jgoodman00 wrote:For the second shot I choked the machine at the same 16g dose and got 30ml from 47s. It was worse than shot 1, but still better than previous attempts..

A classic case of stale grounds in the grinder or a grind adjustment with an insufficient volume of coffee through the grinder.

You've been given some excellent advice already. I learned early on that getting a shot to look good wasn't overly difficult, learning to taste and then adjust the taste was the hardest to accomplish. Heed the advice you've been given and practice tasting. You'll get it.

Nobody questioned the Rocky grinder. I guess I'll leave that alone until all the other avenues have been explored.

I managed 1 final shot with these beans before they ran out. This was on my new crotchless portafilter and the resulting pour looked even better. I think it ran slightly too long but I am not sure whether than was because of grind or me missing the blonding point? Video below:
http://youtu.be/PGpMDXRzz2o

The taste was a little bitter but just about drinkable. There was definitely sweetness present.

Comments/critique welcome. Hopefully my more suitable beans will arrive tomorrow so I can continue my adventure!

Purely from a visual perspective (and not from a taste perspective), it looks like you have the grind closer to what it needs to be for this coffee and it looks like you did a decent job with distribution.

I can't tell you if the shot ran too long because I can't taste it . However, some say that the blonding point is when the large cone begins to collapse, the flow gets thinner and the color gets lighter. If that's the case, then the shot ran about five seconds too long.

It's all a moot point, as the consensus seems to be that you'll not be able to pull an acceptable shot with that coffee. Let us know how you fare with the new coffee.

My new coffee has arrived and I have had a few goes with it.

Shot 1. This was a revelation and was almost too sweet with a strong taste of liquorice. I believe the liquorice taste fades as the beans rest. My hand got in the way but I didnt see any evidence of the light coloured crema previously seen.

Shot 2. I think I ran this too long and the bitterness was back with a vengeance! Looking at the video I think I can see a clear layer of light crema on top? I loosened the grind by 1 click on this one and I think this contributed to the early blonding.

Shot 3. I deliberately loosened the grind to try and get a lungo. I had some distribution issues marked by coffee squirting onto the worktop(!), but surprisingly my 90ml lungo tasted ok. There was no bitterness, it just tasted a little weak.