Dial-in: finding the recipe

What is dial-in

Every time you open a new bag of coffee, your previous recipe probably won’t work. Coffee changes — different origin, different roast, different freshness. The process of finding the optimal recipe for a specific coffee is called dial-in and it’s the most practical skill you’ll develop as a barista.

It’s not random trial and error. It’s a systematic method: you fix variables, change one at a time, test, adjust, and repeat until your espresso is balanced.

The step-by-step method

Step 1: Fix the dose

Choose your dose and don’t change it during the entire dial-in process. For a standard double basket, 18g is a good universal starting point. If your basket is larger (ex: VST 20g), use 20g. The dose stays constant — it’s your anchor.

Step 2: Fix your target ratio

Start with 1:2. If your dose is 18g, your target yield is 36g. This ratio gives you a balanced espresso that works as a middle point for most coffees.

Step 3: Adjust grind to hit the time

This is where the real work starts. Extract a shot aiming for your 36g yield and observe how long it takes:

• Less than 20 seconds: Grind is too coarse. Water passes too fast, under-extracts. Grind finer.
• 20-35 seconds: You’re in the right range. Taste the shot and adjust from there.
• More than 40 seconds: Grind is too fine. Water can’t pass, over-extracts or even gets stuck. Grind coarser.

Make small adjustments to your grinder — on most grinders, a change of 1-2 numbers or clicks is enough. After each adjustment, extract a new shot with the same dose and yield.

Step 4: Taste and evaluate

Once your shot falls in 25-35 seconds with your 1:2 ratio, taste it. Three possibilities:

If it tastes acidic, sour, with a short aftertaste → under-extracted. You need more extraction. Options: grind a bit finer, or adjust your ratio to 1:2.2 or 1:2.5 (more water, more extraction).

If it tastes bitter, dry, rough, astringent → over-extracted. You need less extraction. Options: grind a bit coarser, or reduce ratio to 1:1.8 or 1:1.5.

If it has sweetness, pleasant acidity, balanced body, clean aftertaste → you found it. Write down everything: dose, yield, time, grinder setting. That’s your recipe.

Step 5: Refine

Once you have a good starting point, you can make micro-adjustments:

• Want more sweetness? Try a slightly longer ratio (1:2.2)
• Want more body and intensity? Shorten the ratio (1:1.8)
• Notice acidity you like but want more? Raise temperature one degree
• Feel residual bitterness? Lower temperature one degree

The golden rule: one variable at a time

This is the most important part of dial-in and people break it constantly. If you change grind AND dose AND temperature at the same time, you have no idea what caused the flavor change. It’s like turning three knobs on an equalizer at once — you learn nothing.

The priority order for adjusting:

1. Grind — always your first adjustment
2. Ratio — if grind alone doesn’t get you to good flavor
3. Temperature — for fine adjustments once grind and ratio are close
4. Dose — generally kept fixed, but you can experiment once you master the rest

How many shots do you need

At a professional coffee shop, an experienced barista can dial-in in 3-5 shots. At the beginning, it might take 8-10. That’s fine — each shot teaches you something. What matters is that you note each attempt:

With this table, in 4 attempts you already have a solid recipe and understand how your coffee behaves.

Coffee changes over time

A detail many ignore: coffee evolves after roasting. For the first 3-5 days post-roast, coffee releases a lot of CO2 (degassing) and extraction is erratic. Between days 7-21, coffee is in its sweet spot for espresso. After day 30, it starts losing complexity.

This means your day-10 recipe might need adjustment for day-20 of the same coffee. Generally, as coffee ages, you need to grind slightly finer to compensate for the loss of resistance to flow (coffee becomes more porous over time).

Dial-in for different roast profiles

Light roast: Light roasts are denser, less soluble, harder to extract. Generally they need finer grind, higher temperature (93-96°C), and longer ratios (1:2.2 to 1:2.5). Acidity will be prominent — your job is to extract enough sweetness to balance it.

Medium roast: The sweet spot for many baristas. Natural balance between acidity and sweetness. 1:2 ratio works well. Temperatures of 92-94°C.

Dark roast: Very soluble, easy to over-extract. Slightly coarser grind, lower temperature (88-92°C), shorter ratios (1:1.5 to 1:2). The risk here is bitterness — if it appears, grind coarser or shorten the ratio.

What you need for this lesson

• 0.1g scale under the portafilter
• Timer
• Fresh coffee (ideally 7-14 days post-roast)
• Your notebook — you’ll make a table like the example

Practical exercise

Do a complete dial-in from scratch with a new coffee:

1. Fix 18g dose and 36g target yield
2. Start with a grind you think is “medium” for espresso
3. Extract, measure time, taste
4. Adjust grind based on what you feel (acidic → finer, bitter → coarser)
5. Repeat until you find a shot you like
6. Write the final recipe in your notebook

Do this with at least 2 different coffees to feel how the process changes with different coffees. This is pure practice — there’s no substitute.

Key concepts from this lesson

• Dial-in = systematic process to find the optimal recipe for a coffee
• Fix dose (18g), fix ratio (1:2), adjust grind as main variable
• One variable at a time — always
• Acidic = under-extraction → finer or longer ratio
• Bitter = over-extraction → coarser or shorter ratio
• Write down each attempt: dose, yield, time, grind, flavor
• Coffee changes with days post-roast — your recipe evolves
• Light roasts need more extraction; dark roasts, less