Shot Journal
Log every shot — dose, yield, time, grind setting, and what it tasted like — and watch your dial-in pattern appear. No account, no app; your entries save privately on this device.
Log a shot
Tip: change only one variable between shots (usually grind). That's how the journal earns its keep.
Your shots
Why keep a shot journal?
Dialing in espresso is a comparison game, not a guessing game. One shot tells you almost nothing — but three shots at different grind settings show you a direction. When you log dose, yield, time, and taste for every shot, "this tastes sour, what do I do?" stops being a mystery. You look back, find the last shot that tasted good, and copy its numbers. That's the whole trick, and it takes about ten seconds a shot.
What to log (and what to skip)
The five fields that matter: dose (grams of coffee in), yield (grams of espresso out — measure by weight, crema lies), time (seconds from pump-on to your target yield), your grind setting, and a taste verdict. Everything else — humidity, moon phase, how rushed you were — is noise until you've logged enough shots to see your pattern. Change one variable at a time, ideally grind, and the journal will show you exactly which way to go. Our dial-in guide is the step-by-step for that loop.
Reading your own pattern
After a few entries, look for the shape: shots getting sour and fast as you go coarser means you're under-extracting — grind finer. Shots getting bitter and slow means you're over-extracting — grind coarser. A flat, thin shot that isn't sour usually wants more coffee or a shorter ratio, not a finer grind. If you keep getting sour no matter the grind, check your water and temperature before touching the grinder again — our shot troubleshooter walks through that decision tree.
The shortcut
Learn espresso in a weekend.
The 15-page Quick-Start Guide: your first shot step by step, the dial-in fix-it flowchart, milk basics, and a fridge-ready cheat sheet. Instant PDF download.
Get the guide — $6 $6 · yours foreverShot journal FAQ
What should I write down for each shot?
The five that matter most: dose in grams, yield in grams, time in seconds, your grind setting, and a one-word taste verdict (sour, bitter, sweet, balanced). That is enough to see exactly what changed between a bad shot and a good one.
Where are my entries stored?
In your browser's local storage on this device — nothing is sent to a server or account. It stays private on your phone or computer. Note that clearing browser data will erase the journal, so export a CSV backup if your entries matter to you.
How many shots do I need to log before it helps?
Usually three to five. Dialing in is a comparison game: one log entry is a data point, but three entries with different grind settings show you the direction — finer = slower and stronger, coarser = faster and thinner. The pattern pops out fast. Our dial-in guide explains what to do once you see it.