Sometimes in the morning it’s hard enough to find your wallet, keys and phone, let alone try to troubleshoot a coffee that just tastes off. We’ve all experienced a brew tasting bitter, sour or burnt, but it doesn’t have to ruin your day. These problems can often be fixed with a quick adjustment and re-brew, provided that the problem is not the coffee beans themselves.
Espresso coffee tastes best when made with medium-roast beans. Beans that are too fresh can taste sour, as they haven’t had time to degas. From about a week after roasting your coffee will have settled in and will be beautiful for espresso based coffees.
Assuming you have great quality coffee beans and they aren’t too fresh, this guide will help you solve some issues with the coffee extraction.
Words to understand
Extraction = This refers to the pour of the coffee from your espresso machine. It’s extracting the coffee oils from the beans.
Blonding = When the coffee pour is a pale yellow colour
Basket = The basket holds the coffee grinds which the water flows through
Crema = The light brown oils that sit atop the coffee shot.
Puck = The coffee grinds that remain in your basket after you have run a shot. The make a shape like a hockey puck when you empty the basket out.
Why does my coffee taste bitter?
What to look for: Your puck will be super soggy and sloppy. A thin white/pale yellow watery pour and spirals at the end. Big patches of white on your crema.
Diagnosis: When your espresso comes out tasting bitter, it usually means that the extraction or pour time is too long. Commonly, you’ll see a pale yellow/white stream of coffee that wobbles and spirals towards the end of the shot.
Remedy: Adjust your brew time. A good pour will be somewhere between 25 – 35 secs. Keep watch on the shot as it comes through and as soon as you see the coffee coming out in a light “blonde” colour, stop the shot immediately. This is almost pure caffeine and caffeine tastes very bitter so you want to avoid this and stop the shot as soon as you see it start blonding. Most people make the mistake of trying to extract too much coffee out of a single coffee dose. If you want a strong coffee, get a bigger basket (22g – 28g) and keep the shot time within the ideal range. Don’t worry, you’ll still get your caffeine fix, it just won’t be as bitter.
Why does my coffee taste sour?
What to look for: The coffee GUSHES out under 15 seconds and is wide, pale yellow and bubbly. Your puck will be really dry and powdery.
Diagnosis: A sour espresso shot is one that is under-extracted; meaning the water has run through the coffee too quickly and hasn’t extracted the delicious tasting oils. You are either not putting enough coffee in your basket or you are tamping too lightly and your coffee is too coarse. If your shot pours in under 15 seconds, you are getting under-extracted coffee. The coffee will appear blonde and pale and bubbly. The coffee crema will also dissipate rapidly and the taste will appear thin and sour.
Remedy: To fix a sour espresso shot, adjust your grind to be finer. This will mean that when you tamp the grinds you’ll create more resistance for the water to pass through allowing it to pick up more oils along the way.
Why does my coffee taste burnt?
What to look for: Slow dripping for almost the entirety of the shot. Dark/black pours. You only get a small volume of coffee liquid even after a 45 second extraction. Your puck will look soggy and sloppy again.
Diagnosis: Burnt tasting espresso has been over extracted, meaning the hot water is flowing through the grinds too slowly creating harsh and burnt tasting espresso. You coffee grind is too fine or you are over filling the basket and tamping the coffee too much.
Remedy: To remedy a burnt tasting espresso shot, adjust your grinder to a slightly coarser grind. This will help the water to seep through the grind more evenly without too much resistance, and it won’t overcook the coffee.
If you try out any of these fixes and they don’t work, leave us a reply and we’ll try and give you specific and detailed help! No one has time for dodgy tasting coffee.
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109 comments
Спасибо, давно искал
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Hey Ryadan,
Thanks for this excellent post.
I use Sage(Breville) the Oracle, in order to fix a sour espresso shot, I adjusted my grind to be finer, but that caused another problem, now I can’t get enough extraction.
Here is my setup:
- Double espresso filter.
- 6-7 seconds pre-infuse
- ~30 seconds of total extraction
If I use finer grind to prevent sour taste I only get 10-15ml coffee which has a very bitter taste.
How can I prevent sour taste and get more extraction? I have tried two separate beans with different grind levels, both of them were medium roasted.
All the best!
James
Hi Rudra!
Thanks for writing in. I definitely suggest you invest in a grinder. It’s the best way to eliminate the bitter, sour burnt flavours that can occur. Plus your coffee stays fresher longer and you’ll be able to make a much better cup of coffee. The best low-cost grinder is the Breville Smart Grinder Pro but I know that will be more expensive than the machine cost you, however, it’s probably the most important accessory to any coffee brewer. If you can afford it, I would absolutely suggest you buy one. If you can’t afford there are cheaper blade grinders out there and they’ll be better than preground at least.
If you’re going to keep buying preground coffee then you should look for a local roaster where you can guarantee the coffee is about 7 days old when you purchase it. Afresh roast will have a lovely amounts of oils remaining in it even after you grind it. Whereas Lavazza is usually around 6 months old by the time it hits the shelves. This alone will change the flavour (as long as you choose a great local roaster.)
Yes, if the puck is dry and powdery and you’re tasting a burnt flavour then the coffee is too old and too fine. You could try adding less coffee in the puck but I doubt you’d be able to fix much with the coffee.
All the best!
Hi,
I’m a homemade barista, with a budget espresso machine(Morphy Richards Fresco to be precise). At first I was using a Colombian dark roast ground coffee, I thought that the burnt taste of my coffee is due to the dark roast. So I ordered a medium roasted coffee(Lavazza Club Ground Coffee). The coffee is too fine. I can only find some minute difference in the taste.
I observed the puck, it’s dry and powdery, and the coffee still tastes burnt and there’s no distinct layer of crema, also the water isn’t running fast enough and evenly throughout the puck. I saw cracks in the middle of the puck.
I’m inaccessible to change the grind size.
Hoping for your reply,
Thank you for your time.
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Hi Dalal, yes it’s difficult to work with the grinder because it only has 12 settings so there’s not much room for precision. But also, the extractions will always be a challenge because they don’t have the same pumps that more manual machines have.
Have you tried going right down to the finest setting and working your way back from that. If the extraction doesn’t change you may need to take it back in. At the finest it should basically not come through at all, or drip for most of the time. Then change it up a step and run two shots through (this is to get rid of any grind retention) keep going until you find the right extraction. Let me know how it goes!!
Hello, i have a philips 2200 fully automatic coffee machine. Its one week old and i’m trying to get the perfect espresso from it. My espresso shot from forst drip is around 10-12 seconds. I tried changing the grinder setting several time but i’m still getting the same extraction time and the coffee does not taste good. Currently my grinder is set on 7, i am using medium roast coffee beans. I am not sure how to extend the extraction time as changing the grinder setting is not helping?
Thank you
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Thanks Russell!
And thanks for adding in some tips. That’s what I love about coffee, there’s something for everyone.
Take care!