jpender wrote:I must be cross-eyed today. But it seems to me you're saying that if the shot is underextracted I should grind more coarsely. Isn't that backwards? Or am I standing on my head?

That's how the diagram reads to me as well. It seems to say that to get from a sour, underextracted brew to a good one I should either coarsen the grind or decrease the dose.

Notice that that's the way the up and down arrows work. To get from a good brew to a milder good brew you follow the arrows which say to grind finer and dose less and to get from a good brew to a bolder brew you follow the arrows and grind coarser and dose higher.

Otherwise, I enjoy the added design elements of this image compared to the others around.

@jpender and @hercdeisel

You are reading it right and that is the right course of action. When the espresso is under extracted it means that the water isn't going through the ground coffee easily. You either have too much coffee or the grind was too fine forming an impenetrable puck. To go from under extracted espresso, you have to either decrease the amount of ground coffee or coarsen the grind to allow for water to come through easier.

Then you have the opposite problem when the espresso is over extracted. Water flow is too fast because there isn't enough coffee or the grind was too coarse.

You have it the wrong way round - this is incorrect.

rgalang wrote:@jpender and @hercdeisel

You are reading it right and that is the right course of action. When the espresso is under extracted it means that the water isn't going through the ground coffee easily. You either have too much coffee or the grind was too fine forming an impenetrable puck. To go from under extracted espresso, you have to either decrease the amount of ground coffee or coarsen the grind to allow for water to come through easier.

Then you have the opposite problem when the espresso is over extracted. Water flow is too fast because there isn't enough coffee or the grind was too coarse.

This statement is categorically wrong. Please edit. If confused just read the faqs section or just search around. You have been doing it all the other way around

With that said, you write: "the grind was too fine forming an impenetrable puck" , this is true to the extent that there is a limit of how fine you can grind a coffee before under-extraction becomes a problem due to blockages, this will manifest with signs of machine choking or way longer than desired extraction time. This is when the recommendation to grind coarser comes, but everything else in your statement is just plainly misinformed.

I'll hold off on framing the chart above my espresso machine.

oh boy it does appear that I had the definition of over and under extraction backwards. Embarrassing to say the least! I defined "over" as fast flow of water and "under" as slow flow. I'll fix this ASAP. Apologies for the confusion and glad I learned the right terminology.

Definitions aside, you created an awesome diagram that's easy to understand and visually appealing. I'm definitely looking forward to version 2. Thanks for taking the time to make this!

rgalang wrote: oh boy it does appear that I had the definition of over and under extraction backwards. Embarrassing to say the least! I defined "over" as fast flow of water and "under" as slow flow. I'll fix this ASAP. Apologies for the confusion and glad I learned the right terminology.

hey man, no need to worry. It can be quite confusing. Great job with the chart. Very well done.

Your diagram specifies 1:1-1:2 for ristretto and 1:3 for normale. Andy Schecter (who invented brew ratios) defines a normale as 1:2 and a lungo as 1:3.

If you're going to publish this diagram, you might as well get it right.

rgalang wrote:I want to reference this Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste as the inspiration for my version. I'd love your feedback and recommendations. My hope is that it is self-explanatory and can easily be followed by new and old espresso drinkers. Most of the content I've learned from the threads here and from my own experience. Thanks in advance! <image>

I will be using your diagram to fine tune