15 January 2026 / Brewing
Behind the espresso machine
A look at the daily calibration, cleaning, and small adjustments that keep every shot consistent from open to close.
The machine is the loudest object in the room and the least interesting to look at, until a shot runs two seconds long and the whole bar feels it. Consistency here is not a setting. It is a morning ritual that repeats until close.
Before the first guest, we flush, weigh, and pull a few shots that nobody will drink. Dose, yield, time. If the coffee has rested a day longer than yesterday, the grind moves. If the room is wetter — Canggu often is — it moves again.
Calibration is not once a day
A dial-in at 7am is a starting point. By late morning the hopper is warmer, the cakes pack differently, and milk drinks start to outnumber filters. We recode the shot when it drifts, not when a timer tells us to.
Cleaning is the other half. A group head that looks fine can still taste of yesterday’s puck. Backflushing, wiping the screen, a clean portafilter — unglamorous, and the reason a 4pm espresso can still taste like the board promised at 8am.
What you can ask for
If you care how it was pulled, ask. We can tell you the ratio, whether the lot is running a little fast today, or why we switched the house espresso last week. The machine is not a secret. It is just easier to keep it quiet when the shots are already where they should be.