How to dial in/setting the grind.

Dialing in should be done every morning. It ensures that the quality of espresso is good and that we have consistency from day to day.

Purge the grinder of old grinds.
Weigh out your required dose (eg: 18g) with scales, tamp the coffee and flush the group head.
Lock in the portafilter, below this put a cup on top of scales that you have tared.
Using a timer, time how long it takes from the moment you push the button to extract your espresso until it finishes. Usually we will extract with a ratio of 2:1 meaning that for 18g coffee we should ideally end up with 36g of espresso.
Our target time for espresso is 25-30 seconds, if it is too quick (20 seconds) then we need to make the grind slightly finer and repeat steps 1-4 until we are within our target time frame. If the shot is too slow (35 seconds) then we make the grind more coarse and repeat steps 1-4 until we get our target time correct.
Once we are happy with how coarse/fine the grinds are, we then set the timer on the grinder to grind the required dose (in this case 18g).

If the shot is too quick you will get an under extracted espresso. The crema will be light in colour and it will have a sour taste.
If the shot is too slow you will get an over extracted espresso, it will have a dark brown colour and be bitter with an ashy taste.
The perfect espresso will be light brown with slightly darker ‘mottling’ or ‘tiger stripes’ on top, it won’t ever be just one colour. It will be neither too bitter nor too sour but well balanced with a slight natural sweetness.
Getting your espresso on point each day is extremely important as it sets the tone for every coffee you make throughout your service.