Got a cheap espresso machine dialed in with a simple kitchen scale trick

I kept pulling sour or bitter shots from my old Gaggia Classic. Then I spent $15 on a digital kitchen scale and started weighing my grounds to exactly 18 grams before tamping. Turns out my grinder was giving me anywhere from 15 to 20 grams each time. Has anyone else fixed a machine issue with a basic tool instead of buying a new gadget?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_murphy852mo ago

18 grams? Look at you, living the high life with your precision. I spent a whole month pulling shots that tasted like battery acid because I just eyeballed the grounds, figured coffee is coffee. My roommate finally bought me a scale for Christmas, probably out of pity. Turns out my grinder was giving me anywhere from 12 to 25 grams per shot, no joke. Who knew a $15 scale would save me from drinking my own mistakes every morning.

wyatt_green312mo ago

12 to 25 grams? That's a full on dice roll every morning. 13 grams difference is like making a cake and using anywhere between one and two cups of flour. Glad you got the scale before you permanently pickled your taste buds.

abby_wilson511mo ago

Oh wow, same thing happened to me with my old DeLonghi. I was pulling shots that tasted like burnt rubber one day and sour lemons the next. I started using a little $10 kitchen scale too, and weighing out 16 grams exactly before tamping. It didn't fix everything but it made my shots way more consistent, like I could actually tell if a different bean was the problem instead of blaming my machine.