☕ How to Make Espresso

Tap a numbered step when you finish it · dashed “+” rows are optional extras

Warm up

+Preheat the portafilteroptional

Put the bottomless portafilter into the machine while it warms up — a hot portafilter makes a better shot.

📷Photo: machine on, warming up

Warm up the machine

Turn it on and give it 10–15 minutes.

Check the water tank while you wait — top it up if it's low.

Grind

Put beans in the grinder, turn it on

Pour beans into the hopper and power the grinder on.

Tare the transfer cup

Put the empty transfer cup on the scale and hit tare so it reads 0.0g.

📷Photo: grinding into the transfer cup, ~20g on the scale

Grind ~20g into the transfer cup

Grind until the scale reads about 20g.

The grinder switch is a little finicky — be patient with it.

Prep the shot

Get the portafilter, wipe it dry

Take the bottomless portafilter out of the machine and wipe the basket dry with a towel.

Put the retainer collar on the portafilter

Snap the collar onto the portafilter — it keeps grounds from spilling while you fill and prep.

Transfer the grounds into the portafilter

Pour the grounds from the transfer cup into the portafilter basket.

+WDT the clumpsoptional

Stir the grounds with the WDT tool (the little needle whisk) to break up clumps and fluff everything evenly.

+Knock to settleoptional

Tap the portafilter on the counter a couple times so the grounds settle flat.

+Use the distribution tooloptional

Set the distribution tool on top and give it a few twists to level the bed before tamping.

📷Photo: tamping, level and firm

Tamp

Press the tamper down firmly and evenly. Flat and level matters more than hard.

+Put the filter screen onoptional

Lay the puck screen on top of the tamped grounds — it helps keep the shower screen clean.

Pull the shot

Lock the portafilter into the machine

Insert it into the group head and twist right until snug.

Put your cup under the filter

Set the cup on the scale, under the portafilter.

+Tare the scaleoptional

Tare with the cup on the scale so you can read the shot weight directly.

🎬Clip: what a good shot looks like (slow honey stream)

Run the machine until ~40g of liquid

Start the shot and stop it when the scale reads about 40g.

Too fast and watery? The grind needs to be finer. Barely dripping? Coarser.

Cleanup

Knock out the puck

Knock the portafilter on the knock box to eject the used puck.

Wash the screen and portafilter

Rinse both under the tap and set them out to dry.

Purge the group head

Just run it for a second or two to rinse out any grounds.

Run a blank plate flush

Put in the blank (blind) plate and run the machine to backflush the group head.

Turn off the machine and grinder

All done. Enjoy 💛