Grind size, or how fine or coarse you grind your dose, is such a major variable in specialty coffee brewing. This largely affects flavour, mouthfeel, finish and taste in all brewing methods, especially home espresso. Let’s go through some of the basline key indicators that we should be aiming to start hitting with our brewing at home.

Espresso Benchmarks

• extracts in 24 - 32 secs

• caramel brown in appearance

• good crema development

Extraction Time

This is the time it taken for the completion of your extraction. To measure the extraction time on your machine, grind and dose your coffee, prep to pull your shot of espresso and time how long it takes from when you push the button on the machine to when the machine stops. That is your extraction time. What do we do with this?

If the time you have is less than 24secs, adjust your grinder finer.

If the time you have is more than 32 secs, adjust your grinder coarser.

This will usually be represented numerically on your grinder with smaller numbers as finer and larger numbers as coarser. Make a grind adjustment and re-test.

• Move the dial or collar in the appropriate direction but a whole number or two

• Grind a dose of coffee and discard as it will take 1 - 3 doses to be ground for the new setting to come take effect.

• Follow your extraction routine as before and time. Continue to adjust and taste until your reach your desired time.

24 - 32 secs for espresso is an industry standard and generally will produce great results if achieved at home.

For a deep dive into grind size, watch the video below.