Timing (or I guess flow rate) is sort of important, but as someone who recently ditched my shot scale/timer (I still weigh beans with it), my espresso has never tasted better! It’s weird… once I stopped chasing the general guidelines and just let stuff happen, making small adjustments based on taste alone, I now know that’s the way to go.

Sure, I still know if a shot is going way too fast or way too slow based on past experience, so that might be difficult for a beginner to pick up on, but once you know how things should generally go, I think it’s a good idea to put the science to the side and focus on the flavor.

It was a tough jump to make since I’m a nerd and want things to fit into the prescribed formula that all of the experts have come up with over the years… But beans are different, grinders are different, etc.

I think what made me ditch the scale was James Hoffman’s video on the difference between sour and bitter. I never knew what to look for in regards to “taste”, and that video makes it so easy to understand.

For those curious, you don’t have to watch the video. Sour hits you immediately and is short lived – bitter creeps up on your tongue and lingers. Sour is a sign of a shot being under extracted, and bitter is over extracted. A proper shot might be sour & bitter, but they somehow balance each other out, or they’re covered up by all the other good flavors.