What "dialling in" actually means

Every espresso shot has four levers: how fine the grind is, how much coffee you use (the dose), how much liquid comes out (the yield), and how long it takes. Dialling in just means adjusting those four things until the shot in your cup tastes the way you want it to. It sounds technical, but it's really just tasting, adjusting, and tasting again.

Start with a ratio, not a stopwatch

A reliable starting point is a 1:2 ratio: for every gram of ground coffee, aim for roughly two grams of liquid espresso in the cup. So 18 grams in should give you about 36 grams out. Most home machines land somewhere between 25 and 32 seconds for that shot once the grind is right. Time is a useful check, but the ratio is what actually drives flavour, so weigh your dose and your yield rather than relying on the clock alone. A cheap set of digital scales makes this ten times easier, and it's the single best upgrade most home setups are missing.

Taste, don't guess

If a shot tastes sharp, sour or thin, it's usually under-extracted: grind a touch finer, or let it run a little longer, and try again. If it tastes bitter, harsh or ashy, it's over-extracted: grind slightly coarser or pull the shot shorter. This is the whole process. There's no secret setting that works for every bag of beans, because grind size depends on the coffee, the machine, even the weather and how fresh the beans are. Dialling in is something you do every time you open a new bag, not a once-off setting.

Change one thing at a time

The fastest way to get lost is adjusting grind, dose and tamp pressure all in the same shot. Pick one variable, make a small change, taste, and only then decide what to change next. Write down what worked if that helps you remember — most people find they land on a good setting within four or five shots once they know what they're tasting for.

A blend that's built for this

If you want a coffee that behaves consistently while you're learning to dial in, our Balaka Blend is a good place to start — it's designed to be forgiving across a wider range of grind settings, so small mistakes don't throw the shot out completely. Once you've got the basics down, single origins reward the same process with even more nuance; our single origin coffees are worth working through one at a time so you can taste what each one is actually capable of.

Get the gear that helps

None of this requires expensive equipment, but a decent tamper and a set of scales remove a lot of guesswork. Have a look through our barista tools if your setup is missing either — small, inexpensive things that make a genuine difference to consistency.

Dialling in isn't a skill you master once. It's a habit you build every time you open a new bag of coffee, and it's the difference between a shot that's fine and one that's genuinely good.