The [coffee snobs'] espresso thread

I tried the smallest Big Bang and the smallest The One. Both run way to fast with my 12.7 gram dose. The Big Bang says 16 gram on the side of the box.
The best filter I have for the size shot I draw is the one with the reduced center hole that came with the machine.
It was worth a try. I might try a larger shot just to know. But I don't want to start using 25% more beans and jacking my caffeine intake when the stock one works well.
 
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My Big Bang filter baskets are all 25 gram. I was using them when I was trying updosing with over roasted coffee, rather than finer grinding, to slow extraction times. At one point, I really liked them. But as I got away from those coffees, and went back toward 18 to 20 gram doses, they became annoying to work with.

I have an 18 gram and a couple of 20 gram BaristaPro filter baskets, and the 20 gram have really become my go to baskets.

In my experience, it is best to settle on some gear and then figure out how to dial it in. I found that even nominally identical bits don’t necessarily perform the same. I’ve got a drawer full of puck screens, portafilters, baskets, and other accoutrements. I have figured out two sets that are not only nominally identical, but also performance identical, and I use those two sets.
 
Agree Another J. I have one setup that works well. I like to experiment and see if there is better
The hard part is my wife is using a mold free coffee that is lighter roast. That throws off the grinder. I gave her a basket with an even more radical taper to slow down the flow. It was too much.

I put 16.5 in the big bang and it was 32 seconds for 28. I will try 15.5. If that gets me to 30 seconds and 30 grams, I will work it a little longer.
 
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Agree Another J. I have one setup that works well. I like to experiment and see if there is better
The hard part is my wife is using a mold free coffee that is lighter roast. That throws off the grinder. I gave her a basket with an even more radical taper to slow down the flow. It was too much.

I put 16.5 in the big bang and it was 32 seconds for 28. I will try 15.5. If that gets me to 30 seconds and 30 grams, I will work it a little longer.
I set up a DF64 v2 grinder with 64mm cast lab sweet burrs for my wife’s pour overs. I am running espresso beverages through a DF83V at 600 rpm, with stock espresso burrs. I really like not having to go back and forth between filter and espresso grind settings, and I like not having to clear her coffee out of my grinder.

Our routine is her pour over and two doppios for me at breakfast. I do another pour over for her at lunch, and one more doppio for me. Of the three doppios, one gets turned into a cappuccino, but the other two are just straight shots.

Coffee beans are an agricultural product, so there is variability from one dose to the next. This variability diminishes greatly with SCA quality beans, and even more if the SCA beans are single origin. It is a miracle if a blend is consistent from shot to shot. The Moon Walker is surprisingly consistent, as is the Tim Horton’s. Both are blends, and the Tim Horton’s is not SCA level, although it is surprisingly good quality most of the time.

The Moon Walker and the Tim Horton’s are close enough in bean density that the same grind setting works for both if the bags were opened on the same day. Because I’m doing three doppios a day, the first one gives me a reference to fine tune the grind for the other two. I stay pretty close to 20 grams in for 40 grams out in 25 to 30 seconds at 9 bar.
 
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Tried the BB again. It definitely wants 16 grams coffee. I don't think the shot is any better or worse than when I use the stock basket that takes 12.7 grams. It was worth a try.
Anyone want a BB and a The One. $30 for both.
 

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