Espresso Coffee - Confused over a double shot

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alisam

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#3432567 10-Nov-2025 08:34

I have a 20 year old mini mazzer. I have seen a few YouTube videos where they measure 18 grams of whole beans and then grind that amount in their grinder.

I am hesitant to try this method in my grinder (as I try not to let the bean hopper run empty). But I don't know whether I could do this in my old mini mazzer.

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johno1234

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#3432618 10-Nov-2025 08:57

Test grind into an electronic scale and time it. With my built in grinder 25 seconds is about right.
It doesn’t require super critical accuracy.

sen8or

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#3432629 10-Nov-2025 09:51

alisam:

How do you measure 50-60ml coming out of the espresso machine. I can understand scales measuring grams e.g. 18 gm in and 36 gm out?

Do you extract the coffee into a measuring shot glass?

To begin with, yes. Get a glass 60ml shotglass and use this a few times. Tip it from the shot glass into your normal coffee cup, make a note of where the coffee measures to on the cup. Once you get used to it, you can then just use your normal cup, knowing where 60ml comes to.

Its not the end of the world if you have 50ml or 70ml or somewhere inbetween.

Milk hides 1000 sins and you can get away with less than perfect shots when making milk based drinks, not so much when making black coffee drinks (espresso's, long blacks, americano's etc)

Handle9

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#3432857 10-Nov-2025 16:46

alisam:

sen8or:

A double shot of espresso from 18g (+/-) should produce a total of about 50-60ml of espresso and it should take 20-30 seconds for that to occur. If you are splitting a shot between 2 cups, thats 25-30mm per cup. Depending on how strong you like your coffee, I would think that its ok for a total liquid volume of around 150ml (so a standard tulip cup or small cappuccino cup or similar with 20-30mm of espresso and 120-130mm of water/milk). Much more total volume than that and it may be a bit weak.

How do you measure 50-60ml coming out of the espresso machine. I can understand scales measuring grams e.g. 18 gm in and 36 gm out?

Do you extract the coffee into a measuring shot glass?

1 gram of water is 1 ml. 36gm equals 36ml.

The coffee does change the density but not enough to matter.

alisam

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#3432932 10-Nov-2025 18:01

Handle9:

1 gram of water is 1 ml. 36gm equals 36ml.

The coffee does change the density but not enough to matter.

As per my original post. I am confused.

So is this trueish or not...

It has been said earlier that I am aiming for 18 gm in and 36 gm out. The 36 gm should produce 50-60 ml of liquid coffee.

So, how can 36 gm = 36 ml (approx) of liquid coffee.

Please, don't take my post the wrong way. I am just trying to understand the basics.

Handle9

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#3432996 10-Nov-2025 19:33

alisam:

Handle9:

1 gram of water is 1 ml. 36gm equals 36ml.

The coffee does change the density but not enough to matter.

As per my original post. I am confused.

So is this trueish or not...

It has been said earlier that I am aiming for 18 gm in and 36 gm out. The 36 gm should produce 50-60 ml of liquid coffee.

So, how can 36 gm = 36 ml (approx) of liquid coffee.

Please, don't take my post the wrong way. I am just trying to understand the basics.

I can see your point as it's confusing. Stop worrying about how much volume of coffee you are producing. It doesn't matter.

What you are trying to achieve is producing a consistent and tasty coffee.

The reason why a 2:1 ratio over ~30s is recommended is that is usually a good place to start to make a tasty, consistent coffee. As I posted earlier you tweak the amount of water or coffee you use and grind size to taste from there. The ratio and grind size also changes a bit as the bag of coffee ages, an older bag needs a finer grind for me.

I'd recommend you watch this series of videos, it gives you a really good base level of understanding.

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

coffeebaron

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#3433055 10-Nov-2025 21:03

I'll like to run my shot slightly short, 20g in, 35g out. I pour directly onto my pre poured 100g of water at 88°c. I ain for a 30sec pour time inclusive of a 4sec pre infusion pause.

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