Quick Start Guide

To achieve a good espresso then you need to set the following settings: grinding level, coffee amount, espresso amount and time. All of this may sound overwhelming and difficult to understand but we will go through everything step by step!

Before you start setting up your espresso machine, you will need the following:

• Digital scale that can be placed under the espresso machine. We recommend that you buy a digital coffee scale as it is small and compact and has a built-in timer. We will explain why a little later. 
• Whole espresso beans. We know our favorite click here!
• Porter filter, Tamper and double shot cups. 

Before we start going through the practicalities, you need to understand how the amount of coffee, grinding degree and time are related.

To achieve a good espresso It is usually said that for every gram of ground coffee you should get 2 grams. espresso. What does this mean in practice? We recommend that you grind about 18g of beans for a double shot cup. So you aim to get about 36g. espresso from 18g ground coffee. 

Why time is so important!

Time to brew 36g espresso should take about 20 to 30 seconds. Then the question arises, why would you need to know this? The reason is that About it would take under 20 seconds for the machine to brew 36g espresso then the machine would not have time to extract all the aromas from the coffee and thus you would get a very watery and sour coffee. espresso. Would the machine brew over 30 seconds for 36g espresso so would yours espresso taste very burnt with a strong bitter aftertaste. Therefore, the golden rule of espresso is that it should take between 20 to 30 seconds for 36g espresso.

Now we can start the fun and set up the machine!

To obtain reliable values, we will weigh 18g of beans for each individual test until we get what we are looking for: 36g espresso in the time between 20-30 seconds. In this setup guide, we will use a single-wall double-shot cup that comes with your espresso machine.

#1 Start!

The grinder has 16 levels of grinding. Start by setting it to grinding level 8 using the knob on the right side of the machine. Weigh 18g of whole espresso beans and then pour them into the grinder. Grind everything so that you know there is exactly 18g of ground coffee in your portafilter.

#2 Press the puck

Squeeze the puck using the tool called "Tamper". Then put the portafilter with the pressed coffee into the machine. 

#3 Prepare for testing

Place a coffee cup of your choice on your digital scale, zero it, and then place it under the espresso machine.

#4 Start Brewing!

Now we get to the interesting part! Take out your phone’s timer. Start by pressing the “Program” button on the machine. After you press it, it will flash. The next step is to press the double shot button. When you feel ready, press the button while starting your timer. When you see the scale reading 36g espresso then you should stop brewing by pressing the button again. 

#5 Analyze and test again!

As we said before, the goal is to get 36g in 20 to 30 seconds. About If your stopwatch shows a time under 20 seconds, you should grind the beans finer by lowering the grinding level on the grinder. 1 on the grinder scale means fine grinding and 16 means coarse grinding. So the smaller the number, the finer you will grind. About If your time is higher than 30 seconds, you should grind coarser.

#6 Do About until you are satisfied! 

Do About process in step 4 until you reach a time between 20 to 30 seconds by changing the grind level. When you are satisfied with the setting, the machine will automatically save the last brew. So the next time you brew your espresso then you only need to press the double shot button once.

Conclusion

This guide is for you to get started quickly with getting a reasonably good espresso. All beans are different and all have different flavors, so it's good to keep in mind that when you have a time between 20 to 30 seconds but don't think it's good enough, you should experiment further! Some espresso is good at a time of 20 seconds while others may be good at a 28 second brewing time. The taste can also vary by changing the brewing temperature. As I said, there is a lot you can experiment with.