Calibration calculations

When it comes to training, one of the biggest questions I get asked is: when should I calibrate my grinder?

Calibration is simply the process of adjusting your grinder, moving the blades of the grinder closer or further apart, to ensure you get your desired outcome from the coffee. That outcome could be consistency or based on hitting a specific coffee recipe or hitting a specific taste/flavour.

For example, the dry weight of ground coffee is commonly referred to as the “dose”, let’s say 20 to 21 grams. The time it takes to extract the coffee (usually measured on the coffee machines screen or by using a timer) at 25 to 30 seconds pouring time and a yield of 40 to 44 grams.

Put in real life terms, the process of calibration would be to ensure the coffee in the above example stays within those parameters.