Coffee for espresso

Medium and medium-dark roasts. They're more forgiving of grind errors, give body and a stable crema, and hold up against milk.

Light single origins are more demanding: they shine, but they punish any grind or temperature misstep. If you're starting out, leave single origin for filter.

• Dose: 18 g for a double, adjusted to your basket size.
• Yield: 36 g in the cup. A 1:2 ratio.
• Time: 25-30 seconds from when the pump starts.
• Water: 90-94 °C.

Yield is measured in grams, not millilitres: crema takes up volume without weighing anything, so 36 ml might be 28 g of actual coffee. A €15 scale fixes more espresso than any accessory.

Almost every machine under €300 ships with a pressurised basket, with a single tiny hole creating artificial back-pressure. That basket cancels out the effect of your grind: however you grind, the resistance comes from the hole.

If your crema vanishes in ten seconds and changing the grind alters nothing, that's almost certainly it. A single-wall basket costs €10-25 and is the biggest, cheapest improvement available.