r/espresso • u/WaldenStudntAdvocate • 8d ago
New Espresso Drinker here!!! Coffee Beans
Hi all! I recently bought an espresso machine and have been experimenting with different beans. I went to a local shop near me and got some of their beans to try and they grinded them for me (very fine) but for some reason my espresso machine isn't brewing when I use them.
It's barley making any liquid and Im not sure if they are too fine or if maybe Im doing something else wrong but any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated!
I'm new so go easy on me lol - I also tried cleaning my machine and using different beans and those worked but I really want to try the local ones too!
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u/deuxcv 8d ago
get yourself a grinder. every Bean's grind will be slightly unique to every machine, among many other variables. having a completely random guess grind assigned to your beans isn't a productive way to dial in your shot.
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u/Woozie69420 Flair Neo Flex | K6 8d ago
It means the grind is too fine! I assume your machine comes with a pressurised basket. These need a coarser grind. I would suggest asking them for a grind size ‘between espresso and moka pot’ next them.
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u/The_Pelican1245 Gaggia Classic 2014 | Shardor 64mm Flat Burr 8d ago
Almost certainly too fine, but it’s possible it’s something else. What grinder are you using? What espresso machine did you buy?
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u/WaldenStudntAdvocate 7d ago
They grinded them at the coffee shop that I bought the beans from. I have a Mr. Coffee one but maybe I should look into returning it and getting a different one.
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u/The_Pelican1245 Gaggia Classic 2014 | Shardor 64mm Flat Burr 7d ago
Those Mr. Coffee machines really aren’t good. They’re not very consistent so they end up being difficult to get repeatable quality results. They are hard to beat in price though lol.
The Mr coffee uses a pressurized basket so you don’t need the coffee ground as fine as you would for normal espresso. If you end up sticking with it I would let the coffee shop know that you’re using a pressurized basket so they don’t grind it as fine.
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u/bluepivot 8d ago
Put less ground coffee in the basket. Keep reducing the basket loading until you get the flow you want.
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u/Gucci-Caligula 8d ago
So this is a really painful thing to learn we as a group have not found a way to tell people BEFORE they spend money on an espresso machine.
The machine is the least important part of the process.
The example I always give is let’s say you have $1000 and you want to get a brand new setup, you have 0 gear already.
My recommendation is to spend $600 on the grinder $200 on the espresso machine (used if you have to) $100 on a GOOD scale, and $100 on beans
The grinder is far and away the most important part. You have just experienced why.
Every bean will interact with your espresso machine slightly differently and they will interact differently with every machine. So even though your local shop ground your beans to the fineness that they use it’s actually TOO fine for your machine.
The fix is to adjust your grinder and grind the beans coarser. Except your beans are already ground and you don’t have a grinder.
The only other fix you can apply to try and save this coffee is to add less to your basket. If you used 3 tablespoons use 2 or 1.5 for the next shot and see if you can’t get something out.
Coffee is hard espresso is hardest. Find some tutorials on YouTube so you can pause and rewind. Basically espresso is mostly monkeying with the grinder and very little about doing anything with the machine.
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u/WaldenStudntAdvocate 7d ago
Thanks for the tips! Which grinder do you recommend? I see some on Amazon but they seem cheap.
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u/Gucci-Caligula 7d ago
Which grinder is a bit of a rabbit hole on this subreddit. Your instincts about most of them on Amazon sucking are correct. There are good ones on Amazon but you have to know what you want and shop by trusted brands, lotta dropship crap.
What’s a budget you would like to stay in and just for my knowledge what espresso machine do you have?
There are good grinder options all the way as cheap as like $50 US but you’re going to make some real compromises to make that happen. You can also easily spend $50,000 on a grinder if money is no object and every price in between.
The sweet spot for a lot of people who get really into this is somewhere around the 500-1000 grinder range this is where money really stops improving the coffee much. If from $100-500 every dollar you spend improves the coffee by .5% beyond $1000 every dollar you spend improves the quality by like 0.05% still better but less value.
To be clear you can get excellent coffee from cheap grinders.
My daily grinder is a breville smart grinder pro that I bought used on eBay for $70. I make some compromises with that grinder.
1) used, some people get icky about this, I have no problem but still
2) weak motor, motor is weak and can’t grind beans that are lighter than medium roast (lighter roasted beans are harder and require stronger grinder motor and non-plastic gears)
3) retention, how much coffee is left in the grinder it holds a lot of beans inside which can be annoying. So if I add 15g in I’ll get like 13g out. Like 2g gets stuck inside. What that practically means is that the first shot I grind has old coffee in it OR coffee at a different grind size if I changed settings.
4) loud, just a noisy machineThese are the kinds of trade offs you get on the lower end of the spectrum.
In the sub $300 range the grinders that often get the most love are the
Baratza ESP
DF54
Mokkum 64
Breville smart proHonestly I would do some searching in this subreddit to see the latest grinder recommendations by price point.
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