How to make your first espresso on a Nove

Your first espresso will probably not be your best, and that is fine. A shot depends on three things: how much coffee goes in, how fine it is ground, and how long the water takes to run through it. Get those right and the machine does the rest, since every Nove brews at 9 bar.

What you need

• Whole beans roasted in the last month. Our beans subscription sends a 250 g bag every four weeks for $18.
• A grinder with an espresso setting. Ground coffee goes stale in a few days, so grind just before each shot. The Nove grinder has 40 settings, but any grinder that grinds fine enough for espresso works.
• A kitchen scale that weighs to a tenth of a gram.
• The portafilter, the handle that holds the coffee, with the larger of its two baskets, and the tamper. Both come in the box.

Warm up the machine

Fill the tank and switch the machine on. The One is ready in 40 seconds, the Duo in 45 and the Pro in 90. Lock the empty portafilter in while it heats, so the metal is warm when the coffee goes in. A cold portafilter cools the shot and makes it taste sour.

Weigh, grind and press

Weigh 18 g of beans and grind them into the basket on a fine setting. Start near the fine end of the dial and adjust from there. Tap the side of the portafilter so the coffee settles level.

Then press it flat with the tamper, straight down, firmly, once. The 58 mm basket is the size cafés use, so the coffee sits flatter than in most home machines and the water runs through it evenly. A level surface matters more than how hard you press.

Pull the shot

Lock the portafilter in, put a cup on the scale under it and start the shot. The needle on the gauge should rise to 9 bar and stay there while the coffee runs. Stop when there is 36 g of espresso in the cup, twice the weight of the dry coffee. That should take 25 to 30 seconds from the moment you press the button.

Taste it, then change one thing

• Done in under 25 seconds and sour: grind finer.
• Over 30 seconds and bitter: grind coarser.
• On time but weak: add half a gram of coffee and keep the grind the same.

Change only the grind until the time is right, then leave it alone. Beans change as they age, so expect to move the grinder a step or two over the life of a bag. When a shot tastes good, write the setting down.

If the coffee is fine but something about the machine seems wrong, write to us. If you are making milk drinks next, read steaming milk for a flat white.