MAKING ESPRESSO BETTER: Improving Espresso with Understanding 

Make sure to hit like and subscribe to support my work! Helps a ton. Excited to see some fruitful discussions below! And fingers crossed this is enough of a bat signal to push manufacturers to make some changes.

I noticed some time ago, a change in the tone (in the aesthetics, in the approach, anyway...) of your videos. Your videos are leveling up at an absurd rate. Very soon your channel will probably be known for being the most technical/scientific on RU-vid (if it isn't already) and I will love that (even more). Once again, congratulations on your work.

As a scientist I believe that the recent videos you’ve been posting, is pushing our understanding of espresso and coffee brewing as a whole. Absolutely loves the data backed up videos and the innovation you are sharing ☕️😊

I have absolutely no idea what you were talking about but I just love listening to your voice.

☕☕☕ Thank you Lance ! With those last 5 videos of yours you are "brewing" new ideas and discoveries on coffee prep.

I think it's so useful that you guys are devoting your time to this, you seem to be finding things out that directly contradict previous assumptions or, even more frightening, directly contradicts things that were though to be "fixes" about old espresso making. Humbling video.

Never stop pushing lance. Been saying this since your first video in this series. There is nothing wrong with challenging norms. That’s whatve been doing since espresso became “mainstream” at home. I’m sure old Italians who just grind and tamp would be up in arms over what we do. Just because it’s a change and innovation doesn’t make it stupid or useless. Every 1 or 2% adds up to better and more consistent coffee. Thanks for bringing some of these niche papers and research to the forefront! I wonder if you’ve heard of grinding frozen beans and particle uniformity going up. Thanks again

I really love this new channel’s vibe Lance. It is more efficient, including a lot of data without loosing the fun touch. Keep it going!

Love this info! So helpful. You and your team are crushing it!!

Awesome work. Thank you (and the experimenters!) for all the scientific rigor and tinkering. This is how we learn! Lance, I really feel like something has clicked with your videos recently, like you've found your lane - the tone has shifted (in a good way) and I feel like I'm learning a lot. I recently had a conversation with a barista and we got to talking about your videos. He said he'd been doing the shaker method on his own for over a year, and your upload validated his technique. He was smiling ear-to-ear as he said this. It was a great moment of connection - I love this nerdy community! Cheer to future knowledge acquisition

Great video Lance. I really like the new video style, particularly the pauses, as they give me time to take in and understand the information presented. In other videos I often find myself losing focus and having to pause or rewind to follow what's being said.

I love just sitting and completely zoning out to your vids, im in complete nerd state and just trying to wrap my head around what you say is so satisfying. Learning and growing x

Lance, Your videos are amazingly informative and so very well produced. As a home barista who enjoys making the best cup of coffee he can, thank you. The care you have put into your videos (especially the recent ones) really shows. The coffee community owes you a debt of gratitude.

I like whatever change you made (or recently made) to your audio equipment/editing. I like what I perceive to be an aggressive dB slope cut and/or slight pause applied to the end of each sentence. Comes across very polished and I like the subtle pause, gives time to absorb the vastness of the information you present.

Thank you for these videos Lance!

It is insane, how much information you are spreading in extremly good quality videos about coffee! Keep up the good work and thank you for teaching me so much! Can't wait for your full gagggiuino review!

So nerdy -love it. I was thinking earlier that it's great how you show how accurately you measure radial extrusion, very helpful to do own experiments!! - now i can see it to the end :D

Thanks - very informative. Especially to all the folks that measured a lot of coffee shots. I use an SWORKS billet basket now & I've updated my dispersion block & screen - one step at a time really makes improving a shot very satisfying.

What a time to just be getting into espresso! This channel and your videos have been so informative as I am always trying to understand the "why" in everything that happens. I really appreciate that these are more than the typical "grind finer" (simply put) discussions. Would love to learn more about the dynamics of the faster shot.

Thanks for doing this kind of work, I fully appreciate the reasoning behind these kinds of experiments. This kind of work has been going on for a long time, but often behind closed doors inaccessible to most individuals. Your videos no only highlight your work and others, but allow more people to access the information and insights. It's so funny to me how upset people get over this kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, nobody has to incorporate any of it. These kinds of things will ultimately establish the new norms in espresso making, and in the meantime, we can decide to use them or not. I know I've incorporated several of your suggestions and have noticed improvements, and others were too much faff and I decided it wasn't worth it. In the future, I'm sure there will be new technology and devices to further improve and make these various techniques easier/more effective and they will become common place.

