If baking is a science and cooking is an art, then where does coffee-making sit? To explore this, we must answer the following question:

Which of our coffee-making decisions are fixed, and which aren’t?

In short, our setup is bound by physics and our equipment. The apparent decisions concerning extraction in fact reveal themselves as not being quite as open-ended and changeable as we might have first thought.

So which decisions are fixed?

1.Your roast density

2. Grinder burr geometry.

3. Basket (minus headspace)

4. Dose in (yes! depending our your coffee, this will have an optimal volume).

5. Grind size (yes! even this has an optimal fixed particle size).

Then depending on the sophistication of your machine,

6. Temperature

7. Pressure (and therefore flow)

So what remains of the ‘art’ and the dialing-in for taste? There’s not a whole lot, I’m afraid, but rather than being saddened by this, we think this is kind of liberating—there really is an ideal recipe for your unique coffee and setup! And the small changes you can play with can have a big impact on flavour.

Let’s check out a personal preference shot or two...

If your standard is 20g in and 40g out in 30 seconds, you will likely produce a big, syrupy shot with a full body. However, if you prefer a less viscous, sweeter shot, you can still run the same 30-second time, but with 20g in and 50g out. To achieve this, you will need to coarse up your grind slightly, and the shot will run a bit quicker. The overall strength will be the same, but you will notice many flavours have moved and changed, and the shot will be less viscous with less body but perhaps a little sweeter and more balanced.

But which one tastes better?!

Generally speaking, Clay would say the longer shot and Ben would go for the shorter shot. Tell us who’s right!

Happy Brewing!!