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I don't know that I have pull the "perfect" shot of espresso yet.  But while breaking it down for my girls it can be as simple as

Grind, dose, tamp, polish, lock it in, pull your shots, nock it out…

Each step in the process has it's areas that need to be tweaked an controlled.  With each new coffee I pull the grind will need some minor tweaking.  I shoot for having my grind somewhere between the consistency of flour and sugar.  I tend to dose an 14 to 18 gram double shot basket, I started out not weighing the dose and went for the full not packed filter basket… dose by weight or by volume is an ongoing debate.  Tamping… "30 lbs" of pressure right?  That is what we have all been taught/read, well it is important to get a great tamp to ensure even water flow and a uniform coffee bed.  To light of a tamp the extraction is fast, to hard a tamp and the extraction is slow… both bad.  Depending on your tamp technique you may or may not need to polish of the top of the coffee bed to ensure a smooth and uniform layer.  Pre warm the group head by running a small amount of water through it, lock in the portafilter and start your extraction right away.  The extraction, a double in 20 to 25 seconds is generally a good shot for me.  Most home machines will pull slower just due to the pump on them being under powered so there are times that I get amazing shots that run 35+ seconds.  Stop the extraction, knock out the puck and enjoy the espresso.

@DanLacher

BOSTON STARBUCKS REB said:

The hardest thing about espresso is finding the right grind because its so variable. On my machine I have to pull at least three shots to zero in correctly. Also, the temperature and pressure on it isn't the most stable so I have to "surf" to make sure I find the sweet spot. Practice, practice, practice!

BSR what type of espresso machine are you using. I have a Silvia and I'm not sure I've ever gotten the "surf" thing right.

Post edited 8:42 am – June 1, 2010 by coffeewriter

I'm claiming to pull the perfect shot. I sorta had an advantage though. I have to pull perfect shots each drink on the manual machine at the cafe. AS far as my home machine, no.

What a great excuse to pull more than one shot!  Practice makes perfect; and, perhaps, jittery.

Yeah, on a given machine I first work on dialing in the grind and then move onto dosing.  On the commercial machines the temp surfing is not really needed up but I do have a temp surf technique for my home Solis SL70.  Depending on the humidity and temp the grind might need to be adjusted as you go.

In addition to adjusting the grind throughout the day, have your tried differnt dosing? Sometimes overdosing makes the espresso flavors fuller.

Remember that different coffees each have their own personal "sweet spot" to be a "god shot" depending on grind, origin, and bean size.

Also, unless you plan to drop $6k on a commercial grade home roaster, buy a Mypressi Twist etc. don't count on producing"god shos", very often. It is possible, just a lot more variables than at a cafe.