Been loving this style of video, they have been so insightful for me. I very much so appreciate the breakdowns of some of these more complicated topics

IDK how you keep putting out such great content as your side job, but here's to another great video!

This content is excellent, Lance. Thanks again for putting it out!

I always watch your videos because they are so insightful. This one takes it to the next level. Thanks also to all your collaborators.

Hi Lance. So I just started reviewing your channel and am extremely impressed that you are working with statisticians and taking large enough sample sizes to draw statistically significant conclusions. As a process engineer, I do very similar work. I take a hypothesis, create a design of experiment (DOE), and partner with a statistician to not only create the experiment, but also assist with analysis of the results. (p values and things of the sort). However after 20 years in this field I have come to find there are two types of differences...a statistical difference and a practical difference. A statistical difference reinforces that there there is a very high likelihood (95 % confidence, etc.) that a difference exists while a practical difference is what makes a noticeable difference that folks will care about. For example, you may find statistically that baseballs made in a factory on Mondays are 0.0005 mm smaller than baseballs made on Friday. However....it doesn't really matter that there is a statistical difference because there is no practical difference in how the baseball performs. Statistics are great to tell us directionally which way things are changing and I find it very value adding that you are answering these questions. I have one small request....could you start providing your opinion in your videos if a "practical" difference exists....meaning, does the difference in methods create a difference in the taste of the final product. That is very subjective I know, but time and time again, I find myself saying when I make a change "Wow its more repeatable, yes it looks visually better, and I can see different dynamics....but ummm.....it didn't really change the taste". In order to determine a practical difference, maybe a question you could ask yourself is "How much does this need to change before anyone gives a crap?" (from a taste perspective that is). I would really like to hear your perspective of this in your videos more often because ultimately knowing what knobs to turn that make a practical difference in tastes is the end result that we all truly care about. Keep up the good work and I look forward to more videos in the future.

Another amazing LH episode. You rock brother. I hope your channel explodes because your passion and commitment is above most. Keep up these NERD SESSIONS! Thanks from Western Canada,

Thanks, Lance! It's great to see your summary of these experiments.

these videos really help me so much . as someone with adhd i cannot remember things by memorising rules etc . but as soon as i understand the logic behind something i remember it for ever. and even when i forget i can just retract the logical steps back to the knowlege . this type of teaching is so much better than memorisation (wich is only used in school system to create good workers that can memorise but never think for themselves . but when you delve into how the human brain learns this type of teaching works so much better than memorising rules

One of these days, Lance is gonna start singing Even Flow; and that is going to make me very happy

Love the nerd level on these, all about the graphs and data gathering. Could all of our testing be going in the wrong direction and a year from now we go hmm we missed all these variables. But that's the beauty of searching for the next level of understanding. Keep up the great work.

Great video Lance (though I’m not sure I love the title). One thing I’d love to understand in this context is whether low pressure pre-infusion makes a difference - for better or worse. Would be interesting to see the same distribution studies with and without PI.

Mikelipino here (one of many screen names through the ages haha). Nice work Lance consolidating all this work that's going on as we speak (i just ran some Flowtafilter trials this aftenoon)! Love that you're reinforcing that the goal here isn't TDS, it's understanding the mechanisms of extraction so that we make actual improvements and not head down wrong paths -- like convex tampers. Cheers to the coffee home scientists. And I have just a few more trials to complete, but I'll post the Flowtafilter design to the usual places so others can peer review on their own machines

New subscriber here (about 4 videos ago), and dude, your content is incredible and ridiculously high quality. So scientific and fact based. Keep this up my brotha!

Crazy, crazy crazy work and data. And useful. Thanks !

Holy smokes! Outstanding job of presenting complex information and making it understandable and useful. Thank you! My Patreon money is going to good use.

Thanks Lance! I love “Turbo shots,” and almost always use paper filters and a puck screen… IMS basket and pre-infusion had a big learning curve, and I now understand better why that is. Not really afraid of the “Donut pattern extraction” though… Chasing a good shot is fun!

