Hit 500 cups on my home espresso machine in under a year

I got a Gaggia Classic Pro back in February and this morning I pulled cup number 500. That's like a cup and a half every single day. The thing that surprised me most is how consistent my shots have gotten in the last 100 cups compared to the first 100. I was wasting so many beans at the start with bad grind settings and channeling issues. Now I can dial in a new bag of beans within 2 shots instead of 6 or 7. It really started clicking when I got a decent scale and started timing my pulls by weight instead of just guessing. Has anyone else tracked their total pulls and noticed a big improvement after a certain number?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver81110d ago

@west.claire you're totally right about that scale. I got a cheap one off Amazon too and it changed everything for me. Before that I was just guessing by eye and half the time my shots were either sour or bitter. The biggest thing for me was when I realized my grinder had a lot of retention issues and I had to purge a little before the actual shot. Those few grams wasting every day added up. Now I do a quick purge and then my first pull on a new bag is usually within a few seconds of my target. It's wild how much easier it gets once you find that rhythm.

west.claire10d ago

It was around shot 200 on my Breville where everything clicked for me. I started using a cheap scale from Amazon and timing my pulls to the second, focusing on a 1:2 ratio in 25-30 seconds. Before that, I was just guessing based on how the shot looked and it was all over the place. That little change cut my wasted beans down from maybe 5 or 6 per bag to just 1 or 2. Now I can call out a new bag's grind setting on the second or third pull, no problem.