# Sour tasting coffee



## Geoff (Jul 11, 2020)

As a NEWBIE with a new Gaggia Classic I got a cheap bag beans and using this I think. got my Specialita set correctly and produced a few nice shots. Just moved on to a different bean and with same settings the first shot was sour. Looking for advice on what causes sour coffee to know what to change.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Low extraction probably. Could also be poorly roasted beans. Potentially very low alkalinity water. Could be beans are too fresh.

You might want to provide at least some description of what you've done.

Weight of dose: Weight of espresso. Time.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Many things can give a sour taste in the mouth. Often it's temperature too low. Sometimes it can be a result of other things your doing as many experienced people have found.

Review everything your doing and try changing things, especially the temperature. Sometimes though it can't be fixed and is a product of the particular coffee.


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## bargi (May 7, 2020)

I've got results better since
- purge for a 3-4 secs (don't need to keep purging till it goes out, it'll go out soon after)
- portafilter in
- wait for light to go out (might already be out)
- wait for light to come on and immediatly hit steam for 4-6 secs or so (tweak as necessary)
- Steam off and pull the shot!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## Geoff (Jul 11, 2020)

Thanks. I'm now using Horsham workhorse blend beans. Using 18g coffee to get 36ml in about 30sec. I left the grinder set up unchanged following experiments with cheap Tesco beans. Had been using 15g, but the new beans produced 18g on same timer setting and seemed to tamp down to suitable depth in Gaggia basket. Haven't been that careful with temperature control as assumed in the grand scheme of things as a newcomer it wasn't that critical in comparison to grinder setting etc. Wondering if this is just a different tasting bean, will keep trying. Actually the best shots so far have come from the free ground coffee supplied by Gaggia!


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## Marcros (Feb 9, 2020)

I find better shots with my gaggia are with longer times. 18g in, 36g out over 45-55 secs works for me. I have generally had better shots at 60s than at the recommended 30.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

36ml or 36g?

Get on top of temperature control first.

Grind finer or try a longer ratio next (e.g. 45g).

Make sure you're purging stale grinds in the grinder.


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## Pablo El Beano (Jun 15, 2019)

Marcros said:


> I find better shots with my gaggia are with longer times. 18g in, 36g out over 45-55 secs works for me. I have generally had better shots at 60s than at the recommended 30.


 Same on my old PID'd Classic set at 9 bar. Nothing wrong with pushing it to almost a minute and even up to 1:2.5 ratio. Grinding finer with lighter roasted fruity profiles (particularly Ethiopians) so the first drops start at about 20-28 seconds stopping at about 50-60 produced some lovely shots. Fruit forward, nice mottling on the crema, balanced finish etc.

My thinking, is it is pretty much forcing a pre-infusion. I found this by mistake, and it made me not worried about going out of the recommended guidelines to see what flavours I can pull from different roasts. Seemed to work ok on that machine.


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## Geoff (Jul 11, 2020)

Rob1 said:


> 36ml or 36g?
> 
> Get on top of temperature control first.
> 
> ...


 I assumed 36ml is the same as 36g of coffee

however I will try more of a focus on temperature.


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## Blue_Cafe (Jun 22, 2020)

Geoff said:


> I assumed 36ml is the same as 36g of coffee
> 
> however I will try more of a focus on temperature.


 No.

Volume is not a constant when dealing with coffee as espresso contains gas (mostly CO2).

Stick to weight. It's a much more reliable and and constant metric.


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