Still excited to watch the rest of this video, loving the nerdiness!

Man I love these technical coffee videos 👏👌🇿🇦

Your production quality is amazing!

thank you for sharing all this and so excited for the new discoveries

Thanks for all the information and transparency This is my 1 year anniversary having my gaggia classic pro. Been a great learning process and with your help I have never tossed a shot from my machine. I had a Baratza encore espresso but it broke in December. For anyone with a gaggia , buying from local if you have your beans ground. First try and get a sample so you can feel the grind of their “espresso” setting , I’ve always had to go much finer. I’m assuming due to it being 12 bar.

Sir, your info is soo important, it helps us home "Barista's" understand the complexities of making a good espresso and why we do what we do, and also why we might want to think about changing things! So thank you for these informative videos. Please keep them coming!

Thank you so much for the video! Keep going!

Thank you Professor Lance! Chasing the shot.

Excellent video! I still come back to, why doesn’t someone design a machine screen so puck screens aren’t needed. Seems like puck screens are a bandaid to the workflow, fixing what the machine screen should be doing to begin with.

Would love a video deep-diving into pre-infusion, how to use it and also when to use it. There's a cafe here in Paris (Substance Cafe) that does long 20-30+ seconds of pre-infusion. When I attempt this at home it tastes like mud so I generally turn off pre-infusion entirely.

Love it. Have always thought we needed another look at the shower screen. It's so finicky

Very nice Lance! The only way to improve is by knowing what’s bad.

@LanceHedrick, great video, and I always love you deep dives like this! I think there is a glaring error in the process though, where we need to explore the base principles of fluid dynamics for the problem from a physics standpoint. All of these experiments are awesome and incredible data sources, but in the end, everything you speak of is trying to change a very basic and well understood pressure driven pipe flow problem into a situation where we cause mixing in areas where according to physics we should have no flow and no mixing whatsoever. I would argue on any given setup, getting no extraction in the 1mm ring around the outside of a portafilter is expected, especially on the upper portion of the puck, and we'll steadily increase the extraction towards the center until we reach roughly the 2mm towards the interior, a rough estimate of the 99% of the boundary layer. Now you might ask, what are my credentials for this? I've got a doctorate in Fluid Dynamics doing research specifically into the mixing of different fluids. There are research groups out there doing computational experiments specifically into espresso setups, but I think we could push this much further forward if we try to actually simulate what is happening inside a portafilter. From all of your data gathering we have excellent sources for configuring initial conditions and matching simulations to actual data, and doing some base level modelling shouldn't be too hard, but of course capturing all of the physics at play here will be challenging but we can learn a lot about the potential flow by even ignoring extraction and instead treat the coffee particles as insoluble and investigate the resultant flows from there. If our goal is truly the perfect extraction, I think the only way forward is by throwing out the idea of a legacy espresso machine configuration and to start prototyping entirely new equipment for high pressure coffee extraction. Please reach out if you actually want to chat about this sometime, I happy to forward my e-mail address and we can go from there!

This kind of content has me so exited as an undergrad science student!

Excellent video.

Your most interesting video so far....thanks👍

Stunning video, well done to the production team 👏

Fantastic video, thank you.

Yep, taste is what matters. Following Scott Rao's recommendations for consistent puck preparation combined with paper filters (both above and below the puck) as well as a top metal puck screen for cleanliness has given me the best tasting and repeatable espressos with both lever and E61 pump machines, or, at least, in my personal experience day after day. Lance, thank you for your worthy contributions to my puck preps and for my tasty espressos too.

Great video! You actually described a method to take control over spatial variation of coffee extraction. I believe that if coffee brewing technology develops so fast coffee enthusiasts will probably unlock more parameters of this process. I thought about a device that could separate coffee samples by extraction time, as different substances responsible for taste are dissolved in water with different temporal distribution. These temporal solubility distributions are expected to depend on water temperature, water flow rate and particle sizes. There is still plenty of space to dive deeper into this problem. The samples can be additionally analysed by LC-MS (liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry) or GC-MS (gas chromatography - mass spectrometry) or IMS (ion mobility spectromerty) methods in order to conduct pure experimental research.

