The 2:1 Ratio

If third wavers are good at anything, it’s following trends and adopting new dogmas.  If I didn’t know any better, I would say that most young baristas are glued to Instagram all day, just waiting to see what trend they should unquestioningly follow next.  Call me crazy. One of the stickier trends in the past couple of years has been the near-religious adherence, at least in the US, to the 2:1 espresso-brewing ratio.  I’d like to discuss what an espresso-brewing ratio (EBR) is, why it’s relevant, and why it’s a little silly for so many cafes to latch on to this suspiciously harmonious ratio.What is an Espresso-Brewing Ratio? Simply put, it’s the ratio of an espresso’s beverage weight to the weight of the dry grounds used to make the shot.  For example, if a barista pulls a 36g shot from 18g of grounds , the ratio would be 2:1.  Why EBR is relevantI suspect most baristas do not realize this: if you have exact targets for extraction % and TDS, there is only one EBR

https://www.scottrao.com/blog/2017/12/17/the-21-ratio