title_body: Espresso consistency
upvoted_answer: It's not really about consistency but more about getting the right extraction time for the coffee/water ratio. 
  
  The rule of thumb is to get a shot in approximately 25 seconds, with a 1:2 ratio of coffee/water. So you'd have 16g of coffee in your portafilter, to get a 32g expresso shot. 
  
  That's the baseline. When you achieve that, you can start experimenting with different ratios and times. 
  
  How are you grinding your beans? If you don't have a grinder you only have the dosage to play with, and it's gonna be really difficult to get to that baseline.