Hi colleagues,

The general trend for espresso brewing is to dose high, even 20gr+. This really doesn't work with my Lambro, a thermosyphon spring lever. The pressure during preinfusion is the same as the boiler pressure, which is 1.1-1.4 bar. This is not enough to wet a 21gr puck. The only way to get a decent preinfusion, is to grind very course. But when I release the lever and give the puck the full spring pressure, the extraction will be to fast and often channeling will occur. So my average dose is between 17 en 17.5 gr.

What I like to know is how other spring lever users dose.
Curious!!

Best, Niels

You could do smaller doses then. You may find 16g to be about right.
16g is pretty common with the Londinium guys.

With my Strega I do about 18-18.5g doses. Fine grind, and use the pump for about a 3bar preinfuse.

If you want to dose higher, one trick you could do:
Once the group fills with water let go of the lever for a sec, just enough to saturate the bottom of the basket and see a few drops, then pull the lever back down to continue with pre brew. After a few seconds (or whatever you'd like), continue the shot as normal. That may let you pull triples if you want.

I usually dose between 13 and 15 grams in my Elektra MCaL.

16-16.5 on all spring levers I've had.

I tend towards 14-15g and 7-8g in VST baskets on the Londinium I. Pre-infuse at boiler pressure for ~5s then go. (Singles tend to produce the first drops then, doubles not usually.) This is for more of a full city-style roast - for lighter roasts I usually updose and start the shot but hold the lever so it has a preinfusion at a higher pressure ("active preinfusion"), then release.

I have reduced the dose using a VST 15 gram basket, which at present gives me variable results. 16gr on average. I get more consistent results with the HQ double basket, 17 grams on average, but going with a 6 count down, release and hold for more pre-infusion, then release.

My comment to Nelis would be, with that wonderful lever of yours, don't worry about what others may be doing, especially on the newer double spring levers like the Strega. Make sure your baskets are still worthy. I change mine about every 9 months, pulling 3 shots per day on average. Assuming your baskets are in good shape, I'll ask if your grinder's burrs are in similarly good shape? I'll assume you're using freshly roasted coffee?
If all is good with the above, just find a dosage that gives you creamy, multidimensional smaller volume shots.

There is MUCH to be said for a 25 gram shot that is nectar!

That's funny to read your replies: all low-dosers. Have you tried updosing? What were the results?

It is not that I have a problem, but I wonder why my doses only get smaller and the trend is bigger. Friday I got some beans from a new roaster. Dialing in resulted in a balanced shot with 15grs. That was the moment I decided to put my question on HB.


So what is the fun about updosing anyways??

IMAWriter wrote:
There is MUCH to be said for a 25 gram shot that is nectar!

Sorry, what do you mean?

And yes, my coffee is never older than 4 weeks. My burrs should be ok after approx 70kgrms. But one of my favorite baskets still is a 5 year old school LM double.

At the moment I use a Espressoparts HQ 14 for coffees that favor a smaller filter area and VST 14/17 for coffees which need a larger filter area.

Just for practical reasons I dose anywhere between 14 and 16 grams on my Faema Faemina, much more and the puck hits the screen due to the small diameter basket.
If I want a denser shot I just use less water.

I think it is important to know what you want from your pre-infusion. Do you want to see coffee from the bottom of the basket? That is quite difficult using the low bar pressure of the boiler, in fact sometimes when your pressure is low and you may have dosed too high you will see the lever will travel right up before you meet any resistance.

I use around an 18g dose, and use tapered baskets. Never had any luck with the VST baskets on my levers. I do not expect to see coffee drop from the basket during PI but will count the preinfusion time before releasing the lever.

Above all else you will need to experiment and go through coffee.