7 gram single shot?? Mission impossible!

#1: Post by **giboja** » August 1st, 2021, 8:01 am

Hi all

I need help to achieve 7-9 grams single shot espresso.
It can be 9 gramm, no problem, but it should be easy simple solution.

I have new Lelit Elizabeth, my first manual/semi manual espresso machine and cant get anywhere near consistent single shot 7-9 gramm espresso.

Main problem is tamping, I have 2 single dose baskets:
Original Lelit single ridgeless, 7 grams basket
and
IMS Marzocco Competition Filter Basket 7/9g - B701TH26.5E

Tampers are:
58,5 flat
57 flat
49.5 flat

If I dose Lelit 7 gram basket enough for 57-58.5 tamper to be able to compress the coffee (9gramm app), it stacks to shower screen.
If I dose less, tamper just cant get deep enough in basket to compress the coffee.

With marzocco ridged basket situation is the quite the same.

I try to first tamp with 58 tamper and with 49 tamper in center and that solution works the best but it is inconvenient and hard to repeat the sam.

I did read about LM basket and funnel but that is again too complicated.

Is there any other solution for simple single shot espresso or I bought wrong machine??

Thanks

#2: Post by **Jeff** » August 1st, 2021, 8:09 am

The problem is likely not the machine but the basket and tamper.

See, for example, What's the best single basket.

August 1st, 2021, 8:12 am

I did read that thread but cant see any new solution.
Maybe Reg Barber C-Flat or convex tamper can help a little to get rid of double tamping?

August 1st, 2021, 8:14 am

Jeff wrote:The problem is likely not the machine but the basket and tamper.

How it is done in Italy where all barista just dose and tamp single dose (7-9 grams) just like that and all is good?
Maybe commercial machine have more head space for puck not to touch shower screen?

#5: Post by **Jeff** » August 1st, 2021, 8:21 am

Getting a good shot from any current, pump-driven, home machine with a dose around 7 g is a challenge. Even with the better basket and tamper combinations.

If that is your goal, a mid- or late 20th century, home lever like a Caravel may do better. They were designed for a more petite shot, as was the practice then.

Classic, Italian roasts are also very different in their composition and roast than "specialty" coffee. There's a great thread on them at The hunt for best Italian roasted coffee beans

Otherwise I'd stick with roughly 15 g or larger doses in a conventional or "precision" basket, perhaps a bit less in the old-school "Faema" baskets.

August 1st, 2021, 8:32 am

That is bad news for me

I am used to have 3 esspreso in the first hour in the morning.
It was Jura E8, superautomatic, 10 gram, 30ml per cup, much weaker esspreso cofein and taste wise.

If I go with 15 gramm x 3 it will be too much cofein for me plus, my wife do not like strong espresso.

Is there anyone with experience with Decent 7 gramm basket??

#7: Post by **Auctor** » August 1st, 2021, 8:57 am

giboja wrote:Is there anyone with experience with Decent 7 gramm basket??

I purchased the Decent 10/12. The main difference I saw from Decent and the IMS 8/10 is the lack of sloped sidewalls in the Decent basket, which allowed you to get the same tamping workflow from a traditional 58mm tamper. The Decent basket is also shorter. I had some good luck with the Decent basket, but it suffered from a thinner puck than a traditional 14-18g basket, leading to incredible sensitivity to channeling and over extraction.

I recently switched back my to ECM double basket, and dose 12-13 grams (depending on roast). My 12 gram medium/dark extracts 18 grams in 20-24 seconds, and looks and tastes like perfection, with a great extraction out of the bottomless. A 12g light roast can yield 24g out in 28-32 seconds with an appropriate preinfusion, and isn't significantly more coffee (in grams) than what I was getting from a 9/10 gram dose.

I've since given up on the super small doses (<9 grams).

August 1st, 2021, 9:19 am

Is that this basket from ECM?
https://www.coffeeparts.com.au/516575-d ... asket-12gr

#9: Post by **Auctor** » August 1st, 2021, 9:46 am

It doesn't look like it. Unfortunately there are no markings on my basket - i can only tell you that it came stock with my Synchronika, and the basket walls aren't completely flat like the Decent. In analyzing three baskets more carefully (IMS 8/10, Decent 10/12, and the ECM Double), I can tell you that the IMS has the least amount of holes and the greatest sloping walls. But it's "taller" than the Decent 10/12, which has no sloped walls but the MOST holes. This is just me extrapolating now, but it seems what works for the ECM is a very slight sloping and a medium number of holes, combined with a nice puck height.

Edit: I think I found a pic of the ECM basket.

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/40239- ... ent=573299

#10: Post by **JohanR** » August 1st, 2021, 10:19 am

giboja wrote: I did read about LM basket and funnel but that is again too complicated.

In my mind a VST 7 gram basket or LM1 with a 41 mm tamper is the way to go for single shots. And you do not have to have a funnel. This will also make it possible to use the same grind setting as for a double in a 14 or 15 gram basket. (The area of a 58 mm basket is twice the area of a 41 mm one.)