Dialing in is repetition.
But memory fades.
A single cup has at least four variables — dose, temperature, time, yield. Add the bean and grind size and the combinations run into the hundreds. Memory can’t hold that: it blurs within three days, and resets the moment the bean changes. Inconsistent taste isn’t a lack of skill — it’s what happens when you leave it to memory.
Working as a barista, I pulled shots every day. Some beans were perfect at 17.5g, others needed 19g. A single degree of temperature changed the taste.
I couldn’t remember it."
The day the beans changed, we opened 20 minutes late. I couldn’t recall the day-before settings, so I dialed in from scratch while customers waited. Find the perfect setting and don’t log it, and every time is square one.
It’s the same now that I’ve left the café. I start the day with a pour-over — yesterday it was great, today it isn’t. Was the dose off, the water temp, the time? No way to know. I never wrote it down.
If you’ve made a perfect cup once, you should be able to make it again. Save these numbers and you can reproduce it next time. Even when the bean changes or the weather shifts, yesterday’s winning setting is one tap away.