Grind finer. If your espresso finishes in under 20 seconds, the grind is too coarse. Other causes: too little coffee in the basket, or severe channeling. Keep adjusting the grind finer in small steps until the shot takes 25–30 seconds.

My espresso gushes through — what to do?

Grind finer. If your espresso finishes in under 20 seconds, the grind is too coarse. Other causes: too little coffee in the basket, or severe channeling. Keep adjusting the grind finer in small steps until the shot takes 25–30 seconds.

Why that is

A “gushing” espresso flows way too fast — the pressurized water finds too little resistance in the coffee puck and rushes through in seconds. The result: a pale, watery shot with a thin, blonde crema, tasting intensely sour and weak. The coffee grounds were under-extracted — the complex sugars and aromatic oils didn’t have enough time to dissolve into the cup.

Most common cause: grind is too coarse. Large, coarse particles leave gaps and offer little resistance to the water. The solution is simple: grind finer. But do it in small increments — a half-click on an espresso grinder can make the difference between an 18-second gusher and a perfect 28-second extraction.

Other potential causes:

• Too little coffee: If your dose is too low (e.g., 14 g in a basket designed for 18 g), the puck is too thin and won’t hold back the water. Increase the dose.
• Channeling: The water has blown a hole straight through the puck and is bypassing the coffee entirely. Improve your puck prep (distribute evenly, use a WDT tool) before tamping.
• No tamp or tamped too lightly: Uncompressed coffee is entirely loose. Tamp evenly and straight.
• Wrong basket: Using a single basket but dosing for a double (or vice versa) throws everything off.

Systematic troubleshooting:

1. Check your dose — does it match the capacity of the basket?
2. Check your distribution and tamping — is it perfectly level and even?
3. Adjust the grind one step finer.
4. Pull a shot and time it.
5. Repeat until you hit that 25–30 second window.

Important: after you adjust the grind setting, purge and discard the first 2–3 grams of coffee that come out. Those grounds are still the old, coarser size retained inside the grinder chute.

In practice at Green Wall Coffee

At Sophienstraße 27, a gushing shot is completely normal first thing in the morning while dialing in — the very first shot after guessing a new grind setting rarely hits the mark perfectly. I tell guests struggling at home: if your espresso is done in under 20 seconds, it’s too coarse. Click finer, purge, and try again. Patience and a scale with a timer are your best tools here.

Related questions

• My espresso only drips — what to do?
• How do I make the perfect espresso?
• Why does my espresso taste sour?

You can find more in-depth information in the article How to make perfect espresso. Or drop by Sophienstraße 27 — Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm.