How Do I Dial In My Espresso?
Dialling In Espresso at Home
If your espresso tastes sour, bitter, or just off, it’s probably not your machine — it’s your dialling-in process.
Dialling in espresso is just a fancy way of saying: adjusting your grind, dose, and brew ratio until your coffee tastes balanced. Once you nail it, every shot tastes sweet, smooth, and café-quality.
What causes espresso to be off-balance?
The main variables for espresso:
- Grind size – too coarse = sour; too fine = bitter
- Dose – too little coffee = weak; too much = slow & bitter
- Brew ratio – the balance of coffee in vs espresso out
- Shot time – too fast or too slow can affect flavour
Even tiny changes make a big difference. That’s why dialling in is so important for home baristas.
The fix: step-by-step dial-in
Here’s a simple method to get your espresso right:
Espresso recipe for dial-in.
This recipe changes depending on the type of machine you have, and more importantly the size of filter basket you have.
- Dose: 18g coffee
- Yield: 36g espresso
- Time: 25–30 seconds
Steps:
- Grind coffee and dose 18g into the portafilter.
- Pull a shot aiming for 36g in 25–30 seconds.
- Taste it.
- Sour → grind finer
- Bitter → grind coarser
- Repeat in small increments until balanced.
Pro tip: Keep notes on your grind setting, dose, and shot time — this makes it much easier to reproduce your favourite results.
Need help dialling-in at home?
A lot of home baristas already have the equipment, but they just need a little guidance to get it working perfectly.
Mr Barista can come to your home across the
- Gold Coast
- Brisbane
- Northern New South Wales
We’ll help you:
- Dial in your grinder
- Balance espresso extraction
- Pull café-quality shots at home
With a little hands-on guidance, you’ll finally get espresso that tastes exactly the way you want it.
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