How Many Grams for a Double Shot of Espresso?

Those three numbers — dose, yield, time — are the whole recipe. Write them down, change one thing at a time, and espresso stops being guesswork. Our how to pull an espresso shot guide covers the full method around them, and ristretto vs espresso vs lungo covers what happens when you change the ratio deliberately.

Basket diameter is the single biggest determinant of your dose, because a wider basket holds more coffee at the same bed depth. Here is the territory for the three sizes this site covers, with the yield that goes with each at a 1:2 ratio:

Two of those rows need honesty rather than a number. 51mm De'Longhi basketsare small even by 51mm standards and De'Longhi does not publish a gram dose for them in documentation we will quote as the manufacturer's, so the only reliable figure is the one you measure from your own basket using the method below. And on a pressurized basket, the restrictor hole rather than the puck sets the resistance, so dose precision buys you much less — our pressurized vs non-pressurized portafilter guide explains why.

A basket is a fixed volume with a fixed depth, and the puck has to fit inside it with the right amount of headspace— the gap between the top of the tamped puck and the shower screen when the group is locked in. Get the dose wrong in either direction and the problem is mechanical, not a matter of taste:

• Too little coffee leaves excess headspace. Water pools above the puck, the puck can lift and crack under pressure, and the shot channels. The symptom is a fast, thin, sour shot and a soupy, pitted puck.
• Too much coffeeand the puck touches the screen when you lock in. You get a screen imprint on the puck, the bed is disturbed as the portafilter goes in, and the edges compress differently from the middle — which is channeling from the other direction.

Both failure modes are covered in detail in espresso channeling and why is my espresso puck wet. Dose is the cheapest variable to get right, and it is the one most people never actually measure.

Espresso is defined as a ratio of two weights, which means measuring only the dose is doing half the job. The second number is the yield: the weight of liquid espresso in the cup, not its volume.

The reason it must be weight rather than volume is crema. Crema is foam, its volume varies enormously with roast level and bean age, and it collapses while you watch. A shot judged by the line on a shot glass silently changes ratio every time you open a new bag of beans — a fresh dark roast will look like a full double at 28 g of liquid, and a three-week-old light roast will look short at 40 g.

So: put the cup on the scale, tare it, start the pump, and stop at roughly twice your dose. For an 18 g dose that is about 36 g in the cup. Our do I need a scale for espresso guide makes the full case, and coffee-to-water ratio covers the equivalent numbers for filter brewing.

If you do not know your basket's design dose — and most people with a 51mm or 54mm machine do not — this takes ten minutes:

1. Check the manual and the basket itself first.Many baskets are stamped with a dose, and Breville's machines ship a Razordosing tool that trims the puck to exactly the right height for their baskets — which is effectively the dose printed in hardware.
2. Start at a sensible numberfor your diameter: 18 g for 58mm, 18–19 g for 54mm, and for 51mm start lower and work up.
3. Tamp level and lock in, then take the portafilter straight back out without running water. Look at the puck surface.
4. Read the imprint.A clear circular mark from the shower screen means you are over-dosed — go down a gram. No mark at all and a deep gap means you may be under-dosed; go up a gram. A faint kiss of a mark is about right.
5. Write the number down and stop changing it. From then on, grind size is your adjustment, not dose.

That last point is the whole discipline. Dose and yield are constants you set once per basket; grind is the dial you turn when the shot runs fast or slow.

A single basket is roughly halfa double — commonly around 7–9 g on a 58mm single, pulled to about twice that in the cup. In practice almost nobody pulls singles at home, and there is a good reason: a single basket is narrower and deeper, which makes it harder to prepare evenly and much more prone to channeling than a double. Most home machines ship a double basket as the default and most recipes assume it.

If you want a smaller drink, the usual approach is to pull a normal double and use less of it, or to pull a ristretto— the same 18 g dose stopped at around 18–27 g of yield, which is more concentrated rather than smaller in strength. That is covered in ristretto vs espresso vs lungo.

You will see a double espresso described as 2 fluid ounces, and at a café that is a reasonable description of what lands in the cup. As a recipe it fails for three reasons:

• Crema inflates volume unpredictably, as above, so two shots of identical weight can have visibly different volumes.
• Ground coffee cannot be dosed by volume accurately. A scoop of dark roast and a scoop of light roast hold different masses, because roasting removes water and mass. A tablespoon is not a dose.
• Whole-gram kitchen scales cannot resolve the difference between a 17.4 g and an 18.2 g dose, which is roughly the width of the useful window on a standard double. 0.1 g precision is the one specification that is not negotiable.

Three requirements, in order: 0.1 g precision, a platform that physically fits under your portafilter on the drip tray, and a timer. Flow rate is a nice extra. These are picks from our best coffee scales guide, where each gets a longer treatment.

Prices shown are from Amazon as of October 10, 2026 and change often — the button always goes to the current listing. Some links may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

Who it is for: anyone who wants one scale that handles espresso and pour over without compromise.

What we like: espresso and pour over on one scale, a flow-rate readout you normally pay a premium for, USB-C charging, and a footprint that still fits a drip tray. The honest cons: it costs more than the budget options and the flow-rate display is a nicety rather than a necessity for dialing a dose in.

Who it is for: the person who just wants to start weighing doses today.

What we like: the lowest-risk way to start weighing espresso, genuinely small enough for a drip tray, and USB charging. The honest cons: build and response speed are closer to the price than a Timemore's, there is no flow-rate display, and auto-off can cut out mid-routine while you are still prepping.

Who it is for: the household that pulls espresso and brews pour over, French press or an AeroPress on the same scale.

What we like: dead simple and reliable, a platform big enough for a full pour-over setup, and it comes from the people who make the dripper. The honest cons: AAA batteries rather than USB, no flow rate, and the larger top is less convenient on a cramped espresso drip tray than the two scales above.

For the filter side of the ratio, our coffee-to-water ratio guide has the numbers, and how to make pour over coffee uses them.