My barista friend told me my home espresso was way off... she was right

I've been making espresso at home for about 6 months with my Gaggia Classic. My friend who works at a shop in Portland came over last week and tried a shot I pulled. She said it was sour and told me I was probably running the water too cold at around 190 degrees. I bumped it up to 200 and changed my grind a little finer, and now my shots actually taste like real espresso instead of lemon juice. Has anyone else had a pro totally change how they dial in their machine?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenix291mo ago

Bumping temp and grinding finer is the standard fix for sour shots, but that's not always the right move. Sour can also come from under extraction due to a too coarse grind or low dose, not just cold water. I ran into this on my Silvia where dropping temp a few degrees actually helped because my grind was too fine and it was channeling. Point is, every machine and bean combo is different, so blindly following one person's advice might lead you down another rabbit hole.

sagep1914d ago

My buddy @ray189 actually had the exact same problem on his Silvia where pulling the temp down a few degrees fixed his sour shots because his grind was too fine and channeling like crazy... weird how counterintuitive this hobby can be sometimes.

ray1891mo ago

@phoenix29 your point about different machines is spot on. I had the same issue with my Gaggia where the actual brew temp was stable at 192 even with the thermostat set to 200, so bumping it up fixed my sour shots. Every machine runs a little different so you gotta check your actual water temp with a cheap thermometer before chasing grind adjustments.