What is the Golden Rule of Espresso Extraction? Why Use a 1:2 Brew Ratio for Espresso?

Question: What parameters should be used to extract a delicious espresso?

When you pose this question, many experienced coffee enthusiasts might tell you to use an amount of coffee equal to the basket capacity, then extract twice the weight in liquid within a certain time range. For example, using 20g of coffee to extract 40ml of coffee liquid in 25-30 seconds, known as the "golden ratio of espresso."

Then many beginners follow this 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio concept to adjust their espresso. When the extraction time exceeds this formula's range, or the taste isn't ideal (showing over-extraction or under-extraction), they adjust the grind coarser or finer for correction! But gradually, everyone discovered that this approach not only consumes a lot of materials but also makes it difficult to adjust espresso to taste delicious. This led to questioning this formula: Must espresso extraction use a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio?

Must espresso extraction use a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio?

Of course not! Espresso doesn't need to be limited to a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio; this formula is merely a general standard category. We can reference this formula to better extract a delicious espresso with high concentration and appropriate extraction rate—that's all. It doesn't mean the coffee-to-liquid ratio needs to be fixed. If we fix the ratio and blindly adjust the grind based on extraction time, not only will we consume a lot of coffee beans for grind adjustments, but it's also easy to make the espresso flavor, which was just one step away from being delicious, go in the opposite direction. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee is here to share a small tip for adjusting delicious espresso! That is: remove the restrictions on coffee amount and liquid weight, making both coffee amount and liquid weight adjustable objects!

Still using that golden formula as the standard because espresso needs high concentration and relatively complete extraction to serve as a base for making other espresso-based drinks. However, on this foundation, we can make fine adjustments by adjusting the coffee amount and liquid weight. Although the basket has a recommended coffee amount, because there's headroom (the gap between the coffee puck and the dispersion screen), we can slightly increase or decrease the coffee amount from the recommended amount, depending on the roast degree and grind size of the coffee beans. Generally, dark roast coffee powder can have about 0.5g flexibility (on top of the basket's recommended usage, or even more), while light roast coffee beans will have more.

How to adjust?

For example: We're currently using 20g of coffee to extract 40ml of liquid in 24 seconds, which has a slight gap from the time in the formula. Although adjusting the grind would be a good choice, at this point, we can first taste the flavor! If you think the taste is decent but a bit thin, then there's no need to adjust the grind; we can increase the concentration by increasing the coffee amount. Increasing from 20g to 20.2g of coffee can enhance the coffee's concentration. If the extraction time is too long, for example, 20g of coffee extracting 40ml of liquid but taking 32 seconds, it's still the old rule—taste first! If the flavor shows some shortcomings but the concentration is sufficient, then we can increase the extraction rate by reducing 0.2g of coffee. The same applies to liquid weight. When we think the flavor is slightly under-extracted or slightly over-extracted, we can make fine adjustments by increasing or decreasing the liquid weight.

After increasing/decreasing the coffee amount and liquid weight, the extraction time will also increase or decrease accordingly. What we need to know is that even if the extraction time far exceeds the golden formula's range, it doesn't matter! Because extraction time is merely a reference for us to check if the grind size is appropriate, not something that must be controlled within a specific range. However, there are still points to note! When the espresso tastes good but lacks concentration, increasing liquid weight cannot increase concentration. Because the substances in coffee are limited and not all are good—if we blindly increase liquid weight, it will only dissolve undesirable substances into the coffee and make it thinner. Therefore, specialization has its focus. Compared to blindly pursuing parameters, it's better to understand the principles behind each adjustment, as this can help us more easily make a delicious espresso~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473