To anyone wondering why you're watching this when you don't have an espresso machine, You will buy one in the future just like i did

James talks with perfect punctuation. You can hear the commas as he talks.

*watching this video sipping on Nescafé* "Aaaah, yes, espresso brew ratios!"

100% cut his hair using a re-purposed burr grinder. Unstoppable.

Just noticed you hit 400k subscribers! Well done James, very much deserved

I usually keep trying to dial in my grind until I finish the 250g bag of beans. Swear a bit, then start again on the next bag.

James your analysis, thoughts and advice on coffee thus far are beyond this world. As objective as you are, I hope everyone follows your philosophy and approach as how one should look at coffee. It’s always a pleasure seeing your videos and your practical approach on what you are presenting to the viewers. Keep up the good work and thank you once again.

Can we please take a moment and acknowledge not only this amazing content but the beautiful comment sections as well? It's so refreshing browsing non toxic comments on a topic you love 💕

As an Italian particularly keen on coffe this channel is like therapy for me: amazing high quality contents to begin with, plus his voice and wordings are delightful at the very least!

im working as a barista in my local hometown, and i found ur video made me understand more about coffee and it really helps me out thanks man, keep up, love ur video :) sorry im a bad english user.

I love how focused this guy is. He knows exactly what he's great at talking about, and gives everyone great information. The best of KZfaq!

Netflix should sign you and open a new category called "Hoff"

As a Civil Engineer, batching concrete by weight over volume makes a some difference, so glad you demonstrated that with Espresso!

So glad to see this!! When I first started as a barista, we were trained to measure liquid output by volume only. Once I realized you could get way more accurate by weighing your ratios, my dialing-in finally stopped feeling like I was just pretending to understand the changes I made. I could actually affect coffee how I wanted to. Great advice!

Ratio does have a big impact in how i dial at work! We use beans from Brasil - mina gerais (and they´re good, but not specialty), and using a traditional 1:2 gives us a heavier cup with almost no acidity. So I decided to use a bigger dose, grinding a lil bit finer and cutting down the ratio, ending with 20g in and 32g out in about 24 seconds. It's so cool how the taste changed quite drastically! It managed to pull out a more bright shot with a note of orange and a sweetness similar to chocolate

So, I got my first espresso machine a few months back (Breville Dual Boiler), and I learned immediately that it was going to be impossible for me to hit all the magic numbers (9 bar, 2 ounces, 25-30 seconds) that you hear about in all the KZfaq videos without a lot more experience. I felt overwhelmed at first, so I tried to eliminate variables. I set my machine to volumetric dosing, temp control is on by default, I exclusively use a distribution tool with no additional tamping for consistency, and I happened to have a grinder with a built in scale (Sette 270wi). I made it so that all I cared about was adjusting the grind based on taste and brew time alone. I have found that it doesn’t have to be perfect to get a good cup, and I typically adjust my grind every couple of days based on the flavor and brew time (as the beans age). I have been experimenting with 1-2lb bags of coffee, something different each time, and I’m developing a pallet for coffee along the way. I’m starting to know which flavors I like and which I don’t. I even bought some beans that smelled sour and tasted mushroomy and disgusting despite being from a local respected toaster. It has been a fun hobby, and I can definitely say that I’m now drinking the best coffee of my life. I have also come to the realization that the machine I bought was total overkill, despite being a great deal on what I got. If I could turn back time I probably could have saved $2-300 getting a single boiler equivalent machine. I think the better my pallet gets the more I will be able to refine my adjustments and notice the difference. Thanks for your videos :) I look forward to trying your coffee someday soon!

Impeccable timing, just made a coffee, opened youtube and hark a new understanding espresso 👌

I’ve been a coffee drinker for going on 24 years. I’ve learned a more about coffee since I subscribed to this channel and began to apply the lessons learned here practically to my coffee making at home, then during to the entirety of the previous 23.5 years. Cheers James, there can’t be much better than loving a subject, having an inquisitive mind and enjoying making the complex simple to those with interest. We, your audience and students, salute you.

I love the fact that you talk about the importance of having a ratio, or as I like to call it a recipe, and the fact that they’re guidelines, not carved in stone! They are, however very good guidelines, and straying to far will begin to detract from a true balanced extraction! Thank you!

As a barista and a espresso lover, this video is very informative and detailed. Will recommend this video to my team as a refresher.

James is the Attenburrough of coffee. I literally fell asleep listening to his voice 😂

Damn that haircut's fresher than the beans out of the Niche grinder

I'm still considering an espresso machine and trying to understand all the new information that is different from filter coffee. Thank you for the informative video!!

The delivery, enunciation and tone of your voice is exquisite. Bravo.

That is a great distinction between volumetric measurement and mass measurement. and Congratulations on 400K.

