Peppersass wrote: where people spend thousands or even tens of thousands to get 1dB more signal gain. There's a bit of voodoo superstition in this, and possibly some placibo effect as operators are convinced that it actually produces significantly better results.

I once had a sound designer constantly give me one, and one and a half dB changes in the mix for a theatrical production. I only hope and pray that it was in response to the director requesting more, or less, and he was savvy enough to make the requests out loud to Pacify the director, and didn't actually believe that he or the rest of the audience were going to perceive these changes ouside of the ehadphones..

Peppersass wrote: At times I've caught myself getting OCD

Get it right. It's CDO. The letters have to be in their proper alphabetical order... ; >

Peppersass wrote:about tiny things like a half-BAR of pressure, a half-degree of temperature, a few seconds of flow time, a tenth-gram of dose, sweeping every last grain of coffee out of the grinder/doser, filling evey gap in the surface of the puck, etc., etc., etc.

I've spent a lot more time learning to appreciate the results (within a larger set of less minute parameters) of what I pull, rather than try to find the 'god' of espresso.
The 'Catholic' method is to go through all the gyrations, ceremony, ritual, and by prestidigitation, calling forth the Deity.
I'm more of a 'Buddhist' convert. I try to take the coffee as the universe gives it to me, less through manipulation than by acceptance. Learning to be happy with what I have is far more rewarding than the never ending search for perfection. Nirvana is being happy with one's morning espresso, not achieving better espresso than has ever been.
At least, that's what I'm telling myself, and it's made the coffee better for me. Don't blow it for me!

psyd wrote:Nirvana is being happy with one's morning espresso, not achieving better espresso than has ever been.
At least, that's what I'm telling myself, and it's made the coffee better for me. Don't blow it for me!

+1

Psyd wrote:Nirvana is being happy with one's morning espresso, not achieving better espresso than has ever been.

That and day or two hiatus from espresso enhances your satisfaction.

tekomino wrote:and day or two hiatus from espresso

Oh, I'm not so sure I'd wanna go that far. Every six months or so, I leave the house before my first cuppa, to get a blood draw after fasting.
Once I decided that the extra sleep would be far better for me than my own espresso, and decided to hit a drive through on the way to an early call. On the left turn into the place, I narrowly avoided the head-on. And that was the second close call that morning!

Psyd wrote:I'm more of a 'Buddhist' convert. I try to take the coffee as the universe gives it to me, less through manipulation than by acceptance. Learning to be happy with what I have is far more rewarding than the never ending search for perfection. Nirvana is being happy with one's morning espresso, not achieving better espresso than has ever been.

Me too +1. Only I'd add, growing with the espresso.

Nirvana (for me) is getting the best from a coffee I'm using as simply as possible. Its not overly hard to ensure an even extraction each time and to do so as simply and quickly as possible is in my opinion best practice.

Agreed. Or at least one should know why one is doing things.

Well, thanks everyone who gave their advice. I will be posting a new video of my new equipment and attempt of a "technique" (Ian ). I have drastically improved the taste of my shots from this forum and have had a lot of fun along the way.

Thanks a lot!

c1raider wrote: I have drastically improved the taste of my shots from this forum and have had a lot of fun along the way.

It's great to hear! I'd say that's the point of it all here.