A Beginner's Guide To Fixing Bad Espresso

Timestamps
0:00 Introduction: You've Got A New Machine... Now What?
3:30 Is Your Coffee Fresh?
4:26 Is The Recipe Right?
7:32 Are Those The Right Coffee Beans For You?
10:42 Is Your Coffee Too Bitter?
11:27 Is Your Coffee Sour or Bitter (and What’s The Difference)?
15:07 Is Your Water The Culprit?
17:30 Is It The Equipment? Grinder or Espresso Machine?

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[joewee]

I cannot overstate my appreciation that the "but HOW do you know that you have the right BEANS for you?" segment didn't have ANY kind of sponsored plug for any specific website. We need more Jameses in the world.

[macehead]

Pro tip: Be sure to look for coffees that have been air fried in beef tallow

[AfterLifeGuru]

He posts this shortly after i finally got an espresso machine. Bless you james.

[lHenry]

I said it before and I’ll say it again, the people who work on sound for your videos do an incredible job!

[HunterJE]

As someone early in my own home espresso journey (got started last year) one beginner-plus tip I'd give is don't stop drinking espresso in shops (if you're lucky enough to live in or regularly travel to a place where good espresso in shops is an option). When I was first getting going I found myself getting in to a "we have espresso at home" mentality but about a month in realized I missed the coffee shop experience, and when I started getting espresso from shops time to time I found having that baseline really helpful to QCing what I was making at home, intially because it pushed me to keep improving past an “I guess this is fine” plateau then later because in that never-ending quest for "that next bit better" I hadn't realized that I was actually getting to that "better than the shop down the street" point mentioned at the end of the video!

[theMCfromCabaret]

A biological note for the end of the flowchart: "Problems with the equipment" can include the user's wetware!

Peculiarities around olfaction and the perception of flavor can be hints toward all kinds of fun conditions like pregnancy, being a supertaster, certain cancers, epilepsy, or Long COVID. In my experience, this is particularly true for the more complex flavor chemistry you'll find in beautiful coffees and wines.

If the entire flowchart is in perfect order but something still seems off, it's always worth checking in with any new signals your body is giving you, and possibly having a chat with a healthcare provider.

Source: a wine career, personal experience with taste changes during thyroid cancer and Long COVID

Good health and good coffee to everyone in the comments! James, thank you for showing us so many new things to love about being alive. May you never experience problems between your keyboard and your chair.

[phil.willoughby]

I don't even order espresso in cafes, let alone want to make it myself, and I'm still going to watch this avidly...

[Bevieevans]

I purchased a Sage (Breville) Barista Express and spent what must be in total, 2 days straight watching videos, yours included, for “dialing in coffee”, I quickly learned not to drink the whole cup when testing after a sleepless night 😂.

So, after buying beans from a local roaster and using them within 3 weeks of the roast date, I thought “what could go wrong”. Well, everything. I used medium roast, single origin beans from Papua New Guinea AND the DR of Congo (separate bags of course), I weighed 18g, used the integrated grinder on the machine, managed to get the grind ok after 3 attempts, but the coffee tasted awful even after getting the flow right, the time right and the 1:2 ratio right. I stood there tweaking the weight, the grind, water temperature, you name it, I tweaked it. After using my two bags of beans and still not getting it right, I used beans I had been bought for Christmas which are Lofbergs single origin Brazil coffee beans. Without much hope, I weighed, grind and brewed. Without little expectation I tasted. Wow! Amazing! It wasn’t “perfect”, but very drinkable.

My conclusion is to avoid beans from Papua New Guinea and the DR of Congo as clearly those beans are not my taste 🤢😬😬

I’m still on a steep learning curve and scurrying around the espresso rabbit hole, but now I know I can brew drinkable coffee, I won’t be disheartened and will try Brazilian beans from my local roaster.

Keep up the good work o weird coffee person 😊

[johnbwill]

Thanks james .... in total, you have cost me $10000. You hooked me with your fancy words ... bought a La Marzocco line mini - you taught me how important the grinding is - bought a niche zero - then after more of your fanciness, I've decided to head to La Marzocco Home in Florence - do a course and check out the museum. So ... thanks for that!

[georgekoutsoudopoulos]

To all avid watchers of James's videos all this won't be news but really like the flowchart thinking which is a nice ordered way to exclude variables until you find what is at fault. You can easily apply it to other ways of making coffee. A really practical and logical way to think about it as a process. I can imagine many people starting out will find it helpful.

[kladenfv]

The clarification of sour vs bitter just made a huge difference of the quality of espresso I’m now enjoying. Thanks James 🙏🏼

[amac]

The whole intro is SUCH an important topic that no one ever mentions or talks about to new people in the espresso world. I have had friends that legit bought a new machine, and have been making espresso on it with older, pre ground coffee from grocery store. No wonder they told me they didn’t really like espresso, but felt they needed to drink it because they bought this fancy machine! lol

I introduced them to a few shots I made at home, and they were blown away how “better “ it was. I mean, imagine drinking sour and bitter espresso every day, and not even knowing it’s bad? lol

[astriphone]

James showing his British heritage by starting off the taste discussion with the dominant flavour of British cuisine! Brown.

[hoseinmohamadzadeh]

Thank you for not forgetting the ones who need to be taught about basics.

[beatbrokerx]

You are a blessing to the coffee world James, thank you for all the dedication and helping people out. Been brewing for 20 years now (of course still haven't mastered the craft of perfect espresso, who has?) and would love to have had this video in the start :)

[jtchalatsis]

When this guy inevitably starts a kind of university I'll be the first to sign up. Everything is explained in clarity and made easy and fun to understand and follow. Love it!

[JustinBarak]

Thank you James! You inspired me to get a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro (refurb). Making my wife lattes daily and our marriage has never been stronger. Still sorting out workflow and troubleshooting so this is perfect

[elementseven]

Having recently refurbed my uncles' old gaggia classic from 1999 and paired it with a Barazza Encore, I'm grateful for this to refine what I'm doing with them. Results generally acceptable but definitely noticed the difference when my office colleague brought in supermarket beans. She's complained that I'm making her a weird coffee person though as before we started working together she'd never weigh coffee or consider buying Specialty grade. Sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm surreptitiously spreading the Good Word of Good Coffee.

[loriosterweil]

Changing grinders made all the difference in the world. I was using the OXO grinder and have since upgraded to the Niche Zero and the Commandante C40. My espressos are now delicious. When I first started, I had no idea how important the grinder was, but then, I watched your video for beginners about the importance of uniformity of the grind. Thank you for that.

[justmejo]

Thank you James.. haven’t used mine in years and this refresher course is helpful to this old girl with a brain injury. Most of us are just everyday people not baristas🤗