Congrats on 400k subscribers James! I just got an LP Europiccola as my first machine sometime last week and your videos have been tremendously helping in helping me diagnose shots as a total home espresso beginner.

James this was very helpful. Especially the fact that a slight change in ratio can really impact the drinking experience. I appreciated you sharing your considerable expertise in such a clear concise manner. Thank you. Stay well and safe.

James I wanted to take a moment to tell you of all the people I have been following on my you tube channel you are far and away the most informative I'm fairly new to brewing my coffee using whole beans I recently purchased my own espresso maker and watching and listening to you has helped tremendously thank you for helping to make this a bit easier please keep making such wonderful videos it's much appreciated thanks

I have dreams about James in this sweater

Espresso is my favourite type of coffee, love the crema and the taste and it’s actually the only type of coffee that keeps me awake!

Your content keeps my passion for coffee alive. I'm a former barista, dreaming of putting up my own small coffee shop. The info and knowledge you're sharing is very i useful. Thanks!

This is the video I needed to see! Everything else had clicked but having the ratios changing the body AND flavour is what I needed to know. I am now really looking forward to fine tuning the taste and body of my shots. Thank you again for your entertaining and informative videos.

I got an espresso scale last week after using volumetric measurement for the last 6 months - total game changer. My shots were way off before, what I thought was 40ml of espresso coming out was actually around 60ml. Shots are tasting far better now that I'm getting precisely 40ml out.

Hadn’t thought of letting it run for a few more grams as I didn’t want risk bitter over extraction, but I’ll give it a try, coincidently I’m low on coffee!

EVERY TIME I think that volume is an okay measure to use for making coffee - James changes my mind and I use my scale more and more. As a benefit though I'm making better and better coffee (of all types). I honestly used to believe that a scale was something a coffee nerd used to be more "consistent" - now I HAVE TO weigh my coffee and water going into my first cup made in my AeroPress - now it's perfect every time.

James, thanks for all your videos. During this quarantine, my morning routine has been to start my day with one of your videos while sipping coffee. You have helped me elevate the quality of my drip coffee. I have also started experimenting with espresso thanks to you, and would have been lost without your coffee-wisdom.

was right in the middle of making a coffee when you popped up in the corner of my screen. Nice timing. :)

I've been pulling shots the last few days aiming for a consistent ratio in place of eyeballing volume or consistent time. I already notice the difference, both in consistency of flavor and the opportunity to make fine adjustments. Now I'm learning how much liquid comes out of my machine on average after I turn the brew switch off. 😜

I love that you give away coffee, I never applied because I hate my coffee grinder to the point I went back to buying cheap ground coffee but I'm so happy to hear you're doing that in every video

Hi James, just to say I’ve watched these videos and invested in a couple of bits of kit to add to my relatively basic machine (non pressurised basket, proper scales, proper grinder) and started trying to dial in my current beans...I’ve been writing it down as i go and this morning I finally successfully dialled an espresso that pulled to the metrics you described in this series, with crema and a great taste. Thank you so much for all your (free!!) guidance.

I also found that when dealing with highly acidic lighter roasted coffees longer ratios, like you said, can balance out the extractions and make for a sweeter shot!

I don’t make espresso at home, and all of this probably won’t encourage me to do so. BUT, this detailed analysis is utterly fascinating and I can’t wait for the next update.

James, I’m loving your content. Thank you YT algorithm for feeding me a great new channel. Thank you James for levelling up my barista knowledge!

Excellent video James. Been playing with brew ratios for a while now and I love it. Feel like I have a lot more control and can repeat the same shot over and over

I tend to use dose and grind to get me to a ballpark where I'm broadly happy with the espresso, and then reduce ratio if I want more sweetness or increase for more "dark" flavours... I might be entirely wrong with that method - but it seems to work for me, and I end up with good coffee which is probably the most important thing of all.

I’m curious as to know how important the extraction time for each of the ratio? What is the perfect time for each one?

Today I have discovered your channel and after getting through the initial shock of trying to establish your age, whether you are 25 or 55, I have to say I have learned more about coffee from you in those few videos I had watched than I have learned in last three years as a barista. You have logical and pragmatic approach to making an espresso, as it should be. Thank you for your videos, I am going to keep watching. Ps: I like your unique character and style of videos. Good job.

Thanks James. Can’t stop watching your videos.

This is so fascinating to me. In portugal, the standard espresso is 7 grams of ground coffee to 30g of espresso. It's like this everywhere. Delta, the main cofee brand in portugal, actually dials in the machine and grinder for you, if you buy their coffee and this is what they do. The other day, I decided to make, what in my mind was a crazy strong espresso, doubling the amount of coffee and mantaining 30g of liquid, and the flavour and intensity was just mind blowing. Apparently this is what the normal espresso experience should be? I'd really like to sell this kind of espresso in my place but: 1. It would make the espresso double the price, thus being difficult to compete 2. the locals wouldn't be used to the taste? Maybe i'll add a second espresso option!

