This week I was dialling in espresso at the café with our new member of staff, Sophie.

Like a lot of people learning espresso, she'd been taught that the goal was simply to hit a recipe. If the grinder was set for 20g in and 40g out, then that's what you aimed for.

But that's only half the story.

When I'm dialling in a new coffee, I'm not chasing a number. I'm trying to find the point where extraction and strength work together to produce the most enjoyable espresso.

Sometimes that's 1:2.

Sometimes it's closer to 1:2.5.

Occasionally it's even longer.

Understanding why makes dialling in espresso much easier.

Two Things Every Espresso Has

Every espresso has two important characteristics.

Extraction is how much flavour you've dissolved from the coffee.

Strength is how concentrated those dissolved flavours are in the final cup.

These two are connected, but they're not the same thing.

Imagine making squash.

You can dissolve plenty of squash into water, but if you only add a tiny amount of water it'll be incredibly concentrated.

Add more water and the drink becomes weaker, even though the total amount of squash hasn't changed.

Espresso works in a similar way.

Increasing Yield Does Two Things

When you increase your espresso yield—for example from 40g to 50g from the same 20g dose—two things happen simultaneously.

Firstly, you're allowing more water to pass through the coffee bed.

That extra water has more opportunity to dissolve flavour compounds, so extraction increases. (not infinitely, there is a limit)

Secondly, you've added more water to the finished drink.

That means the espresso becomes less concentrated.

So increasing yield generally means:

• Higher extraction
• Lower strength

Those two changes happen together every time.

Strong Doesn't Always Mean Better

This is where a lot of people get caught out.

It's easy to assume a stronger espresso must taste better.

But strength can actually hide flavour.

An extremely concentrated espresso often tastes syrupy and intense, but that intensity can overwhelm delicate fruit notes, sweetness and clarity.

I've found that when an espresso is simply too concentrated, it can be difficult to taste much beyond the strength itself.

A slightly longer yield often softens that intensity and allows far more of the coffee's character to come through.

You're sacrificing a little concentration, but gaining flavour complexity.

The Barista Hustle Moment That Changed My Thinking

Years ago I was reading an old article by Matt Perger from Barista Hustle.

One comment in particular completely changed how I thought about espresso.

He described espresso as typically sitting around 7.5–9.5% Total Dissolved Solids (TDS).

That might not sound revolutionary, but it explained something I'd been seeing for years.

At the time I was measuring extractions using an EK refractometer.

Like many cafés, we'd been working around a traditional recipe of 20g in and 40g out.

The problem was that many of those shots were simply too concentrated.

The TDS was well above what produced the nicest tasting espresso.

By increasing the yield slightly, the espresso strength dropped into a much sweeter range.

The coffee immediately became more balanced.

The mouthfeel became smoother.

Sweetness increased.

Acidity became more defined.

Perhaps most surprisingly, extraction also improved because more water had passed through the puck.

It was one of those moments where theory suddenly matched what I could actually taste.

So How Do I Dial In Espresso?

When I open a new coffee, my process is fairly simple.

I start with a sensible recipe, usually around 1:2.

Then I taste.

If the espresso feels heavy, intense or muddled, I'll often increase the yield slightly before making dramatic grinder adjustments.

If the coffee starts becoming thin or hollow, I've probably gone too far.

The goal isn't to hit a specific ratio.

It's to find the point where extraction is high enough to reveal sweetness and complexity, while strength still gives the espresso enough body and texture.

Every coffee lands somewhere different.

Don't Chase Ratios

Espresso recipes are useful starting points.

They're not rules.

Whether you brew 20g to 40g, 20g to 46g or 20g to 50g matters far less than what ends up in the cup.

Good espresso isn't about copying someone else's recipe.

It's about understanding what each adjustment is doing.

Once you start thinking about extraction and strength separately, dialling in becomes far less mysterious—and far more enjoyable.