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
Awesome, glad I could help!
Thanks awesome
My current settings on Xelsis. Brand new machine. Lvaza Arabica beans
1. Strength : Mild
2. Coffee : 60cc
3. Temp : medium
4. Taste : Delicate
5. Grind : 2-3
Coffee is Bitter
The best time I can do for 60cc is 15-17” from first Drip. Crema is thin to nonexistent
60cc = 2 oz
Hi Pete!
Yep a soupy puck is definitely a sign of underextraction (meaning your coffee grinds are too coarse) and you’ll need to grind the coffee a bit finer until you see a firmer puck.
The bubbling could be from two different things:
Your coffee is too fresh and so the carbon dioxide trapped in the bean is oxidising as you extract. If your coffee was only roasted a few days ago, then this could be the issue. I like to let my coffee sit in a one-way valve chamber for at least 14 days from roast date. If it’s winter where you are you might even need to wait longer as the degassing is slower.
However, I think the bubbling may also be caused by the machine and YES the water can be that hot that it boils the coffee as it comes out. It depends on what sort of machine you have but to test it, run the water from the group head and see if it’s running out wildly and making a huge noise. If it is, you need to purge the boiling water by leaving the water running for about 10-15 seconds or until you see it visibly settle down and run more smoothly. You will need to do this between shots if it’s sitting idle for a minute or so.
Hopefully you can get a more firm puck now.
Regards,
Ryd
Hi there,
My pucks are quite soupy sometimes, but my pour is ok and my espresso ok, not burnt, sour or over-bitter (although I just now learned how to spot the “blonde” so Ill work on that!).
My question is this – I have noticed once or twice, when removing the portafilter after a pour, that the soupy puck is….boiling? Or bubbling at least…
What could cause that?
Surely the water is not coming out SO hot and pressurised that it could still be actively boiling at this point?
Surely coffee cant be so gassy that Im seeing rapid bubbling (ballbearing sized bubbles) even after the pour?
Any ideas?
I dont actually detect much problem from my espresso, other than I havnt yet gotten a proper grinder and cant really make a consistent brew yet.
Thanks!
[…] important as it’s the basis of your coffee. A common mistake is that you may be starting with a badly poured shot or an old […]
Hey Tomer!
That extraction sounds perfect from your timing, to stopping when it blonds, so the only thing that I can think of is that your beans are roasted too dark.
It has to be the reason.
I mean, the coffee could be a Robusta bean which isn’t as smooth and sweet as the Arabica family, but it really sounds like the roaster just took the bean too far.
hey,
I stopped the extraction when it started to blond,
It took 25 seconds and extracted in a ratio of 1:2, yet the coffee tasted burnt and very strong..
It was roasted 13 days ago..
Any suggestions? 😄
Hey Akos!
I think sometimes too much emphasis is placed on the science of coffee and not enough on the art. Whilst it’s good to get the brew ratio to 1:2 I think watching the shot fall and cutting it before it starts blonding is much more important and obviously, the taste is the MOST important part! I’m guessing the beans are a little oily looking and shiny? This is the Vienna roast process which roasts the coffee for a longer period so that the oils which are trapped inside the bean, come to the surface.
I’m not a fan of Vienna Roast coffees, I know that coffee is very subjective and whilst SOME people still prefer the dark bitter and roasted (essentially burnt) flavors of coffee, the majority of people these days are wanting a smoother, balanced taste. Vienna roasts will never get you the smoother flavors and by the sounds of your description, you don’t like the bitter & burnt flavors either. This Vienna roast coffee will not get you the flavours you are seeking, I don’t think. Dark roasts generally degass a lot more quickly too, so that could explain the early blonding in each extraction.
I would be looking for a Medium roasted coffee(also sometimes referred to as “American Roast”) where the essential oils are still contained inside the beans and will get picked up when you extract.
That’s the first thing I would look at. After that, aiming to get a shot that falls perfectly for 25-30 seconds. I wouldn’t be mucking around with the temperature too much, what is your current temp set to? If it’s at 93-95 degrees celsius I’d leave it at that.
Focus on the consistency or your tamp and how much you put in vs how much comes out.
Good luck and let me know how you go!
Hey,
What should I do if my coffee starts blondig at ~17 seconds, but if I keep brewing it and stop the shot at 25 seconds the brew ratio will be good (1:2-1:3)? My main problem is that the coffee tastes burnt, but if I adjust my grinder to a coarser setting, the brew ratio will be bad (>1:3) and the blonding starts sooner.
This is a freshly roasted coffe from a local certified coffee roastery (Vienna roast, 2.5 weeks old) and it should taste like a chocolate. Instead it tastes burnt or if I keep adjusting my PID temperature, it tastes sour or bitter too, but no signs of chocolate or anything good. I think I should fix my blonding issue to solve this, but I’m not sure how. Or I miss something more important thing?
What is your suggestion?