Espresso Pucks: What Matters & What Doesn't

Used in this video:

[andycleary]

Hands down the best no BS video about home brewing I have watched. Thank you very much.

[limer]

I love it when someone does the work upfront to demystify things like this so the rest of us don't have to. This video gave me confidence. People should be forced to watch this before they add a machine to their cart.

[ControllerKidUK]

Finally, YT coffee videos that are to the point, helpful and not filled with waffle.

[RealSavages]

Bro... I subscribed just because you were so direct and clear in your presentation. Being concise is a lost art. Well done. 👍🏻☕️

[mtnhack]

That boy's got a smooth delivery. Maybe audiobook narration is in his future.

[FajorMuckup]

"swirling around in your grouphead" earned my subscription 😂

[johndarland]

Interesting how all these coffee buffs are extremely relaxed.

[sherifmahmoud]

Short, straight to the point, without any useless information, thank you so much !

[ArofahAkbar]

Very informative and directly to the point; I like the "What doesn't...".
For the beginners, this is remove some overthinking in my mind.

[NilfNilf]

Thank you!!! This is down-to-earth, competent, applicable information; and your not afraid to debunk the myths. really helpful.

[jorg]

Newbie to espresso making here but have learned a lot by watching experts. From that I've learned that my watery pucks always come from my pressurized basket and not from my unpressurized one due to back pressure. A lot of self proclaimed experts say ditch that pressurized basket. Then I watched a video from a manufacturer of those baskets with 30 years of experience behind them explaining why those baskets are best for almost everyone and will make a much better espresso for 98% of users as it guarantees a 9 bar output unless you spent 8 hours a day making espresso with $10k machines and go through 100 lbs of coffee to gain the expertise to use the puck as back pressure to generate 9 bars. Nice video presentation btw.

[caretakerfochr]

Hands down the best, most straightforward coffee vid that bursts the balloon of vids posing as arcane coffee lore on the net.

[gabrielsvl]

I've a rancilio silvia, used before the standard basket, 14g, but brew always 15g, the puck was always dry. Then I've bought a IMS competition basket, 16/20 grams. I've changed my grind settings for finer, and more coffee, 18 grams, and now the coffee is better, have a really nice crema, but the puck is wet. The shot is better now, I think it's ok, I don't have channels...

[Presso]

I read quite a few forums about soggy puck. Most of them recommended to either reduce the dose so that it allows space between the puck and the shower screen. The other suggestion is to CALIBRATE the depth by using the trimmer provided by Breville. I had proven all of these suggestions doesn't help in resolving the problem. Finally, I INCREASE the dose from standard 18g to 18.2g. Do you know what is the end result? The soggy is gone, and the taste is much sweeter. This method is proven and it works for me over months without any soggy puck.

[Mickimoss]

Imo wet puck is because the basket needs more ground coffee in it. It mostly happens to me when I use 7 gram in a single basket. While if I use 14g in single or 20 in double basket, the puck will be formed nicely even with grids on it because it's full of ground coffee and when water enters will increase volume thus touch the upper ceiling of the filter in the machine where the water flows

[hemuni]

Agree to disagree, a soggy puck tends to give an over extracted taste, since some of the left behind extraction will always drizzle into the cup, dragging the overall experience down. Volume in basket must be consistent to have consistent extraction.

[abdulrazzaq]

This has to be the most accurate video and simplest to save yourself from online misconceptions.

[newqvps]

This is the most correct and informative video on commercial coffee I have watched on the net.

[Xabeno]

Something that your puck may tell you - over or under dosing. If you place your dry puck into your machine and then remove (without brewing) and your puck has an impression from the shower screen or screw, you may be dosing to high and this can lead to channeling. If your shot starts drippy but then runs very fast towards the end you may be under-dosing our basket. Also vst make a 25g basket but disregard the single, double and triple lingo simply use brew ratio instead, a good way to start is 1:2 dose to yield and keep in mind head space within the basket as a deciding factor when choosing a basket size.

[fluffycritter]

THANK YOU, I am so annoyed and fed up with espresso “experts” who are all parroting different contradictory religious things about things that really don’t matter, while ignoring the important issues about what makes the coffee come out well. I’ve wasted so much money trying to follow the advice of folks on r/espresso.