Only Way to Make Single Shots

Hope you enjoyed this video! I am delighted to know that there are existing step down baskets that are a fraction of the cost of current options. AND I am stoked there exists a way to properly make single shots, even if it has been out for decades. Let me know your thoughts below!

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Lance Hedrick Unfiltered

[PhillipLangenkamp]

The value that Lance adds to the coffee community with his relentless drive to methodically investigate claims and get better coffee and/or eliminate waste is incredible.

I sincerely hope that more people watch these videos or that the information somehow disseminates further into the community (hopefully still attributing stuff to Lance...).

I think about how there have been various eras of rapid progress in coffee (e.g. first invention of espresso), and I think this amateur home barista interest combined with the mass availability of technology (i.e. cheap and accessible mini-computers, accessible high precision measuring devices, 3D printing, etc.) and easily shared info on the Internet is fueling another Renaissance. It's already happened with home coffee grinders. So excited to see what the next decade will bring!

[OmarFarooq]

Love the idea of using a single dose to dial in and waste less coffee. Thank you!

[kyletallon]

Love that you discovered this basket Lance! Many people don’t realize that the tamper that is included with commercial La Marzocco machines has one side that is sized to match their 7g basket. Everyone just assumes the small side is a handle knob lol but it is a double ended tamper.

I work for La Marzocco Canada and I’m gonna have to tell our parts guy to order in a bunch of these baskets before they are out of stock in Italy because of you 🤣

[chernobijl]

And one more comment I have a Lelit Victoria in my collection and recalled it came with a plastic tamp thingy with two ends of differing sizes. I just pulled out the single IMS basket and the tamper thingy it came with and lo and behold .... it too has a deep enough cone to hold 9g and the smaller end of the "tamp" thingy fits perfectly. Just pulled a perfect 9g shot on my YOU. Well done Lance !!

[Axel-pmgf]

Good to hear that confirm what I did in the recent 16 years: single shots with LM 41mm basket on a Gaggia Classic. I use a customized funnel for getting the coffee (only) in the inner part of the basket quite easily, it also helps centering the tamp. It seems that knowledge has been lost a bit somehow.

[phil-]

So. I remember when Lance said we 'single shot'ers' do not exist 😄 Finally with got attention 😉 I have this basket for some time now and I am very happy with it. I dose 10g. That's enough for me. Probably you can go to 12 g too. But the puck will not hold togehter after the pressure hit. I bought a special dosing funnel that allows me to go over limit. I got this idea from the video 'Espresso mit dem Einersieb zubereiten | So klappt es ganz einfach!' at the channel 'Kakadu Coffee'.

Thank you Lance for this video! I was really thinking about buying into the new 'deeper' basket trend but now I know my equitment is still solid 😄
Cheers Lance, Rock On !!

[CristianStancu]

I picked up the LM single shot basket 2 years ago, along with the 41mm tamper. I even 3D printed a funnel that sits inside the basket and that way you can fill only the middle part.
For 9g doses, it pulls exactly as a VST 18g basket with a 18g dose. I've had the exact same results as you did. Can't wait for affordable step down baskets to be available. Thank you for the insight. Until then i can use my Kazak Rota with a 51mm basket.

[jaydrathbun]

Have you seen the Graph kickstarter for the newest step down basket competitor? I had to jump into my first ever kickstarter when I saw it

[AdamHill]

LOVE the "dialing in with smaller doses, same bed depth" idea. Fantastic.

We need all the baskets for all the diameters! Flair included - my 45mm is great for 15g doses but I'd buy a 32mm single if they produced it!

[SAW_Coffee]

I love the Wiedemann single shot tamper and funnel set. When grinding or tumbling into the funnel the grounds are directed to the center of the LaMarzocco single shot basket. Tamp with the funnel still in place, and you end up with a clean and wonderfully tamped single shot. I've also over dosed just a bit to 9g and even though the puck may stick above the level of the step down, extractions have been wonderful.

[KarlaKolumna-mn]

This is really funny. The LM1 has very much been a thing in the german forum kaffee-netz 15-20 years ago and I think it is still going strong. Back then nobody made suitable tampers so there were several iterations of forum-tampers that were group-ordered from manufacturers with cnc-milling-machines.

[all_systems_failing]

Where does headspace fit into your discussion(s) about puck depth? Worth studying as a separate variable, or has enough been said about it already? Best to keep headspace at a minimum or does it not really matter?

[simonp]

With LM single shot, Happy Tamper make an extrordinary metal funnel with a plug that help to 1) put coffee easily in the center of the single shot 2) use your 58mm Tamper with the plug to tamp easily

[brmbltbr]

You can 3d-print dosing rings for these things btw.

[ylleKkcirtaPnadnerB]

Woohoo, so happy to see this!

I've been banging on about the LM F.3.029.X basket to anyone who'll listen, because singles ARE totally doable, contrary to popular myth.

I use a kiss caffe 41mm tamper and a fantastic Scarlet Espresso 41mm tamp-through dosing funnel for convenience.

I also throw in a 58x1mm mesh puck screen to contain the mess when that little puck fails to fill the wide headspace. With a GCP 1mm is a thick as you can go with this basket.

I never tamp through a funnel for doubles, and never use a puck screen for doubles either, but this basket makes its own rules.

Now, Lance, please go back to LM and have them make a 2mm deeper version. Ever since your depth discussions I've been doing deeper doubles in a 26mm 20g VST instead of a 24mm 18g. At 22-23g per double, I'd love to have a single option as dèep

[gustavwochercello]

Finally a serious video on single shots!
I have been contemplating to buy one of these for the recent weeks and now I think I'll go for it!
I find it ridiculous that singles aren't a thing today. While I avoid any percentage of Robusta whenever I can, I still believe in the divinity of Italian espresso - and that just means 7g, period.
There is a good coffee shop near my workplace where I like to get a cup when I don't have my Flair with me and they always pull doubles - when you order single, the counter becomes littered with dozens of cups of "second halves" that nobody wanted. It's ridiculous that nobody knows the step-down singles; imagine the waste - and the money! - they could save throughout a year...

(There is one German YouTuber that made a video explaining how to properly use the curved single - but it does involve grinding coarser and loading slightly more than just half of the double while still aiming for the same ratio - and it won't taste exactly the same as the double.)

[mana]

I started watching your newbie videos this week and am blown away by your fitness transformation. Good job putting in the work.

[danjennings]

With all your talk about smaller diameter baskets, I'd love relating that data to the 46mm flair pro 2 basket. I've tried deeper pucks with it but ended up struggling as it seems it's a lot more sensitive to grind size changes. A minor adjustment on my Jmax is the difference between a gusher and a stalled shot.

[KenNaeh]

The La Marzocco stock tamper is dual sided! One side (41 mm) for a single and the other (58mm) for a double shot espresso. The 7 and 8 gram baskets that come with any new machine (I have the Linea mini R) are designed to allow for effective tamping with either side of the convex tamper. The 8 gram basket works best with the 58 mm side of the tamper and the 41mm side fits perfectly to create a deep puck with the 7 gram basket.

[aoalr]

This video came at the perfect time.
My wife loves to drink piccolos. Cortados don’t really cut it and taste off no matter how I adjusted the recipe. So today was the first day I made a single shot (using double spout and two cups) for my wife’s piccolo and it tasted amazing.
I probably have this basket in my Linea Micra box, so will just have to find it and try it out. Will be a game changer to me.