# Amount of ground coffee vs grind courseness vs tamp strength



## julesee (Aug 12, 2014)

Ive now been making my own coffee at home for the last 9 months and the results are decent, but am eondering whether i can now take this up another level and get more flavour out of my beans. So far ive been setting the amount of ground beans in the puck to a certain level and using same tamp strength all the time, and adjusting the grind until i get the coffee extraction coming out at the right speed. Am i right in thinking though that different beans ideally require different combinations? If so how do you find the right combinations of ground coffee, tamp strength and grind courseness for any given bean?


----------



## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

I think you'll find on here the general consensus is you need to weigh the grind, and go for a ratio of 1:2 eg 18g in 36g out and looking for around 25 seconds for the pour...seems a bit of messing about but when you get it right it's worth it.


----------



## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Yes, I'm no expert, but I would be inclined not to mess about with different tamping pressures, as this is one of the things that you ideally want to develop consistency in, and set a muscle memory up. I'd keep the tamp the same, and maybe experiment with dose vs grind, or different ratios. If you tamp consistently then different beans will tell you what they want from the grinder. A slight drop in dose might get you a longer ratio in the same shot time. Try to keep as many factors the same so you can repeat it if you like the results. Varying your dose between say 17 and 19g (keeping grind and tamp the same) and stopping the shot at the same time will give you surprisingly different drinks. For instance sometimes I dose a little higher to get a short, sweet espresso with more mouth feel. Sometimes I drop it a gram and let it run say 17>45 in 28" which is very different but very nice also. You don't need to tweak much to have a voyage of discovery with one bean. But for myself, I'd say I'd get confused if I varied grind and dose and then started trying to semi-blindly compensate with a lighter/harder tamp.

Sounds like you're enjoying it though!


----------



## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

It does differ from different beans. Some darker roasts I was pulling shots on a 1:1 ristretto ratio. In fairness the last 3 different beans I've been tasting I've been getting the best results on 1:2 ratio. These have been on the lighter roster side.

1.6 is banded as the ball park figure and is a good starting point. If the shot tastes sour try giving it longer.


----------



## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Sorry have just re-read you thread. Try and keep the tamp pressure the same and let the grinder adjustments do the rest.


----------



## julesee (Aug 12, 2014)

Many thanks guys - will try some of the above.... First step clearly is buying some scales!


----------



## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Glad my ramblings may have been of use. Scales and a stopwatch or timer definitely help if you want to explore different tastes (and have any hope of repeating a good result!) If you have a smartphone you can even download espresso timer apps that count preinfusion, count down into the moment you start the shot and then count up. You can set brew time and an alarm sounds after the chosen time has elapsed. Cheaper than buying a kitchen timer that has those features. I don't think one needs to be terribly accurate with time, it's just good to have a gadget to take care of it while you are juggling milk jugs, portafilters etc and watching the scales and thinking about tastes. Easy to forget to notice how long the shot ran for while looking at the scales and the pour.

My scales are cheap (£8) Chinese one from eBay but they do the job. You want, ideally, scales that go up to 500g-1kg with 0.1g or better resolution. If they're big enough to fit a portafilter on (for ease of weighing dose in), but thin enough to fit under your cup when it's on the drip tray (to weigh coffee out) and can keep up with the shot as it runs then so much the better. But the cheap ones do the job OK.


----------



## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

Which espresso timer apps do you recommend? Hopefully available for iOS. Never thought to look for such an app despite having 400+ already installed!

Thanks.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

julesee said:


> Many thanks guys - will try some of the above.... First step clearly is buying some scales!


Have a read of this may or may not help

There will be some more articles / threads going up over the next week/ weeks around some basic processes

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/content.php?375-Weighing-Espresso-(Brew-Ratios)


----------



## julesee (Aug 12, 2014)

Many thanks again for everyone's help


----------

