MediumRoastSteam I wonder if it would make sense to think of preinfusion time as operating at half speed, or something like that? As in, if I were to do a long preinfusion (like 16s), maybe it would make sense to treat that as 8 seconds of shot time, because if I treated it as a full 16s, then the rest of the shot would be 16s at most, which seems way too fast.
Anyway, I did run a shot that was close to the parameters you suggested, I got 16 in, ~32 out in 39s with 10s preinfusion at 92C. First drips came out maybe 2s after the pump started back up. It was definitely drinkable, but (i think) a bit acidic for my taste. Not sure if it was a tad sour, or if that’s just the proper acidity that an ethiopian natural should have, and I just need to get used to it. It went into a cortado, which is how I usually deal with any less-than-ideal but still drinkable shot. I could go a bit coarser, but then I’d be a little worried about acidity. Should I maybe go a half setting coarser but bump up the temp to maybe 93C to compensate?
Also weirdly enough, I just noticed that the bag itself classifies this particular coffee as a “dark” roast, but it definitely doesn’t look dark to me, I would classify it as medium - certainly no darker than, say, Stumptown Hair Bender, which I assume a lot of people (Americans at least) are familiar with.