I'm still hoping my question about the difference between single, double and triple shot pull timing I posted in part 1 is explained in an upcoming video. According to my research, the timing of a pull for a double shot is the same as for a single shot but the dose and yield is double. Would two single shots not be superior to one double shot? I'm really interested in having a discussion on this topic.

Congrats on 400k! Very thankful for your content and I hope you can continue to find enjoyment into it for as long as possible

Honestly my favorite channel on KZfaq

Is it just me who misses making espresso based drinks at work? Been too long now. 😭 Also great content as always James! 👍🏼

This really is a great explanation. I would love to see you take a coffee with kinda neutral tasting notes (i.e. not super chocolatey or super fruity/acidic) and make not just the three ratios listed but as you explained, those 2-3 g differences and write down how it's changed. Maybe going all the way from 1:1 through 1:1.3, 1:1.6, etc all the way to 1:2.5 or 1:3 even. Maybe even a version with the iconic styles of espresso i.e. a fruity light roast and a nutty/chocolatey medium/medium dark roast. Would be a really great deep dive into ratio. Your dose video in this series really opened my eyes to not overdosing and as a 1:1.6-1.7 ratio person, I'd love to understand better what moving past 1:2 gets me. Thanks for your awesome content!

Im new to James' videos, and im enjoying it so far, his voice is really calming and really modulated, the content for coffee is really great too!

I just got an Oscar II and a Baratza Sette 270 last week and I find all your videos very usefull. Actually one of the baristas that taught me how to dial in my espresso changed Ratio to help me find the desire extraction. Anyway, i just wanted to thank you as this videos are helping me A LOT understanding how to improve my espresso at home.

Hey James, great video! I was curious, as a newcomer to coffee making, how do the coffee beans impact your coffee making procedure, if at all? When I changed the beans to a different type, i found using the same ratio to result in better or sometimes worse taste. If you already made a video on that or explained it somewhere could you link it? Otherwise id love to know more on how the beans might impact your coffee making procedure.

Hi! My machine has 10 sec of pre-infusion. So when should I measure time and weight to accomplish 1:3 ratio? At first drop in cup ? Or when pump starts ? Thank You!

Just bought my first espresso machine and grinder the other day (a used ECM Casa V and Manuale-S 64 Grinder) and was looking for resources to get into, when I remembered that James has a whole series on this. Thank you for breaking this down and also giving some context to assumptions about how espresso “should” be made.

Loving this series on understanding espresso. Thanks, James!

James, you mentioned lungos in the larger ratio settings. Does anyone drink lungos, and, if so, when? Is a lungo called for in certain circumstances? Could this be another video sometime???

I´m using a 6 espressi/day ratio

I needed a lot of time to really figure this out, but it is so powerful for the home user. The part about adjusting ratio to improve the taste. For some reason, my setup and/or technique is not 100% consistent, so when the shot starts I immediately know if I need to make a shot longer or shorter (and for how much). It takes a bit of experience. And that makes ALL the difference and now I only get shots that are very close to perfect.

hi James, it makes you laughing for sure, but my coffee journey reached the point, where I switched from instant coffee I drank for years (it is so easy...) to old cheap presso machine where coffee mug is filled by liquid flowing through portafilter till the 2dc mug is full and finally yesterday I bought more expensive Sage Barista Pro. And found you. I wanted to stay happily at the "filling the mug by liquid flowing through portafilter". Your voice doesn't allow me to stay. I keep listening and ready to spend part of my morning routine by wandering around kitchen with hot milk, dirty portafilter and annoyed wife. Thank you. :-)

I just put my tassimo pod in and press go. Perfect coffee 60% of the time, everytime.

Hey James, as an Italian, I always thought that "ristretto" referred to it being a "shrunken/shortened" version of espresso, this being what the normal translation of "ristretto" is. A random example, the italian title for Honey I _shrunk_ the kids is Tesoro mi si sono _ristretti_ i ragazzi. I am now confused, because your translation seems to be the commonly accepted one.

Glad you solved the ml vs gr problem. I always thought the same. Thanks James! Enjoying your videos. Keep them coming. 😉

American coffee roaster living in Japan and this video is awesome! I never weighed out my shots but will start now :-) Leased the best Rachillio Espresso Machine and their top of the line dose grinder to practice my shots so I can confidently tell cafe's which bean will produce the smoothest espresso (yes, I know not everyone's favorite brand but I love the brand and having a $30k espresso machine at home is so fun). Japanese customers love the smooth chocolaty espresso shots.

