Brewing & Dialing In

A perfectly maintained machine still pulls bad shots if the grind, dose and technique are off. This section is about extraction: dialing in a new bag of beans, fixing sour or bitter shots, getting even flow without channeling, and steaming milk that pours instead of spluttering. We break down grind size, dose, tamp, ratio and shot time in plain language, then show how to adjust just one variable at a time until espresso tastes sweet and balanced. It’s the same process baristas use behind the bar, scaled down for a home setup and a single portafilter. Master this and your machine finally does what you paid for – café-quality shots in your own kitchen, repeatably, not by luck.