoint (which i read somewhere was usually not far off the mark)

My beans are getting old though (almost two weeks out) so i need to get a new batch today. I think this is one other factor contributing to thin crema and so-so taste.

I will try nutating as well as suggested by Ben.

Once i have my new beans dialed, what i am looking for as far as taste if my dose is too low? What about too high?

Ya... It's a revelation, isn't it...?

The other day I was testing a Mypressi Twist for review purposes and by accident dosed less than usual (below the rim of the basket) and could not level. I shook the basket to level as well as possible and then tapped downward on the top of the tamper to finish leveling. It was one of the best pulls I have and in sometime, so I tried the same (down dosing a bit) with the Kony/Vibiemme and it improved the espresso from that machine as well. My .1 gram digital scale is in the mail, literally, and on the way. I won't be using it regularly but will use it as a quantification tool.

Too much coffee in the basket, in my case, was apparently resulting in over-extraction. But as we should all be aware by now, the dose, distribution, and grind all have to be adjusted for the blend, roast, age of the roast, our equipment, and most importantly, our personal preferences. To paraphrase Frank Zappa once again, "If it tastes good to you, it's bitchen. If it tastes bad, it sucks."

"Weigh? WAY!"

Got my new shipment of beans. It seems like the nutating is helping even out the pulls. I'll stick to that for a while and then try a series without. I read the nutation thread and concluded to just "try it out" and forget about the science (i can't believe i just said that being an aerospace engineer...)

Once that is sorted, i'll try varying doses and see what that does. Here's to a couple of weeks of testing. One day i'll know enough stuff to actually contribute to these forums...

Keep a log of your shots for the next two weeks and post the results. That would be a useful contribution

If your shots go to hell when you stop nutating, I'll eat a puck

Ian, will do. If i recall, you are one of the non believers yes?

Just for kicks i did pull a very good shot this afternoon, having foregone all form of giggling, WDT, tapping or rapping. Just nutation (my wife was looking at me funny for some reason)

But i'm also naturally sceptic so here is what i'll do:

using the same beans, same grinder adjustment and same machine, i'll make three shots every morning using a 14g dose. The first one is for warmup (sorry dear), the second with regular tamp and the last with a nutation. I will grind directly into the basket while rotating it to alleviate the left throw of the mazzer. No other intervention on the grounds pile. I'll do this for two weeks and report on the results (if anyone cares!). This way, bean aging should not be a factor.

the only problem is i don't have a naked portafilter so this is purely based on my taste impression. Unfortunately, i will not be able to report on actual extraction problems visually. "cringe" i'm sure i'll get some flak for this.

Unless you purge a gram or two the first shot of the day will be suspect.
Do you charge the Mini for 1 shot or are there beans in the hopper?
Do you sweep out the Mini throat after each shot?

Bean aging will be a factor over two weeks, unless they are very stale to start.

Trust your taste. WAY too many get involved in making porn, not espresso.
See Dosing, Distribution, Tamping Survey