# Tips on ground coffees?



## Joebreit (Sep 25, 2021)

Hi guys, I bought the Sage Bambino Plus this week and I bought coffee from Caravan as I thought they were pretty decent. I bought the "expresso" grind. Very disappointed as I cannot get one single shot with it. Simply no liquid comes out and the few drops that comes are super sour&#8230; I don't really want to buy a grinder as I want it ready to be used. But I don't mind spending money on good coffee. Does it need to be more coarse? What's the right grind?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you're going to buy pre-ground, you are always going to get the grind that you get, so tips on 'the right grind' aren't going to be meaningful.

Really, you need to buy a grinder.

In the meantime, you are getting no coffee out because the grind is too fine and/or you have too much coffee in the basket. You can't change the grind size of pre-ground, so all you can really do to lessen resistance, is to reduce the dose so that you achieve your brew ratio before the extraction times out.

What weight of coffee dose are you using?

What brew ratio are you brewing at? (e.g. 18g in to 54g out would be 1:3)


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## Joebreit (Sep 25, 2021)

Thanks, that's helpful. I'm using 19g as average&#8230; could that be pressing the coffee too much?


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## HVL87 (Dec 17, 2019)

Also are you using the single or dual wall basket (not sure if the bambino play is coming with both at the moment)? If it is a true espresso grind this may choke the dual wall basket.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

You don't need to use 19g, 17g works fine, you might even try 16g.

Not sure what you mean by "as average", surely this means you are using more than 19g at times? Stick to one weight for a few shots, see how they pan out at different ratios, still no joy? Downdose a little, stick to that dose (within +/-0.2g) & try again.

You don't need to tamp hard, don't use tamp force to vary shot times. With a regular tamper it's hard to tamp less than 5kg, be consistent, distribute in the basket before tamping & tamp flat.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

"Ready to be used"????? As in you don't want to spend 5 seconds grinding it and you'll just live with the massively decreased quality to save a few seconds? Spending money on good coffee that has been pre-ground is at odds with buying good coffee.


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## Joebreit (Sep 25, 2021)

MWJB said:


> You don't need to use 19g, 17g works fine, you might even try 16g.
> 
> Not sure what you mean by "as average", surely this means you are using more than 19g at times? Stick to one weight for a few shots, see how they pan out at different ratios, still no joy? Downdose a little, stick to that dose (within +/-0.2g) & try again.
> 
> You don't need to tamp hard, don't use tamp force to vary shot times. With a regular tamper it's hard to tamp less than 5kg, be consistent, distribute in the basket before tamping & tamp flat.


 Thanks! This is very helpful. I'll try it.


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## Joebreit (Sep 25, 2021)

Rob1 said:


> "Ready to be used"????? As in you don't want to spend 5 seconds grinding it and you'll just live with the massively decreased quality to save a few seconds? Spending money on good coffee that has been pre-ground is at odds with buying good coffee.


 What grind takes 5 seconds from beginning to end, including cleaning?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

You don't need to clean the grinder every time you use it...

5 seconds may have been an exaggeration though grinders do exist that can deliver that, and even faster. In common use, fairly certain Mazzer Majors/Royals deliver almost 3g/s (so about 6 seconds for 18g). A Mignon is supposed to be about 2g/s, the bigger 65mm Mignons supposed to be 2.3-2.8g/s. You get the point. It's not like it takes a significant period of time to grind coffee.

Anyway in answer to your question, yes it needs to be coarser. Or, if you're using the dual wall basket, you need to use the single wall.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Joebreit - espresso without a grinder is like making a stir fry without a wok. You get something, but it's not great.

In simple words, if you want to drink espresso, buy yourself a burr grinder.


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