If one wants to time this part of the process does one start when the touch screen says "brewing your coffee", the first sound of the vibration pump, or when the first drip comes from the spouts to when it stops?
First off I'm a novice - I mean truly a novice and could perhaps be considered a Philistine when it comes to espresso. But, my wife and other family members enjoy and I just came back from Italy where I enjoyed some good espresso (of course everything tastes better when one is there). So, we now have the aforementioned machine. I tend to rabbit hole most things I get into, so here goes.
I have some fresh Lavazza Super Crema beans, grinder setting on 4, size on medium, strength to 4/5 and when I select single espresso and start, I get about an 11 second grind and when I stop as soon as the grind cycle ends and measure the puck, I'm getting 20 grams. When I let it brew, it takes about 28 or so seconds (though I'm not sure when to start the timer to measure the extraction, when it starts making a sound or when I first see liquid) and the coffee tastes fine to me and looks good, but doesn't that seem like too big of a dose?
I thought I did my homework binging videos, but in practice, feel pretty lost. Any recommendations, critiques, roasts of me, etc are greatly appreciated as I'm just trying to learn. Cheers and happy to be a part of this community.