How to Create a Brewing Plan for Unfamiliar Coffee Beans

Friends visiting the shop watched FrontStreet Coffee make espresso and noticed that electronic scales were used for everything, from grinding to extraction. They asked: isn't it just making coffee? Does it really need to be this precise? Could a slightly different dose of grounds, a bit more or less liquid, or a longer or shorter extraction really change the taste of an espresso that much?

It's a fair question, especially since opinions online are split on whether scales are necessary. One camp insists that precise weighing is essential to proper extraction; the other argues that scales barely matter, since the espresso won't taste all that different anyway. So today FrontStreet Coffee will share an experiment showing just how much espresso changes with varying coffee amounts — and whether scales are truly necessary!

The Extraction Experiments

To capture the differences accurately, FrontStreet Coffee ran the test in two rounds. In the first round, we used different doses of grounds to extract the same liquid weight; in the second, we used the same dose to extract different liquid weights. Let's see what the results reveal!

First, the dose experiment. We pulled three shots. FrontStreet Coffee's morning calibration had yielded extraction parameters of 20g, 30 seconds, and 40ml, so we used that as the baseline, increasing and decreasing the dose by 0.5g each while holding the extracted liquid weight constant at 40ml. Enough talk — let's look at the results!

We then tasted the three shots. The standard 40ml espresso from 20g of grounds felt very comfortable to drink overall: prominent flavors, balanced acidity and bitterness, and a rich texture, with whiskey aroma, butter cookies, and berry sweetness and acidity. The shot made with 0.5g more grounds was not as good — it felt less comfortable overall, with more prominent bitterness and muted acidity; the profile was mostly whiskey, butter cookies, and a distinctly bitter dark chocolate. The shot made with 0.5g less was also less pleasant: the texture was thinner and the aftertaste very brief. To be fair, the berry sweetness and acidity stood out more, but as the cup cooled, the acidity grew increasingly sharp.

Next came round two: same dose, different liquid weights. Again we worked around the morning calibration, extracting 40ml, 35ml, and 45ml from 20g of grounds each time to see how the three cups would perform!

We'll spare you the detailed descriptions, because the results mirrored round one: only the espresso pulled with the morning calibration parameters performed well; the other two cups both developed unpleasant flavors.

The Science Behind a Balanced Extraction

So we now know that espresso does change with more or less grounds, more or less liquid, and longer or shorter times — and those differences stem from a disruption of the coffee's flavor balance. What does that mean? Simply put, FrontStreet Coffee landed on the formula "20g, 30 seconds, 40ml" during morning calibration precisely because the espresso extracted with those parameters tastes perfectly balanced: the flavors don't mask each other — they complement one another, letting every aspect of the coffee shine. Each extraction parameter matters enormously, and they all exist in mutual constraint. Change any one of them and you shift the entire extraction efficiency. This is especially true for the sensitive espresso method, where the impact is amplified. When extraction efficiency changes, the amounts of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness extracted change with it, leaving the final shot overly bitter, overly sour, or thin. So how do you replicate a delicious espresso exactly like the morning calibration?

The answer: reproduce the winning formula exactly. And for that, electronic scales are indispensable. Without scales, you have no idea how much coffee you're using or how much liquid the machine will yield. Small errors are tolerable — say, 0.1-0.2g of grounds or 1-3ml of liquid — but larger ones, exceeding 0.5g of grounds or 4ml of liquid, will change the taste significantly. At this point someone might object: isn't this feedback only apparent when you have something to compare against? Without comparison, could you really taste so many differences?

Honestly? Quite true — without a side-by-side, the differences are hard to feel. But everyone can still tell delicious coffee from bad coffee. Without measurement, every cup becomes Schrödinger's cat: its quality rests entirely on chance. If you happen to dose low and extract long, with several negative factors stacking up, it's hard to imagine the coffee tasting good — unless your blend is mostly very dark roast. In that case, with the coffee full of roasted aroma and bitterness, ample extraction leaves little room for variation (it's all bitter!), though under-extraction would still leave a relatively prominent acidity. This is why most coffee shops weigh everything throughout the process: to guarantee consistency so that customers in the afternoon enjoy espresso and milk drinks that taste as good as the morning calibration. If you're brewing just for yourself, anything goes. Of course, there are exceptions: because weighing slows things down, some cafes use grinder timer settings and machine programming in place of scales. That still introduces some error, but it's far better than no measurement at all.

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Good precision deserves good beans. For dialing in espresso at home, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the FrontStreet Classic Blend, designed specifically for espresso machines and moka pots. Built on the traditional Mandheling-Brazil formula with a touch of Robusta for extra depth, it produces abundant, velvety golden crema that is rich, mellow, and low in acidity — so forgiving that even beginners on non-professional home machines can pull a dense, smooth shot.

If you lean toward nutty, chocolatey espresso, choose the FrontStreet Signature Blend, our flagship store blend pairing Brazil Cerrado with Colombia Huila beans. It delivers almond, dark chocolate, and caramel flavors with a comfortable bitterness and gentle acidity — the familiar, classic espresso taste, and a perfect base for lattes and Americanos alike.