Time was, in those forgotten years called the “late ’90s,” espresso only meant dark roast. And “espresso roast” meant oily-dark beans. At least that’s what they still write on Starbucks bags.

But then came the third-wave coffee revolution of the early noughties, dedicated to the proposition that all beans aren’t created equal. A new generation of coffee roasters and baristas began to question the notion that coffee beans should be roasted into submission, preferring to highlight agricultural origins and fruity aromas by roasting lighter. Often much, much lighter.

For espresso, the results weren’t always good.

The first time I was offered a truly light roast espresso was, of course, in Portland, Oregon. It was an airy, postindustrial café of the sort that was popular 15 years ago, decorated with rough-hewn wood and unrelated machine parts—decor that’s meant to showcase not just blue-collar grit but the very idea of process. This fruit-forward, Ethiopian espresso didn’t just spring into being: It was made, labored upon, with real human hands against the drum.

Anyway, I hated it. Sure, my little double shot was languidly syrupy and drenched in swirling burnt-caramel crema, like a lot of fancy espresso. It was also intense and astringent—bracingly aromatic but also bitter and pucker-sour and seemingly determined to suck all spittle from my tongue. If this was the big new thing, I was pretty sure I didn’t want it.

I mention this because if you drink a lot of espresso, I’m pretty sure you’ve had this same battery-acid cup. And if you have, you quite possibly came away with the notion that espresso was never meant to be made with lighter-roast coffee. Who would trade all that roundness and chocolatey depth for … whatever that is?

The answer, 15 years later, is me.

Why Would You Want Light Roast Espresso?

I’m a little late to the party, perhaps. But very light roast espresso is my biggest rediscovery of the past couple years—a taste I cultivated especially while testing two or more espresso machines each month over the past year to assess the best. I’ll often pull 50 or 100 shots on each machine, which leaves plenty of time for experimentation.

The idea behind roasting lighter for espresso is that dark roasts can taste pretty similar. They taste roasty. Lighter roasts retain more flavor compounds and better showcase fruity flavors and the character and origin of individual beans. In short, they’re fun. The lighter you roast, the more fun is theoretically possible.

What truly converted me to light roast espresso was using natural-process roasts, or honey- and bourbon-process roasts, instead of the standard “washed” beans. This can add extra layers of fermented flavor, and lower acidity. One single transcendent cup of light roast espresso, made from yeast-fermented Thai beans roasted by Portland’s Sunday Coffee Project—a cup that tasted sweetly and surprisingly of wine and strawberries—was my conversion story to light roast espresso. It was the moment I fell down on my knees and said, like beggared Oliver Twist, that I wanted more.

That bag is only occasionally on sale. But looking for good natural-process light roasts? Great coffee subscriptions for natural process beans include Equator Coffee, the Podium Coffee Club Platinum Subscription, and Trade Coffee. Otherwise, check out WIRED’s guide to the Best Coffee Subscriptions for more.

But light roast espresso is often not successful if you use parameters and equipment designed for dark roast espresso, according coffee influencer (and national latte art champion) Lance Hedrick.

“Cafés all around the world, with very, very, very, very, very few exceptions, are still using traditional machines,” he told WIRED. “These machines, La Marzocco, Sanremos, Slayers, all these machines are traditional in the sense that they are set up to pull what is called a 9-bar shot, or an Italian-style shot. Light roast coffee does not do well on that style of setup.”

Basically, Hedrick seems to be saying, you’ve brought a wrench to a screwdriver fight. This can make light roast finicky or full of compromise.

Light roasts are harder to extract fully and evenly. When you’re pulling a shot, different flavors come out at different times. Acidic flavors generally come out first, during the early seconds of a shot. Later comes caramel sweetness, then finally bitterness. Pull an espresso shot without extracting fully, it’ll be as sour as an underripe mango. Extract unevenly, and you’ll get both bitter and sour. Dark beans are more forgiving and harder to screw up.

Generations of home baristas have followed certain guides to good espresso designed for darker beans: 25-second shots, 2:1 ratios of water to coffee, 9 bars of pressure. With medium beans, you could often get interesting results this way. But going truly light courts chaos.

“You need to realize you’ve already rejected tradition by not getting a dark roast coffee. You’ve embraced modernism,” Hedrick says. “And if you’re going to embrace modernism and reject traditionalism, you must always also reject traditional shot parameters.”

But terrific light roast is possible. There are two ways to go.

You can go traditional—changing your dose and ratios a bit but aiming for a cup with intensity and balance. That’s what I’ve been honing for the past year.

But there’s also a wilder, weirder path: The turbo shot, also called a gusher. Hedrick, following the results of new scientific research from University of Oregon biochemistry professor Christopher Hendon and others, has gone all in on throwing out the entire traditional espresso rulebook in his pursuit of light roast espresso that’s neither sour nor bitter.