James, you completely left out the extraction time aspect - I assume your explanation of ratios is based on equal extraction time, right?

So if you're dialing in for a 1:1.2 restretto shot. What measurements of coffee would you use? 19 G? And does the bars of the machine affect that?

Thanks James...very useful information. I just brought a La Pavoni Professional expresso machine.and have made around 20 shots so far. Every shot has been different as I am practicing with the coffee grind, heating of the brewing head, water temperature, amount of coffee, amount of water, time in brewing, elapsed time before I depress the lever etc. As you say there are so many variables, so getting the right expresso to suit you requires a huge amount of practice. I find that I am getting up at 2am just to practice a new method in getting my caffine hit. It’s addictive and fun. Don’t buy a manual expresso machine if you do not have time to experiment...you will get totally frustrated and turn to tea.😂😂😂

He’s so good at making words with his mouth

2:38 - shout-out to your favorite Delonghi machine? :)

For some reason all I could hear was "Horatio"

I've not seen your videos before this and wanted to share an immediate impression. This video looks and sounds lovely, and your presentation of the concept was spot on. Even knowing a decent amount of this, I felt I learned a lot. You also seem to have lovely fans, and I must agree with them that you hair looks excellent.

Iv been watching your videos for months and not really fully understood what you were saying at some points. i am so glad to have found this series :) not progressed to a machine yet it is my lifetime goal right now but the coffee i make in my press is pretty good since i watched your guide. great channel!

형 뭐라는지 모르겠는데 암튼 고마워

That moment when you realise, you've been doing it wrong, all this while!

I only recently found this channel, and it’s like my new favorite thing. Suddenly I want to go buy a bunch of stuff to make better espresso

Knowing the science behind brewing coffee is what helps me fully understand why we’re supposed to do things a certain way, which in turn makes me brew it better. Your videos keep my curiosity high and my determination to learn even higher. This was a phenomenal video like always.

Ah you got a haircut. Well I suppose it's time for me too.

Here I am sitting in india where espresso machines are imported for £2500 minimum and the only coffee we have is instant robusta coffee Nesafé and Bru and other shitty ones. Not one person i know has heard of ground coffee. Everyone here thinks coffee = instant coffee

Coffee giveaway for people who can't afford great coffee.... using your sponsor to allow you to do this - very admirable, well done

Where I live (Oklahoma, USA) just wanting your beans left whole when purchasing is often greeted with surprise. Before watching your channel, I had no idea coffee could be so complex!

Some pretty amazing information. To the point, well explained. Thanks for showing your technique, but also what to feel. What to look for and hear for. These are some of the real nuggets that really pulled me into sensing when the foam was ready. Thank you!!!

Finally got around ordering a bag of Red Brick alongside two other filter coffees. Pulled the said Red Brick with a Flair Pro + Comandante combo and was extremely satisfied with the flavour profile via the 18g dose 1:2 ratio! Thanks again for all the entertaining and informative videos :D

the importance of a scale ! have been using a scale for 3 years -to do these mad tricks, thank you James. Always use spoon for espresso drink ..yes

I’ve been waiting for this! Thanks James

Thanks James! Your videos have helped me a lot in the recent weeks

Espresso episodes are fantastic, thank you

Your voice is SO relaxing

Hi James thanks for sharing your expertise with the community! I'm still learning to make excellent coffee and your videos have been super helpful to me! I recently got a Kalita wave and I've brewed to best coffee of my life using beans from a local roaster! I would love it if you did a video on the Kalita so I could learn from your experience with a flat-bottom pour-over.

Thank you so much for your in depth lessons I have learned so much from you You have seriously enhanced my coffee drinking experience as I continue to learn from you

I saw the link to this video pop up on my phone while at work. I've been looking forward to watching it all day. Thank you for your videos James. They are always great time invested. I love that facebook suggested your page to me also. Followed over there too.

All of your points are great. I’m a dose out and flow type. I don’t look for 18 in 36 out. I’m more like 18 in ground nice at about 28 to 30 seconds leaving about 5 or 6 shots pre infusion and about 25 secs in the glass, but I’m going to dial in by how many grams in the glass to see if my flavor changes. It might be better for me. Great vid.

I have finally been convinced. I will start weighing the input and the output, and fixing my extraction issues. Thanks James!

A wonderful and informative video as always; thank you James!

Hey James, discovered your videos recently, and I must say, I'm a big fan on the way you tell your story. The timbre of your voice in combination of the cadende/speed .. it really inspires me "This is how I want to sound and make videos" ;)

Great info about Italian 14g/double espresso to get less caffeine! Thank you, James!

Awesome content James, learned a lot from this one. Keep it up!