Espresso Dial-In Myths We Retired
My favorite espresso myth is that you need to tamp like you are trying to impress a weightlifter. You do not. You need level distribution and a consistent tamp. The machine wants repeatability, not bravado. Your wrists want that too.
If a shot is channeling, the fix is almost always upstream: clumps, uneven distribution, stale coffee, or a grinder that needs love. We do a quick WDT, a settle tap, and a level tamp. Then we taste. If you are not tasting, you are just making brown noise.
Milk has its own mythology. Shaking pitchers does not create microfoam. Good steaming is stretch, then texture, then swirl until it looks like glossy paint. If it looks like bubble bath, you will pour bubble bath. This is not a threat. It is physics.
And the real secret: adjust one variable at a time. If the shot is sour, grind finer or increase dose. If it is bitter, back off. Slow hands, fast learning. The bar rewards calm the way coffee rewards proper extraction.