Marcelnl wrote:too fresh is also not great, I'm not familiar with the C40, from what I read is's use for espresso is a bit handicapped;

Comandante C40 for espresso

Did you also go BELOW 17g, as channeling gets in your way quite easily when you overdose?

Key message is to keep at it!

I agree the beans may be too fresh yet. I'm going to let them settle a bit.

I have done 16 grams and I got that to work

I think your answer lies there! Suggest you focus on getting 14-15 g to work and then play around with higher doses if you need to/want to.

The coffees you listed using, in my opinion, don't exactly seem to be what you want to be using. Starbucks and Costco, no. Now, are there some specialty grocery stores out there capable of putting out a decent espresso blend, and sell it fresh? Yes, but it's not common.

Do yourself a favor and take the coffee out of the equation, by mail ordering some beans from a known roaster. I did a quick search for coffee roasters in the Winnipeg area, and why don't you try, LittleSisterCoffeeMaker.ca, they used to be called Dogwood Coffee. From their instagram, they seem like they're on the up and up, and, seems somewhat local. For the mail order option, (which I prefer because the beans arrive basically TOO fresh, like 2-3 days old, and you get the whole flavor window), 49th Parallel is always a Canadian recommend, as is Social Coffee. Freshness matters, ideally somewhere around a week out of the roaster, up too 2 weeks. But just as important, is quality of both the coffee being roasted, and the roaster doing the roasting.

Thanks so much for the assistance!

To be clear I have tried two varieties of freshly roasted (feb 15 2022) Escarpment Coffee from idrinkcoffee in Ontario. I also tried some Harrison's (Local roaster to me) and I have had the same results with everything. I MUST BE CLEAR, this is not a reflection on the quality or flavour of their offerings as they are fantastic when I make them in my aeropress. This is a me thing.

I only mentioned using off the shelf stuff because I wanted to see if there was a varying level to the sourness between different brands. I managed to make an acceptable shot using some Level Ground Trading Organic Africa beans (Costco) but I think that may be because I am getting closer to dialing things in. I am using these beans to try to figure things out as they were a Costco sized bag and reasonable. Most of these shots are getting donated to the sink.

Grinds were 19.5 grams in 38.9 grams out in 32 seconds. Still some sourness but that was the initial flavour followed by some dark chocolate then slight bitterness. No channeling evident through the bottomless portafilter so I think I am getting closer. My next thought is to lower the dose again as many have suggested now that I seem to be getting the tamp, distribution and grinding down.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions for local roasters, I am going to reach out to little sisters and see what they recommend for a smooth espresso experience that doesn't highlight acidity. I will be mindful of the roast date

What brew temp are you using? Temperature is another variable you can play if you're hitting the recipe you want and are still getting sour notes. Increasing temperature will increase extraction and likely remove sourness. Your BDB will allow accurate adjustments.

Excellent suggestion thank you! I am at 199 right now, I should probably up that to 203?

one word of advice; play with ONE variable at a time or you;ll be chasing your tail for a good while.

You could also give Stone City Coffee Roasters a try --- they are in Steinbach but have delivery to Winnipeg a couple times a month. They have several nice Medium Roast selections (I am partial to their Guatemalan) that work nicely for espresso. (they also have small displays in many Sobey's stores (bakery section usually) in Winnipeg, but check the roast dates as they don't seem to have fast turnover at the one close to me).

Marcelnl wrote:one word of advice; play with ONE variable at a time or you;ll be chasing your tail for a good while.

Haha yes thank you. I learned this the hard way. I have the following working. Water temp 203, 17 grams of ground coffee, distribute, light even tamp, and from there based on the coffee I just adjust grind. Seems to be the only form of stability so far

jandrew wrote:You could also give Stone City Coffee Roasters a try --- they are in Steinbach but have delivery to Winnipeg a couple times a month. They have several nice Medium Roast selections (I am partial to their Guatemalan) that work nicely for espresso. (they also have small displays in many Sobey's stores (bakery section usually) in Winnipeg, but check the roast dates as they don't seem to have fast turnover at the one close to me).

Excellent I will try from them as well! Thank you so much! This forum is awesome thanks so much for all of the help and suggestions!