All coffee guides · Troubleshooting
A very slow shot may taste harsh, or it may stall with little liquid reaching the cup. Check whether the grind is too fine, the basket is overfilled or flow is uneven. Use shot time alongside taste and yield.
If there is almost no flow, stop the shot rather than leaving the pump running indefinitely. Wait for pressure to release as instructed before removing the portafilter. A long shot time alone does not prove over-extraction; compare taste, dose, yield and the recipe.
If the dose fits the basket and the shot stalls or takes much longer than expected, try a small adjustment coarser. Keep the dose and target yield steady for the comparison. Adjustment steps differ between grinders; no fixed number of seconds can be assigned to one click.
Weigh the dose and follow the basket’s guidance for headspace. Capacity varies with basket shape and coffee density, so a nominal gram rating is a starting point. Do not force an overfilled portafilter into the group. Correct an unsuitable dose before adjusting the grind around it.
Tamp level to compact the coffee bed. Do not deliberately leave it loose to speed up a slow shot or press harder to compensate for a coarse grind. Use dose and grinder adjustment to control the recipe, with a repeatable preparation routine.
Check the basket and accessible brewing parts for residue or damage once they are safe to handle. Use the approved cleaner and procedure for those materials; do not apply a generic chemical soak. Persistent poor flow with clean, correctly assembled equipment may need manufacturer support.
Follow the machine’s warm-up and flush instructions. On-demand heaters, single boilers and other designs have different routines, so a universal 20–30 minute wait is not appropriate. Keep temperature consistent while diagnosing dose and grind.
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