A modern low-pressure profile with a coarser grind. Short, fast, and balanced — without the need for long pre-infusion or extreme precision.
The Turbo Shot technique emerged in the modern specialty coffee community in the early 2020s. One of the central voices who popularized it was Lance Hedrick on YouTube, who demonstrated through systematic experiments that shots at 6 bar with a coarser grind produce more even extractions than 9 bar with a fine grind.
The science: at 9 bar with a fine grind, puck resistance is so high that any inconsistency in grind or tamping causes channeling — uneven flow paths that produce over-extracted and under-extracted parts simultaneously. The result: an unbalanced cup, sometimes bitter.
At 6 bar with a coarser grind, resistance is lower, flow is stable and even (4-4.5 ml/s vs. 2-3 ml/s at 9 bar), and extraction passes through the entire puck uniformly. The result: a clean, balanced, and fast cup.
The 4 principles of Turbo Shot:
1. 6 bar pressure instead of 9. You get more generous flow and less backpressure that causes channeling.
2. Significantly coarser grind — sometimes as coarse as pour-over, not fine like regular espresso. This grind wouldn't work at 9 bar because it would flow too fast, but at 6 bar it's perfect.
3. Higher ratio (1:2.5 or 1:3) — because extraction is shorter, you need more water volume to extract enough soluble compounds. 18g → 45-54g out.
4. Short time (18-25 seconds) — no long pre-infusion, just start and finish. First drop appears around 3-4 seconds because the coarser grind creates less backpressure.
When it's not suited: for very complex coffees that require slow extraction to draw out delicate notes — there a long Slayer profile still wins. But for daily-use coffees, routine cafe work, and milk drinks — Turbo does the job excellently.