Grind finer vs Increase yield - confused

DrForinor So 1:3 with this coffee, at 1.5 notches coarser than the less pleasant 1:2 shot, worked well.

Do you feel that you need to adjust anything, given the shot was as you described?

I wouldn’t adjust anything with this coffee, until a few shots in succession show the same fault.

If the next coffee/successive brews with this coffee start becoming sharp/tart, try a slightly finer grind. If you can’t shake the sharpness/tartness with grind adjustment, or the shot is very sharp/tart go longer on the ratio.

If shots with another coffee are flat/silty/muddled in flavour without sharpness/tartness, shorten the ratio, if this doesn’t fix it, grind coarser. If shots taste balanced at long ratios, but are just too weak & lacking intensity, try a shorter ratio and grind finer if tartness/sharpness creep in.

Bitterness can be inherent in coffee, some coffees just have more than others, without knowing the coffee itself it’s hard to advise. So look for other defects as well as the bitterness (chalky/powdery mouthfeel, lack of acidity). Over-extraction is a very specific bitterness, very drying and smoky, dominating the flavour. It is often very difficult to do in espresso at 1:2 or 1:3 even if you tried hard. I don’t think advice to adjust based on bitterness (in general) alone is very useful.

I find sharpness/tartness a better indicator (as opposed to pleasing, fruit like acidity bearing in mind some fruit are sour - it’s that puckering sourness we want to avoid) as this is pretty much always under-extraction. Also if the shot is so intense that it is preventing you from determining quite how it tastes, go longer.

DrForinor When I say bitterness, I’m getting a dry astringent finish. If I get this, do I go shorter with the ratio, or keep ratio same and grind coarser?

If the intensity of strength of the shot is acceptable, I’d grind coarser in the first instance.

DrForinor Another query, as a coffee ages - as a general rule - to get a better result from it what seems to work better with grind/ratio? Finer/coarser? Longer/shorter? Or is there no general rule, and go purely on taste?

I don’t tend to buy big bags, nor make lots of brews from one bag via the same method, but if we are talking about the same coffee, that is displaying the same fault in more than one successive cup, change the grind.

For a little context, if you are enjoying a coffee brewed to 18% extraction at 1:2 the concentration of the shot would be around 9%TDS. But a high 22% extraction at 1:3 would be around 7% TDS. So at these intervals in ratio there is no overlap in concentration and therefore, if the strength intensity is OK and you just need to adjust flavour balance, use grind.

I do a downwards tap, then a couple of side taps with the heel of the hand to level.

In what way has it ‘thrown’ you?

DrForinor How is this affecting the taste?

DrForinor OK, see what coarser does, with a downward tap & side taps to level. If, at the end of the day, tap at top setting 12 gives you the best flavour, then stick with that, but I tend to grind at the coarsest setting that gives good flavour balance.

DrForinor Maybe I have started to be more/less aggressive with my taps?

The key is consistency what ever you do to fresh grinds. That includes tapping them especially if firmly or near that but sometimes there is no choice especially when tapping grinds down.

Something I have rather recently started to do. Side taps to get a heap levelish and a currently 2 taps down to get them to sink. First problem was doing that holding the portafilter handle. That’s swinging it so grinds may finish up out of level. I then use a 2 slope leveller. Net effect when they aren’t level is many flows starting with 2 out of the filter basket that merge to one at some point and wiggle around. I now tap holding the end of the portafilter and the funnel. That tends to leave the top of them flat. More flows start with 1 and wiggle around less. I am using 2 firm taps. I may switch to one and for the same ratio that will need a different time or a grinder change. I use a ~15kg tamp which some might think overcomes variations from this area but it doesn’t. :( I am painfully aware of this as I always use a 30sec fixed shot time and check weigh what comes out. ;) I like a challenge.

Overall though the change has improved things. Obviously a higher yield as more of the puck is getting extracted more evenly. This isn’t channelling as such, It’s fairly minor variations in water flow across and through the puck.