# Espresso

Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/espresso/
Last updated: 2026-10-20

> Espresso is a small, concentrated coffee made by forcing hot water at about 9 bar through a tamped puck of finely ground coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association's training uses a dose of 7–10 g for a single or 14–20 g for a double, a brew ratio of 1:1.5 to 1:2.5 and a shot time of 20–30 seconds. A common starting point is 18 g in, 36 g out.

## At a glance

- Ratio: 1:2 (18 g coffee : 36 g water)
- Grind: Fine
- Brew time: about 28 s
- Category: Pressure & Espresso (Pressure)
- Difficulty: Advanced
- Origin: Italy, 1901
- Also known as: caffè espresso, espresso machine, pump espresso, espresso shot, shot of espresso

## Steps

1. **Warm everything up**: Switch the machine on and let it heat fully, with the portafilter locked in so it warms too. Run a little water through the group head to flush it.
2. **Grind and dose**: Grind fine and dose 18 g of coffee into a double basket. Weigh it, so you know exactly what went in.
3. **Distribute and tamp**: Break up any clumps and level the coffee, then tamp it firmly and evenly into a flat puck.
4. **Lock in and start**: Lock the portafilter into the group head, put your cup on scales underneath and start the shot straight away.
5. **Pull the shot**: Stop the shot when about 36 g of espresso is in the cup. Aim for around 25–30 seconds from starting the pump.
6. **Taste and adjust**: If it was fast and sour, grind finer next time. If it was slow and bitter, grind coarser. Change one thing at a time.
7. **Clean up**: Knock out the used puck, rinse the basket and flush the group head.

**Espresso** is a small, concentrated coffee made by forcing hot water, at about **9 bar of pressure**, through a tamped **puck** of finely ground coffee. It takes around half a minute and gives you a short, thick, intense shot with a layer of [crema](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/crema/) on top. It's also the base for most café drinks. Here are the standard numbers, how to pull a good shot at home, how to fix one that tastes wrong, and where the espresso machine came from.

## The short version

- **Hot water at about 9 bar** forced through a puck of fine, tamped coffee.
- **A good start:** 18 g of coffee in, 36 g of espresso out (1:2), in about 25–30 seconds.
- **The SCA training range:** 7–10 g for a single, 14–20 g for a double, a 1:1.5 to 1:2.5 ratio and 20–30 seconds.
- **Grind fine**, then adjust the grind until it tastes right: that's dialling in.
- **You need an espresso machine and a good grinder.** Moka pots and AeroPresses make strong coffee, but not true espresso.



## How does espresso work?

An espresso machine pushes hot water through coffee at high pressure. The coffee sits in a metal **basket** held by the **portafilter**, packed down into a firm, level puck. The machine's **group head** sends water through a **shower screen**, and the pressure forces it through the puck. That's why espresso needs a much finer grind than any other method: the fine grounds create the resistance the pressure works against.

![Diagram of an espresso shot: hot water at around 9 bar comes from the group head through the shower screen, is forced through a tamped puck of fine coffee in the basket held by the portafilter, and pours from the spout into a cup](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/espresso-anatomy.svg "How a shot is brewed. The fine, tamped puck resists the pressure; that resistance is what makes espresso.")

## What are the standard espresso numbers?

There are two well-known definitions:

| | SCA training range | Certified Italian espresso (INEI) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dose | 7–10 g single, 14–20 g double | 7 g, plus or minus 0.5 |
| Ratio | 1:1.5 to 1:2.5 | Not set by ratio |
| Volume in the cup | Not set by volume | About 25 ml, plus or minus 2.5 |
| Time | 20–30 seconds | About 25 seconds |
| Pressure | Not specified | 9 bar |

The Italian Espresso National Institute's definition describes a traditional Italian **single**. The SCA range covers doubles too, measured by weight. A common starting point for a double is **18 g in, 36 g out**.

## What do you need?

- **An espresso machine** that reaches about 9 bar
- **A burr grinder** that can grind fine and adjust in small steps; this matters as much as the machine
- **Scales** to weigh the coffee and the shot
- **A tamper** that fits your basket
- **Fresh coffee**; espresso shows up stale coffee more than any other method

## What grind size should I use?

**Fine**, finer than for any filter method, but not powder. Exactly how fine depends on your grinder, your coffee and your machine, so the grind is what you adjust to get the shot right.

![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with fine highlighted for espresso](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#fine "Espresso uses a fine grind, then you adjust it shot by shot.")

## How do you pull an espresso shot, step by step?

1. **Warm everything up.** Let the machine heat fully, with the portafilter locked in. Flush a little water through the group head.
2. **Grind and dose 18 g** into a double basket, by weight.
3. **Distribute and tamp.** Break up clumps, level the coffee and [tamp](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/tamping/) firmly and evenly.
4. **Lock in and start** straight away, with your cup on scales.
5. **Stop at about 36 g** in the cup, ideally around 25–30 seconds after starting.
6. **Taste and adjust** one thing at a time.
7. **Knock out the puck**, rinse the basket and flush the group.

Brew mode on this page times the shot for you.

## How do you dial in espresso?

**Dialling in** means adjusting until a coffee tastes right. Keep the **dose** and the **target yield** the same, and change the **grind**:

| What happened | What it tastes like | Try |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ran fast, well under 20 seconds | Sour, thin, salty | Grind finer |
| Ran slow, well over 30 seconds | Bitter, harsh, dry | Grind coarser |
| Spurting, or a pale stream early on | Sour and bitter at once | Distribute and tamp more evenly: that's [channelling](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/channelling/) |
| Right time, still sour | Sharp, under-extracted | Pull a slightly longer shot, e.g. 1:2.2 |
| Right time, still bitter | Harsh, over-extracted | Pull a slightly shorter shot, e.g. 1:1.8 |

Time is a guide, not a rule. If a shot tastes great at 33 seconds, it's a great shot.