After nearly one year with he Bianca and using pre infusion I thought it’s time to test more faster shots without pre infusion and holy shit. It changed my mind with the Weber unibasket. With a normal basket it was pretty good. But after I changed I wasn’t really happy with my espresso at all using this receipe. Yesterday I grind much coarser and dialed in much faster. And the shot was sooo much better. The Tipp to grind coarser and tamp a little bit „harder“ to grind as coarse as much for a better result is gorgeous! My espresso tastes so much more sweet and clear. Thank you.

good info here I always liked the Linea's fast fill rate and though it delivered the best results with basically no pre infuse. This works great for medium trending dark coffee at second crack. My goal has always been more even extraction across the screen coming out. If it came out evenly very slowly evenly across the screen at the same time I always received really great ristretto. It is interesting what I have always naturally been chasing as optimal has more experimentation to justify what I always thought was correct by taste as my guide. This is really good work..

Lance, this is such incredible data! You're def espresso MVP this season! :) Keep the fire burning! Anyhow I have a theoretical question: Let's suppose we have a much narrower basket, let's say around 40mm for the same dose of coffee. Would that enable more even radial extraction throughout the puck by design? So the main question is: Do we need to reconsider if 58mm is the ideal basket size for home baristas?

brilliant, thanks lance, rrohan, stephane, et al

Love the asym color shirt lance!

Hey Lance, first off, thank you so much for your investment into this craft. It really helps those of us who don't have the time to nerd out on this stuff. I'm no expert, but I am trying to pull the best possible shot with the equipment I own: Breville Barista Express Normcore WDT/Tamper I feel as though even with my measurements being spot on (and that's something you mentioned in this video), I'm still missing out on a better quality shot. I suppose I could try a screen, and potentially even mature to a bottomless portafilter to better identify any issues with preparation. However, there are so many tools available to us. With my equipment, is there a portafilter, basket, screen setup you'd recommend?

Awareness and education, the best kind of video! And I dont even make espresso lol; mainly pourovers but who knows…

Funny you post this the morning after I preordered a sworks standard flow billet basket. Should I have gone for the high flow one? Also, do you have an opinion on the Breville Dual Boiler shower screen? I haven’t upgraded it because I see people have issues with the screw on the upgraded ones.

Great vid as always. What’s the bottomless portafilter you’re using with decent with the screws at the bottom ?

Fascinating stuff as always. This is why coffee is such an interesting hobby.

Awesome. Yes it is definitely different to implement modern methods and tools. With my 18-20g Sworks high flow billet basket, paper filter on the bottom and puck screen on top, I do 5 seconds of 1 bar, and then quickly ramp up to 6 bar for 9 seconds turbo shot with 40-45g out. It's kind of wild basically pulling a shot in 9 seconds. Found that going over, such as 12+ seconds, gets overextracted flavors in the cup with this setup.

All of these recent videos remind of me something James Hoffmann once said: 'Are you making it better or are you making it different?'

Another great video, and I cannot understand why anyone has an issue with any of this. If you like your espresso as you're doing it, nobody is coming into your home to steal your current gear. If you want to play with developing variables and parameters, that's available, and it never hurts to understand something better. This is all great!

Amazing content (as always) - one piece of feedback though: feel it would really help to have a summary with on screen text at the end since you‘re going quite deep

Thanks for this video. I mentioned the shower screens a few videos back. Everyone was concerned with baskets but I was like, what about where the water is coming from?? Thanks

Puck screen has been one of the simplest and most worthwhile improvements to my workflow.

Oh Lance. Thank you 🙏

Science at work. Great thesis Lance!

Hi Lance, Thanks for a great video as always. I have a question regarding what you said about approaching espresso extractions with modern baskets differently. What is your idea on it? How would you approach them, ratio and time parameters wise? Also, do you think it would be worth for a home enthusiast who majoritarily drinks medium dark espresso to get a Sworks basket? Or using an ims with a paper filter enough? Thanks!

Hi Lance, Great video! Watching that, I had a thought of trying pre-weting the puck prior to locking to the machine. In other words, do the prep, spray some water on the puck and lock it. This way water coming from the shower screen will spread out on the surface more evenly due to Hydrogen bonds. What do you think? Does it make any sense?

Awesome video. Thanks Lance. What is the name of the blue machine with a screen at the beginning of the video?

Hi Lance - can you remind us where we can get the dosing cup you use in this video (starting at 0:09). Great video, thanks!