Here are two ways of making light roast espresso, and the results.

The Theory Behind Turbo Espresso Shots

OK, so how does a turbo shot work?

A gusher is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an espresso shot that practically just pours out of the portafilter so it’s over in about 15 seconds, even at high volume—a heresy among traditional espresso people. Conventional wisdom says this shot should taste terrible, underextracted, sour. But magically, it doesn’t. Extraction is in some ways better and more reliable.

A turbo shot tastes … kinda sweet, actually.

The idea isn’t just maverick. It’s backed by science. Back in 2020, a few researchers, including University of Oregon chemistry professor Christopher Hendon and Australian barista Michael Cameron, published a research paper that used mathematical modeling to show that a lot of what people had assumed about espresso was just kinda untrue.

Finer grinds don’t necessarily or always mean better extraction, they showed. And the 25-second espresso shot is a tradition … not a scientific certainty. Often, a lot of the unpleasant flavor compounds start to emerge after a mere 20 seconds. But especially, Hendon tells WIRED, grinding more coarsely, and using lower pressure and lower volumes of beans, leads to much more consistency between shots.

“What we were trying to do is find brew parameters that would allow us to make highly reproducible espresso,” he said. What he and his collaborators learned was that if you grind finer, extraction got better, but not forever. At some “critical point,” grinding finer actually led to worse extraction. Coffee clumped up. It clogged. Water actually got less contact with coffee grounds, not more.

If you ground beans more coarsely, and let the water flow longer through lower volumes of beans, you could get more even extraction, they discovered after analysis. This method also offered more repeatability. Using less coffee, and lower pressure, likewise allowed water to spend more time in contact with the coffee grounds—leading to even better extraction.

And so, grind coarser. Use less coffee. Use less pressure. Let it gush. Result: excellent extraction of sweet and aromatic compounds. Almost no bitterness. Hedrick tells WIRED that the best shots he’s pulled in recent memory have come using this method.

Hendon figures few would have paid attention to his findings if Hedrick hadn’t taken up the research and run with it—making video after video about the new technique for making what Hedrick now calls “modern” espresso, highlighting a bean’s bright aromatics without all the bitterness. Traditional shots just don’t get the flavors Hedrick wants, and have too many of the bitter flavors he hates.

Now, in the meantime, there are caveats. Hendon published a more recent paper showing that clumping at finer grinds could be avoided if you just spritzed your beans with a bit of water before grinding. (Coffee nerds had been doing this for a while; it just hadn’t been backed up by science.)

Which is to say, while turbo shots are a new and interesting and fun discovery, classic light roast espresso shots can also get good results.

Which Is Better, Classic Light Roast Espresso or Modern Turbo Shots?

Classic light roast espresso shots and turbo shots are both achievable. But note that turbo shots are a lot easier to pull off: Coarser grinds are quite simply more manageable. You’ll get more consistent shots time after time with gushers, Hedrick and Hendon both note.

So, how does a turbo shot taste? It is, on my attempts over the past couple of weeks, not quite as complex as more traditional, longer, finer-ground shots—at least when I’ve attempted them with more traditional 9-bar machines, like the Breville Oracle Jet and the new Meraki espresso machine I’m currently testing.

The combination of coarse grind and fast flow actually end up reminding me somewhat of results from some newer superautomatic espresso machines like the excellent De’Longhi Rivelia. These machines grind coarser and flow faster, and smooth out the edges of traditional shots. The results on my turbo shots were likewise smooth and flavorful, and a bit more sweet, but maybe also a less exciting and eventful ride.

This said, I’ve also struck intense flavor gold with some turbo shots. And when they were good, the results were shockingly good. I have drunk a 12-second light roast espresso with flavor so round and full it made me question everything I’d previously been told about how good espresso should be made.

The difference between turbo and classic light roast shots is actually, if I’m comparing, a lot like the difference between a new-school hazy IPA and a West Coast IPA. The turbo shot, like a modern hazy IPA, offers more juiciness and less bitterness. Maybe it also offers a little less complexity. But in exchange, it’s an easy, smooth ride across the palate that’s more in line with modern tastes. It’s delicious.

So which do you prefer? Juicy or balanced? Complexity and intensity, or affable aroma and sweetness? A difficult test of espresso mettle, or an easy win? Shoot your shot.

Meet the Experts

• Lance Hedrick is one of the most-followed coffee industry voices on YouTube, a two-time World Latte Art champion, two-time US Brewers Cup finalist, and director of EU and West Coast wholesale for Onyx Coffee.
• Christopher Hendon is associate professor of computational materials chemistry at the University of Oregon and has authored or coauthored numerous published works on the chemistry of coffee flavor and extraction.