Takes about a week to dial everything in, recommend getting the bottomless portafilter. 18g coffee of choice on the finest grind setting atleast for my grinder. then manually set the brew time and stop it at 36g out it'll drip about an additional 10g after that. And then 5oz of milk/creamer of choice steamed. The default settings on the machine will not give you a good cup of espresso because it comes out at about a 5:1 ratio, I find a 2.5-3:1 ratio is best.
Love this machine! As soon as I start brewing, my kitchen smells like a café. The coffee tastes really rich and fresh. It’s easy to clean too. Totally worth it if you love coffee at home.