Espresso Running Too Fast? The Complete Troubleshooting Guide

You lock in the portafilter, flip the switch on your machine, and brace yourself for that thick, syrupy stream of dark brown gold.

Instead, a watery, blond torrent comes gushing out. Your cup is full in 15 seconds flat.

You take a sip anyway, and your face immediately scrunches up. It tastes sour, hollow, and incredibly thin.

If your espresso is running too fast (anything under 20 seconds for a standard 1:2 ratio), you’re dealing with severe under-extraction. The hot water is blasting through your coffee puck too quickly to dissolve the sweet sugars and rich oils that make espresso taste good.

Don't panic, and definitely don't throw those expensive beans away. Here is exactly why your espresso is pulling too fast, and the step-by-step framework to fix it.

---

---

1. Your Grind is Too Coarse (The #1 Culprit)

Espresso requires resistance. The coffee puck acts as a wall that the pressurized water must push through. If your coffee grounds are too coarse, they look more like gravel than sand. The water finds massive gaps between the particles and rushes right through.

The Fix: Adjust your grinder finer. Make small, incremental adjustments (one macro-step or a slight turn on a stepless grinder) and pull another shot. Keep grinding finer until your shot takes 25–30 seconds to reach your target yield (e.g., 36g of liquid from 18g of dry coffee).

---

2. Your Dose is Too Low

If your grind size is correct but you simply don't have enough coffee in the basket, there isn't enough physical resistance to slow the water down. A basket rated for 18 grams that only holds 15 grams leaves way too much "headspace" (empty room) for water to rapidly build up and destroy the puck integrity.

The Fix: Weigh your dose. Use a digital scale calibrated to 0.1g. If you're using a double basket, start with a firm 18.0g dose. Do not change this number while you are adjusting your grind size. Keep the dose completely locked in.

---

3. Severe Channeling and Poor Puck Prep

Sometimes your grind and dose are perfectly fine, but the water still gushes out in an uneven spray.

This is called channeling. It happens when the coffee grounds are clumped together or unevenly distributed in the basket. The pressurized water is incredibly lazy—it will always find the path of least resistance. If one side of your puck has a weak spot, 100% of the water will blast through that tiny crack, completely ignoring the rest of the coffee.

The Fix:

1. Distribute evenly: Use a WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique) tool—a small whisk with fine needles—to rake the grounds in the basket. This breaks up clumps and creates a uniform bed of coffee.
2. Tamp flat: Ensure your tamp is perfectly level, not slanted. You don't need 30 pounds of bone-crushing pressure; just tamp until you feel the coffee fully compress and push back.

---

4. Your Beans Are Stale (Or Stored Poorly)

As coffee beans age, they release carbon dioxide—a process called degassing. Freshly roasted coffee contains plenty of CO2, which actively resists the flow of water during extraction and creates that beautiful, thick crema.

If your beans are older than 4–6 weeks, or if you bought them from a massive grocery store display months after they were roasted, the CO2 is gone. The water will flow through stale coffee significantly faster than fresh coffee, even at the exact same grind setting.

The Fix: Check the "Roasted On" date (not the "Best By" date). Always buy coffee that was roasted within the last 1–3 weeks. Once opened, store them in an airtight, opaque container at room temperature.

---

The Ultimate Checklist to Slow Down Your Shot

If your espresso is running too fast, follow this exact order of operations. Only change ONE variable at a time.

1. Check your dose: Are you using exactly 18.0g of coffee? (If no, fix this first).
2. Check your puck prep: Are you using WDT and tamping perfectly level? (If no, fix this second).
3. Adjust your grind: Turn the grinder 1 notch finer. Pull a shot. Still too fast? Go 1 more notch finer. (This will solve 90% of your problems).
4. Check your beans: Are they fresh specialty beans roasted in the last 3 weeks?

---