## Single or double espresso?

The difference is the **dose** and the **basket**. The SCA training range is **7–10 g for a single** and **14–20 g for a double**. Use the basket that matches your dose: an under-filled or over-filled basket makes an even puck harder.

## Where does the word espresso come from?

It's Italian. *Caffè espresso* comes from *esprimere*, from the Latin *exprimere*, "to press out". The word also carries the sense of coffee made **expressly** for you, to order. The popular story that it simply means "fast coffee" isn't the accepted explanation.

## A short history of the espresso machine

- **1884:** Angelo Moriondo of Turin patents a steam-driven coffee machine for brewing in bulk. It wasn't sold beyond his own businesses.
- **1901–1902:** Luigi Bezzera of Milan applies, in December 1901, for a patent on improvements that brew a single serving to order, through a portafilter; it's granted in June 1902.
- **1903–1905:** Desiderio Pavoni buys Bezzera's patent in 1903 and founds La Pavoni in 1905, making one machine a day in a small Milan workshop.
- **1940s:** Achille Gaggia's spring-piston lever machine (on sale from 1948) pushes water through the coffee at far higher pressure than steam could, giving espresso with crema as we know it.
- **1961:** Faema introduces the **E61**, designed by Ernesto Valente, with a motor-driven pump instead of a lever. Its name comes from the solar eclipse of that year, and its group head design is still widely used.

## Espresso vs other brewing methods

| | Espresso | [Moka pot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/moka-pot/) | [AeroPress](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/aeropress/) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pressure | About 9 bar | Roughly 1–2 bar, from steam | Hand-pressed, low |
| Grind | Fine | Fine | Medium-fine |
| Crema | Yes | Little or none | Little or none |
| Kit | Specialist machine and grinder | A stovetop pot | A hand press |

*General guidance only. Espresso machines run at high pressure and temperature: always follow the instructions for your machine, and never remove a portafilter mid-shot.*

## Espresso variations

The same machine makes several other shots, each with its own guide:

- **[Ristretto](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/ristretto/):** the short, concentrated shot, about 1:1.
- **[Lungo](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/lungo/):** the long shot, with more water through the coffee.
- **[Café allongé](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/allonge/):** the French long coffee.
- **[Turbo shot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/turbo-shot/):** a fast, coarser modern style.
- **[Blooming espresso](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/blooming-espresso/):** pre-infuse, pause, then extract.
- **[Soup shot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/soup-shot/):** a very low-pressure, long-ratio style.

Other ways to make espresso include the **[lever espresso](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/lever-espresso/)** machine and the **[manual espresso press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/manual-espresso/)**.

Explore every pressure method in the [pressure chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/pressure/).

## Words used in this guide

- [Tamping](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/tamping/): Tamping is pressing ground coffee down into a firm, flat, even layer with a tool called a tamper.
- [Crema](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/crema/): Crema is the golden-brown foam on top of an espresso.
- [Dialling in](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/dialling-in/): Dialling in means adjusting your recipe, usually the grind size first, until a coffee tastes right.
- [Portafilter](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/portafilter/): A portafilter is the handle-and-holder you fill with ground coffee and lock into an espresso machine.
- [Burr grinder](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/burr-grinder/): A burr grinder crushes coffee between two hard, ridged surfaces called burrs, set a fixed distance apart, so particles come out a consistent size.
- [Channelling](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/channelling/): Channelling happens when water finds an easy path through the coffee bed instead of flowing evenly through all of it.
- [Extraction](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/extraction/): Extraction is the process of water dissolving flavour compounds out of ground coffee.

## FAQs

### What is espresso?

A small, concentrated coffee made by forcing hot water at about 9 bar of pressure through a tamped puck of finely ground coffee. It has a thick body and a layer of crema on top.

### What is the ratio for espresso?

The Specialty Coffee Association's training uses a brew ratio of 1:1.5 to 1:2.5, coffee to espresso in the cup by weight. 1:2, for example 18 g of coffee to 36 g of espresso, is a common starting point.

### How long should an espresso shot take?

The Specialty Coffee Association's training uses 20–30 seconds. The Italian Espresso National Institute's certified espresso uses about 25 seconds. Use time as a guide while you dial in, and trust your taste.

### What's the difference between a single and a double espresso?

The dose. The Specialty Coffee Association's training uses 7–10 g of coffee for a single and 14–20 g for a double, in a basket sized to match.

### What pressure does espresso need?

About 9 bar is the standard figure. The Italian Espresso National Institute's definition of certified Italian espresso uses 9 bar, plus or minus 1.

### Is a moka pot espresso?

No. A moka pot makes strong, rich coffee, but at much lower pressure than an espresso machine, so it doesn't make true espresso or the same crema.

### What does espresso mean?

It's Italian. Caffè espresso comes from esprimere, from the Latin exprimere, to press out, and the word also carries the sense of something made expressly for you.

### Why is my espresso sour or bitter?

Sour usually means it ran too fast and under-extracted: grind finer. Bitter usually means it ran too slowly and over-extracted: grind coarser. Keep the dose the same while you adjust.

## Sources

- [Barista skills (espresso parameters)](https://sca.training/howtocoffee/tag/Barista+Skills)
- [Certified Italian espresso](https://iei.coffee/en/espresso-italiano-certificato/)
- [Espresso](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
- [Combien de grammes pour un espresso parfait ?](https://graindexpert.fr/blog/dosage-cafe-espresso)
- [Espresso machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso_machine)
- [La Pavoni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Pavoni)
- [E-61](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-61)