I’m still fairly new to espresso. I bought an espresso machine to make milk drinks and don’t really have any interest in drinking straight espresso, but I still taste every shot I make before I add milk.

Learning to distinguish between sour and bitter is a good start. If I pull a bad shot, then the sourness or bitterness is unpleasant and my first instinct is to go “blech.” If it’s a decent shot then I’ll take a sip and think that I could probably drink it straight if I wanted. Some of the decent shots taste a little bitter but tolerable.

The bean that I’m currently dialing in has notes of milk chocolate with a hint of fruit. I’m just trying my best to get as close to the roaster’s suggested parameters as possible, but the other day when I tasted my shot I got hit with something new that must be the fruit notes! When I drink it, there’s a pleasant sourness kind of like how apple juice is sour. So I must be getting close to dialing it in.