Dosing terminology and basket question

#1: Post by **Sfnewbie** » June 29th, 2016, 12:50 pm

I am a bit confused when people refer to single, double and triples. I've always taken this to mean the number of shots put in a drink but it seems like the more common usage is number of grams of coffee in the portafilter.

When someone says double, what specifically are they referring to? If it is a number of grams, then what do you call a cappuccino with two shots?

Related, I have a 20-gram VST basket that I dose with 18-19 grams. I have plenty of headroom after the tamp. Is there wisdom on whether it's ok to use a basket bigger than the typical dose? Should I be using an 18 gram basket for an 18 gram dose?

#2: Post by **shawndo** » June 29th, 2016, 12:53 pm

7 grams is the official "single"
Double and triple are multiples of that.

The numbers that are in between usually round down.
i.e. 18grams is a double

You can usually dose arbitrarily in a basket except for vst baskets . They are an exception in that they usually don't work well if they are more than +/-1 gram from the nominal dose. (I've seen exceptions depending on the coffee used)(yes, thats sort of a double exception)

#3: Post by **lakesidecoffee** » July 1st, 2016, 6:04 am

shawndo wrote:You can usually dose arbitrarily in a basket except for vst baskets .

When finding your dose you have to consider two aspects:

1. For every basket there exists an ideal dose, depending on desired extraction parameters (e.g. brew ratio and brew time), coffee, grinder, machine, brew pressure and other factors.
Updosing allows grinding coarser and extracting less, downdosing allows grinding finer and increase extraction (until you hit a point where extraction decreases due to microchanneling).
This is true for EVERY basket (VST and Non-VST). The only difference is that VST-Baskets are produced more precisely. When using them you usually have to grind finer because in relation to the recommended dose their holes have less resistance than most stock baskets.

2. Be careful that there is enough headspace for your dose with a given basket and machine.