Purchased the 1ZPresso J MAX last week and a little bit confused about the suggested or documented grinder setting for espresso (120 clicks).

I've tried a few different beans (all roasted with the last 14 days, lighter roasts for the most part), and unless I am grinding at around 165, I cannot get even close to getting 40g of espresso from 20g of bean in 25-30 seconds from 1st drop. At 120 (the recommended), I totally stall my Elektra A3, Some variance depending on the bean, but have never been below 150.

I've recalibrated a few times and always back to the exact same setting. Any ideas? It is what it is?

Grant

I would say it is what it is. Different beans require different settings. When you're calibrating, what are you setting as your zero point? Fully locked down or burrs slightly touching?

I would say I am pretty tightly locked up when I am callibrating to 0. Very little to no room to go past 0. I can't seem to find any specific reference to how locked down the burrs should be when calibrating, but after disassembling and putting it back together, I'll be exerting "strong" pressure holding the burrs together when setting the 0 point.

Hi Grant
I have the Jmax and read that the espresso setting is actually between 120 and 150 clicks but my experience is pretty similar to yours - am finding with mine calibrated to 0 the sweet spot is about 154/55, down to 148ish for decaf for good ratios. Possibly with the burrs breaking in, there will be less fines, and it will settle at a lower number - but this is only my speculation.
Cheers
John

I can't find it, but I recall 1zpresso saying their measurements were based on the 0 point being set to where the burrs touch, rather than full lock. I think it was some reference material for the JX-Pro. That could account for your discrepancy.

Zero point on my J-Max is calibrated as fully locked up.
Going by the indicators rather than the clicks, 1.4.4 was a decent espresso shot on my VBM.
1.6.6 for my Nanopresso (what I bought it for, for camping).

I've also put a decent amount of beans though it for v60 etc. which would have aided break in.