Dialling in sounds technical, but it's really just adjusting your grinder until the coffee tastes right. If you've ever made an espresso that was sour, bitter, or just a bit off, the grind is usually the first thing to look at.
Here's how to do it without overcomplicating things.
What "dialling in" actually means
When coffee is ground too coarse, water runs through it too quickly. You get a thin, watery, sour shot. When it's too fine, water struggles to get through. The shot takes ages, comes out dark and bitter, and might barely drip at all.
Dialling in means finding the sweet spot in between - where the water flows through at the right speed and extracts the good stuff without the bad.
For espresso
This is where dialling in matters most. Here's a simple process:
Start with a dose. For a double espresso, you're looking at about 18g of ground coffee in the basket. Use scales if you've got them - consistency makes this much easier.
Pull a shot and time it. You're aiming for roughly 36g of liquid espresso (about double the dose) in around 25–30 seconds. If you don't have scales under the cup, use the visual - it should look like warm honey flowing off a spoon. Not gushing, not barely dripping.
Too fast? (under 20 seconds) The grind is too coarse. Adjust the grinder finer - a small notch at a time. Purge a small amount of coffee through the grinder after adjusting, then try again.
Too slow? (over 35 seconds) The grind is too fine. Adjust coarser, purge, try again.
Taste it. Numbers are a guide, but your tongue is the real test. A good espresso should taste balanced - some sweetness, a bit of body, a clean finish. If it's sour, go finer. If it's harsh and bitter, go coarser.
For filter and cafetiere
The same principle applies, just less precisely. Filter coffee should take about 4–6 minutes to brew a full batch. If it's gushing through too fast, grind finer. If it's taking forever or tasting bitter, grind coarser.
For a cafetiere, you want a coarse grind - roughly the texture of coarse sea salt. Too fine and the plunger will be hard to push down, plus the coffee will be muddy and over-extracted.
Why you need to do this regularly
This isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing, especially for espresso. You'll need to dial in:
- Every morning - coffee changes overnight as it degases
- When you open a new bag - even the same coffee from the same roaster will vary slightly between batches
- When the weather changes - sounds odd, but humidity affects how coffee extracts. On a damp day, you might need to go slightly coarser
- When the grinder burrs wear down - they gradually lose their edge and the grind gets inconsistent. Most commercial burrs need replacing every 500–1,000kg of coffee
The most common mistakes
Making big adjustments. Move the grinder in tiny increments. One notch can make a significant difference on most grinders.
Not purging after adjusting. There's always old coffee sitting between the burrs. After you change the setting, run a small amount through to clear it before pulling your next shot.
Blaming the coffee. Nine times out of ten, when someone tells us their coffee tastes off, it's the grind or the machine - not the beans. Get the grind right first, then we'll talk.
Need a hand? We do barista training that covers all of this in person. And if you're looking for a grinder that's right for your setup, give us a call - David will point you in the right direction.