BREW GUIDE · No 01 / 06
Caffeine & Co · Brew Guides
Espresso,
dialed in.
Espresso, sourced: 18 to 19g in, 36 to 38g out, 25 to 35 seconds. Ratio, dose, grind and temperature, with the reasoning behind every number, cited.
Brew along
Watch it fill as you scroll.
The clock and the vessel track your place in the brew. Every step carries its moment on the timer, and the reason it matters.
in the cup: 36g of a 36g target
Warm everything, purge once
Run the group head for two seconds. Cup on the tray, portafilter hot and dry.
A cold basket steals heat from the first seconds of the shot, the part that sets the tone for everything after. Square Mile's own brew guide opens with the same rinse before anything touches the basket.
18 to 19 g in, distributed flat
Dose 18 to 19 g, break the clumps, level, then tamp firm and dead level.
Counter Culture's go-to recipe doses 18 g; Square Mile's doses 19 g. Both land on the same 1:2 ratio, so either is a legitimate starting point. Water is lazy: it finds the loosest path, and an uneven bed becomes a channel.
Lock in, start the clock
Start the shot and the timer in the same motion.
The timer is your main diagnostic. Both roasters time from the first drop of the pump, not from when you press the button.
First drops, dark and slow
Around eight seconds in: syrup-thick drops the colour of dark chocolate.
Much earlier and the grind is running coarse; much later and it's choking. You can read most of the shot from this one moment.
Watch the blonde, stop at 36 to 38 g
The stream pales as extraction finishes. Cut it at 36 g (Counter Culture) to 38 g (Square Mile) out, at 25 to 35 seconds.
Square Mile targets 28 to 32 seconds; Counter Culture's window runs 25 to 35. Past the blonding point you're mostly adding bitter, watery late extraction to a finished shot.
Taste. Then move one dial.
Sour, bitter, weak, harsh? Change one variable, usually grind, and pull again.
Counter Culture's own adjustment guide is this simple: shot ran under 25 seconds, grind finer; ran past 35, grind coarser. Change two things at once and you learn nothing.
Dial it in
Turn the knob. The maths follows.
Drag the dial to how many shots you are brewing. Dose and yield update live, on the same ratio as the guide.
Counter Culture's 18 g to 36 g recipe, the same 1:2 ratio the brew ratio calculator in the Data Lab runs live. Square Mile's 19 g to 38 g recipe scales identically.
Troubleshoot by taste
The taste compass.
Tap what is wrong with the cup. Get the one move that fixes it.
Sour · under-extracted
The water left before it finished the job.
- Grind finer, the single most likely fix
- Let the shot run closer to 35 seconds before cutting
- Check the water is actually up to temperature
Bitter · over-extracted
The water stayed past the good part.
- Grind coarser so the shot runs faster
- Cut at the target yield, not after, per Square Mile's 28 to 32 second window
- Try water a degree or two cooler
Weak · under-strength
Extraction may be fine: there is just not enough coffee in the water.
- Dose up toward 19 g in the basket
- Tighten the ratio, pull shorter, toward Counter Culture's 1:1.5 floor
- Check the basket actually fits the dose
Harsh · uneven extraction
Sour and bitter at once: the classic channeling signature.
- Distribute better before tamping, break every clump
- Tamp level, not hard, per Square Mile's step-by-step
- Inspect the spent puck for pinholes and cracks
Common questions
Espresso FAQ.
Why is my espresso shot sour?
Sour usually means under-extraction: the grind is too coarse, the shot is running under 25 seconds, or the water is not hot enough. Grind finer first, since Counter Culture's own adjustment guide flags a sub-25-second shot as a too-coarse grind.
How long should an espresso shot take?
Square Mile targets 28 to 32 seconds for their 19 g in, 38 g out recipe. Counter Culture's window is a bit wider, 25 to 35 seconds, for 18 g in, 36 g out. Both are built on the same 1:2 ratio.
What grind size is right for espresso?
Fine, close to caster sugar, per Square Mile's own brew guide. If the shot runs faster than your target window, grind finer. If it runs past 35 seconds, grind coarser.
What's the ideal coffee-to-water ratio for espresso?
1:2 is the industry-standard starting point, per both Counter Culture and Square Mile: roughly 18 to 19 g of coffee to 36 to 38 g of espresso out. A 1:1 ratio pulls a concentrated ristretto; 1:3 pulls a diluted lungo.
Do I need a scale to make good espresso?
Yes. Both Counter Culture's and Square Mile's published recipes are defined entirely by weight, dose in and yield out, because that's the one variable that makes a shot repeatable.
What water temperature is espresso brewed at?
Most machines hold the group head in the same broad window filter coffee uses, roughly 90 to 96°C (195 to 205°F), and it's a factory-set variable on most home machines rather than something you dial in shot to shot.
Fits the recipe above
Gear for this method.
Transparency: the buttons below are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Fit notes come from manufacturer specifications read against this guide's recipe, not hands-on trials.
Breville lists a 54mm portafilter, PID temperature control and a ThermoJet system that reaches brew temperature in about 3 seconds, squarely inside the 90-96°C window our espresso guide works in.
Its 40mm conical steel burrs run micro steps on settings 1 to 20 for espresso and macro steps on 21 to 40, covering the fine to fine-medium grinds our espresso and moka pot guides call for.
A commercial grade group head and 58mm portafilter give the heat stability that steady 9 bar, 25-30 second shots in our espresso guide depend on.
Fellow names espresso, pour-over, French press and cold brew directly among the Opus's supported methods on one 41+ setting dial, though the 110g hopper and catch bin fall short of the 125g per litre our cold brew guide calls for in a single load.
Gaggia's own spec sheet calibrates the OPV to the 9 bar our espresso guide's gear list requires and ships a 58mm double spout portafilter with a matching tamper, though the included baskets top out at 14 to 18 grams, short of the 19 gram high end of our guide's dose range.
Breville's own spec sheet pairs a 15 bar pump delivering 9 bar extraction with a built in conical burr grinder and a matched 54mm tamper, though that grinder runs 16 fixed settings rather than stepless and the box ships without the 0.1g scale our espresso guide's gear list calls for.
Eureka's own spec sheet lists a 55mm flat, hardened steel burr on a stepless dial, satisfying our espresso guide's stepless-preferred requirement, and a 300 gram hopper (500 plus with the optional upsize) that comfortably outlasts the 18 to 19 gram dose per shot our guide calls for.
One system, six methods
Every guide is this same skeleton wearing its method's numbers: the dials re-read, the vessel changes shape, the compass carries method-specific fixes. Design once, brew six ways.
What you need
- Espresso machine capable of 9 bar
- Burr grinder, stepless preferred
- Digital scale, 0.1 g resolution
- Tamper matched to the basket diameter
- Bottomless or spouted portafilter
Keep exploring
Sources & data
- Counter Culture Coffee, Guide To Espresso
- Square Mile Coffee Roasters, Espresso Brew Guide
- Square Mile Coffee Roasters, Let's talk about espresso recipes
- Bialetti, How the Moka works (espresso machine pressure, for comparison)
- Counter Culture Coffee, Guide To The AeroPress (standard brew temperature range)
- Caffeine & Co, brew ratio calculator methodology