Man I love you videos, im learning a lot thanks to you and your friends. Youre the best, thanks again for the amazing content!

Absolutely love the amount of detail and research related testing and summarization of the findings from your self and many others. Curious, as I'm waiting for my Vostok delivery, how does the declining pressure profile of a lever affect these types of findings as well as others? My first guess would be things would be roughly the same, but not sure on that front.

Awesome video as usual Lance , a tone of work behind it 😅. Did you tried the 3wmh bomber BEPv2 basket ? Its extremly cheap and it do a fantastic job , its thick enought to not bent under pressur and there is like a stainless filter inside and holes on the outside , unbeatable for the price , but it have to be the V2 , the first gen had some flaws

What does this mean for preinfusion? You were talking about pre-wetting/slow-filling allowing the water to find uneven parts of the puck.

Robert McKeon Aloe (EspressoFun) has been doing experiments with the dispersion / shower screen and trying to control the flow of water through the puck with custom shaped puck screens etc.

hey lance, thanks again for these videos! I got a bit overwhelmed at the part whrer so said pre infusion with fast filling is the way to go. What is your understanding or your way to pre infuse like this? Cheers?

Oh Nooo .Thank you for your interesting ,educational ,fun and professional videos my wish was a Bambino as starter but it’s not my budget at the moment so ordered a Lidl espresso machine from Silvercrest 1100 retro,, Failure??

How about a video with different type of water? Tds etc... Does really magnesium matter??. Thanks for the video Lance you are elevated 😊😊

great video❤

Great info once again! Lance, what would you think about having concave tamper instead of convex? Someone seems to already commenting about the use of smaller diameter than 58mm baskets which at least for me makes sense.

I feel like I'm going to need a flowchart of how to set up my Decent profile eventually: - Which dispersion screen do you use? - Do you use a headspace reduction kit? - Do you use a puckscreen? - Which basket do you use? - Light, Medium or Dark roast? - Milk? => Do x.

Hi, is it necessary to pre-wet a paper filter at the bottom of the portafilter? I always see you spraying it and I'm wondering how much (if any) difference it makes compared to leaving it dry. Wouldn't it get saturated almost instantly the moment the water comes through the coffee anyway?

Thank you Lance.

This is pretty interesting, with regards to Bayesian inference. If all things were built perfect, water would still tend to prefer a median flow -- the center of the puck. I wonder if the puck screen is mostly just slowing the flow of water in the center while allowing it to flow unobstructed on the edges, applying a complimentary bell curve to the Bayesian curve.

I finally made the best shot of espresso after 3 months of having my Breville! A nice medium roast and not a bitter dark, ground right into a dosing ring, no WDT, tamped twice, puck screen on portafilter into a double walled dragon shot glass!

@Lance, I’m just getting into all this and have a pretty basic setup as of now. I’m having trouble finding a good grinder that wont cost a fortune. I currently have a Cuisinart DBM-8P1 that I just got and absolutely hate. I also have a Shardor CG638B that works fairly well but I get quite a few whole beans that aren’t ground. Can you recommend a grinder that doesn’t cost a fortune? Thanks

OK, say I consider improving my machine (Lelit Elizabeth). Can I change my dispersion block for a different one? Which shower screen do you recommend? Modern basket: Weber or Sworksdesign?

Hi Lance, thank you for this video, the problem I'm finding is distinguishing which barista is correct when making a good expresso. Most seem to say go with 18g in and 36g out which is what I'm doing but I'm so confused on how long the shot should be taking, some say go for between 20-25 seconds and some are saying 35-40 seconds. I have tried both but honestly don't know which is correct as both have produced either sour or bitter expresso and it is so hit and miss. Can i ask please what your prevered recipe is.

Curious how this fast-fill idea translates to the flair 58 where I can fill the chamber with the lever up vs filling with the lever down and lifting the lever? I would imagine filling lever up would be more akin to a slow fill

Hmm, now I'm wondering, has the cookie testing been made on manual lever machines already? What could be evener in terms of pushing water through the puck? Given that some great and stable puck prep is in place of course...

what does it mean regarding pulls on the flair? should I go straight to 9-bar to saturate the puck as quick as possible? what about blooming type shots?

How effective (if at all) is prewetting the tamped puck before or after using a puck screen?