# General Rule Of Thumb????



## m4lcs67 (Mar 16, 2014)

I was wondering if there is a general rule for measuring amounts/weights/quantities of ground coffee for single shots or double shots? Obviously there will be slight fluctuations with density of the coffee, how fine/coarse it is etc. Also which baskets for each? Now I assume that a single basket would only be useful for a single shot, whereas a double basket is usable for both singles and doubles? For the more experienced among you, would you recommend using the single basket for single shots rather than making a single shot in the double basket, or doesn't it really matter???

Thanks


----------



## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

IN general, single shots are much much harder to get right. Given everything is based on ratios, coffee weight in, vs liquid weight out, theres just so much more to go wrong when dealing with smaller amounts of coffee. Its easier to screw up the ratio and get something that tastes pretty horrid. I only ever work with doubles, and it's likely the same for most high end shops, and most people on this forum. In fact most shops that offer singles, pour the double but have one spout just going to a waste cup!

As for the amount of coffee going in, it depends on what basket you have, what machine you have, what kind of coffee you're trying to get out of it. In a double basket, you can generally use anything from 15 to 21g depending on the size of the basket itself, with a standard double being in the 15-18g area. IN my gaggia classic basket, I can only really get about 15-16g of ground coffee in. Whereas with a VST (or LM) 17/18g basket, the usable range is around 17-19g.


----------



## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Not really played with the single basket , but I would just use the double basket and split the shot assuming you have 2 spout.


----------



## m4lcs67 (Mar 16, 2014)

Thanks fellas. Cheers for that info, shrink. I have just been looking around on the net and the place where I get my Classic serviced have some baskets on their website. One at 7g (which I assume is classed as a small) which incidentally I have never used, one at 14g which I assume is the other one that was supplied with my machine and also the one that I use all the time and one at 16g which is classed as a large?

I have just weighed out 7g from the small basket (merely as an exercise to see what the amount looked like and was really surprised how little it actually was). Well there you go.


----------



## edk (Mar 24, 2014)

I tried to make singles with 7 grams of ground coffee and the results were mediocre at best. But when I got myself a deeper single basket (24mm instead of 19mm) and used about 10 grams, the results improved a lot.


----------



## Chillypillow (Apr 19, 2014)

Would the result also not depend on the tamp pressure?


----------



## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

tamp pressure doesn't make as big a difference as is generally held out. Once you go by about 10lbs pushing harder doesn't have much more effect.


----------



## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

tamper size on a single basket is the one thing that seems to get ignored, it's easier to tamp with a smaller tamper than trying to use your 58mm or 58mm + sized ones.


----------

