How Long Does the Shot Take?

A question that gets asked quite often is how long does the perfect espresso shot take? And what about a double? Is it double the time?




The answers are between 25 and 30 seconds, and a double takes the same time. How can that be?



It's mainly in the filter baskets used to pull a double vs. a single. Take a look at them - you'll see that the single basket is shaped differently, and the surface area of the "filter" part is roughly half that of a double basket. This smaller filter area ristricts the flow of espresso, so that brewing with a single basket means your flow through rate is reduced. And it's reduced roughly by half.