Barista Cheat Sheet

This barista cheat sheet is a quick-start guide to pulling better espresso at home. It walks you through choosing your dose and shot recipe, dialing in your grinder, and using taste and shot time to fix slow or fast extractions while avoiding channeling. You’ll also find space to log your espresso recipes, basic tips for milk steaming, and simple backflushing and cleaning routines to keep your machine in top shape.

Brewing the Perfect Espresso Shot: A Quick Guide

Starting point

To achieve an ideal espresso shot, follow these steps:

1. Determine Your Dose: Check your portafilter basket's capacity. While 18g is common for a double shot, some baskets hold 15g. (For an 18g dose, aim for 36g of espresso in your cup.)

2. Observe the Flow: As the espresso extracts, look for a steady stream that resembles warm honey dripping from a spoon.

3. Target Recipe: Your goal ( for 1:2 ratio at 18g) is to extract 36 grams of espresso in 25-30 seconds.

Dialing in your Grinder

• When dialing in the grinder, you want to make small adjustments, as large adjustments can cause grinders to jam or get clogged. To avoid this, small adjustments are best, and when going finer, ALWAYS have the grinder ON and RUNNING as if there are beans between the burrs; this can also cause jamming.
  

• When trying to find a starting point on your grind size, I recommend starting a bit coarser (we will still want fine grounds, but may run fast) and going slowly towards that perfect fineness. See the picture below for what I look for in my grounds when looking for a starting point. ( I like starting at Fine and ending in very fine)

• You can see that there start to be small clumps staying together, you can almost create mounds with the tips of your fingers when squeezing the grounds.  

• Now, when going finer, make small adjustments like 1 or 2 notches, and remember to have your grinder running when going finer. 

• When dialing in for your first time, you may go through a little coffee, so I always use old coffee or coffee that isn’t my preferred, as you might be drinking some of these shots. 

• If your grinder jams or clogs, turn your dial while your grinder is on as coarse as you can go, and a few gentle taps or whacks on the side should help release any of that clogged grounds. Or you may need to take the burrs off and clean them ( see owner's manual/ our website for these instructions)

  • Product Diagram and Troubleshooting by brand/ Machine

    • Select a brand of machine

    • Select your machine 

    • Scroll through troubleshooting or view the parts diagram for parts and more

Dialing in Espresso

This task can be a barista's least favorite—or sometimes their favorite! Take your time and avoid rushing. Focus on perfecting one good shot before experimenting with new recipes or brew styles.

Always taste your shots. If you don't drink espresso straight, try adding some milk or hot water. This will help you understand how the flavor changes when the shot is pulled too quickly or too slowly.

Shot Pulling too Slow

• Taste Profile: Bitter notes, earthy, reminiscent of an IPA.

• Grind Adjustment: Your grinds are too fine. Adjust your grind size coarser. The degree of adjustment depends on the severity of the slowness (a few seconds slow requires a small adjustment; significantly slow requires a few notches).

• Tamping Pressure: Ensure you are not tamping too hard. Aim for approximately 40 lbs of pressure.

• Correction Method: Continue to adjust the grind size coarser incrementally until the desired shot time is achieved.

Shot Pulling too Quickly

• Taste Profile: Sour notes, causing the palate to pucker.

• Grind Adjustment: Your grinds are too coarse. Adjust your grind size finer. The degree of adjustment depends on the severity of the quickness (significantly fast requires a few notches finer; only a few seconds fast requires a micro-adjustment).

• Tamping Pressure: Ensure you are tamping sufficiently hard, aiming for approximately 40 lbs of pressure. This can be achieved with a strong, downward press.

Channeling

Channeling occurs during the espresso extraction process when water, upon contacting the coffee puck, seeks paths of least resistance. This results in an uneven flow, bypassing certain areas of the coffee grounds and leading to incomplete saturation and extraction.

Avoiding Channeling

• Even Distribution: Before tamping, ensure coffee grounds are uniformly distributed in the portafilter. A WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique) tool can help break up clumps and create a consistent bed of coffee.

• Consistent Tamping: Apply even and steady pressure when tamping. A level tamp is crucial to prevent variations in density within the coffee puck.

• Proper Grind Size: The correct grind size is essential. A grind that's too fine can cause high resistance, leading to channeling, while a grind that's too coarse will result in water flowing too quickly, also creating channels.

• Pre-infusion: If your machine offers pre-infusion, utilize it. This feature gently saturates the coffee puck before full pressure, preventing water from forcefully blasting through any weak spots.

• Fresh Coffee: Use freshly roasted coffee beans. Stale coffee can be harder to extract evenly and is more prone to channeling.

Espresso Monitoring Record

Attached to the bottom of this page is a printable sheet to help you track your shots while dialing in. To use it, mark down the variables of your shot, pull your shot, note the results, and make adjustments based on what you found. Here's an example:

 

Milk Steaming

Learning how to steam milk and pour latte art can seem intimidating, but with some practice and attention to technique, you’ll be creating café-style drinks at home.

Video Guide

Visual Aids

Watching the video above will give you the basics of frothing milk, but to get better, you'll need to practice. Here are some great visual aids for quick reference while you do. 

 

Backflushing

Backflushing forces hot water (and, periodically, detergent) backwards through the brew group to clear coffee oils and residue from the shower screen, holding plate, and three-way valve. It's an important part of keeping your machine running smoothly and your coffee tasting great.

Video Guide

Recommended Frequency

• Daily/Weekly: Backflush with no detergent at the end of the day, when you're done with your machine, or at least once a week.

• Monthly: Backflush with detergent (like Cafiza) monthly.

Associated Products

• 58 mm Backflush Disc

• Urnex Cafiza (Backflush Detergent)