Master Your Espresso: Dialing In Beans Without Wasting a Bag
Are you tired of sacrificing half a bag of your precious coffee beans just to find the perfect espresso grind setting? It’s a common frustration for home baristas, whether you’re working with a new bag of coffee, topping up your grinder's hopper, or even just starting with a brand-new grinder.
Dialing in a new coffee shouldn't mean a mountain of wasted grounds. In this post, we'll cover the three most common questions we get asked and give you actionable, low-wastage tips to hit your extraction sweet spot faster.
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Question 1: How Do Grinder Settings Work, and How Do I Find My Starting Point?
Many people treat the numbers on their grinder's collar as absolute gospel, but the truth is, these are just reference points.
The Grinder Settings Lie
On a burr grinder (whether it's a flat burr or conical burr), the grind setting is controlled by a collar that moves the top burr closer to or further away from the bottom burr, which is attached to the motor. Winding the collar down moves the burrs closer together, resulting in a finer grind.
However, over time, as the burrs wear, you'll need to continually adjust the collar to a finer setting to achieve the same particle size. This means a setting of '7' at the start of the year might become a '9' six months later. Don't worry about the number; focus on the result.
The Zero-Waste Starting Point Trick
If you have a brand-new grinder or are completely lost on your current setting, here is the best way to find a solid espresso-close starting point without grinding away coffee:
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Remove the Hopper and Collar: Take off the bean hopper and unscrew the entire top burr set/collar. This is also a fantastic time to give your grinder burrs and chute a deep clean with a vacuum.
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Go to 'Zero': With the top burr set back in place, carefully screw the collar down. Go as fine as you can until the burrs just touch each other. You'll often hear a high-pitched, light rubbing sound, and you may even see the bottom burr slightly move with the top one. This point, where the burrs meet, is your true "zero" or finest-possible grind.
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Back Off: From this point of contact, back off by about a half-turn (coarser). Lock it off if your grinder has a locking mechanism.
This setting will put you very close to an espresso grind and allow you to start your first test shots with minimal adjustment needed.
Question 2: How Can I Dial In My Grind With the Least Amount of Coffee Waste?
The goal is to move from your starting point (often a fast, "wild" shot) to your ideal extraction time in as few steps as possible. Our target recipe is a classic 2:1 ratio (e.g., 22.5g in, 45g out) in 30–32 seconds.
The Low-Wastage Dial-In Method
After setting your initial grind (using the zero-point trick above), instead of running another full shot that you'll have to dump, follow this visual, low-wastage method:
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Test the Grind Particle Size: Grind a small amount of coffee (just a couple of grams) directly into a small container or cup.
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Adjust and Observe: If your first shot was too fast (indicating the grind is too coarse), you need to go finer. Adjust your grind setting one notch finer and grind another small sample.
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Look for Clumping (The Espresso Clue): Continue to adjust finer and grind small samples until the grounds start to show a very slight clumping or "balling" effect. This sticky, slightly clumped texture is a great visual indicator that you have reached an optimal espresso particle size.
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Weigh the Waste: When the grounds start clumping, you are very close to your ideal grind setting. You may have only used 10–15 grams of coffee to find this sweet spot, which is less than a single full dose!
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Run the Final Test Shot: Now, grind your full dose (e.g., 22.5g) at this new, finer setting, use your WDT tool to break up any clumps, tamp, and pull your shot.
This shot will likely be very close to your target extraction time (e.g., maybe 24 seconds, needing only one final slight adjustment). You've skipped the step of running multiple full-dose shots that were way too fast, saving a significant amount of coffee.
Question 3: How Much Old Grind Is Stuck in My Grinder? (Grind Retention)
Grind retention—the amount of ground coffee left in the burrs and chute after grinding—is critical to understand, especially when changing your grind setting. If you change your setting, you need to clear out the old grounds to get a true taste of the new setting.
Retention is Higher with a Full Hopper
Our tests show that grind retention can vary based on how you use your grinder:
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Full Hopper Retention (Static): If you make a grind change with a full bean hopper, the old grounds are packed into the chute. You may need to grind and discard 5 grams or more of coffee to clear the old grind and get the new, precise particle size.
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Single Dosing Retention (Dynamic): If you only dose exactly the amount of beans you need for your shot (e.g., 22.5g) into an otherwise empty grinder, the retention is significantly lower, often 1–2 grams. The speed of the burrs is typically able to throw the grounds through more effectively.
The Wastage Tip: Single Dose to Save
If you are dialing in a new, expensive, or single-origin coffee and want to minimize wastage and maximize precision, the clearest takeaway is to single dose your beans. By avoiding a full hopper, you save on average 3 grams of coffee every time you make a grind adjustment!
Conclusion: Waste Less, Brew Better
By understanding how your grinder's settings work, using the zero-point and clumping visual method to quickly find your espresso grind, and utilizing single dosing to minimize retention, you can drastically reduce the amount of coffee you waste.
You'll be able to dial in your beans much faster, ensuring more of your coffee ends up as a delicious, perfectly extracted shot.
What's your biggest challenge when dialing in a new bag of espresso beans? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
