Printer's Row Coffee Co · Brazil Cerrado

Grind 41.5 broke the logjam — 34 seconds, 2.01 ratio, first in-range shot on this bean after five choked or extreme pulls. Flow was bilateral and even by 23 seconds. Balance reads sour (2) and you flagged it as acidic and bright, which is worth unpacking given how natural process Brazil Cerrados typically taste.

34s Normal, 2.01 ratio Normal — both squarely in range. This is the first technically valid shot on this bean. Balance 2 (Sour) with quality rated 2/5. Notably, grind 45 yesterday ran in 15s Very Fast with very sour lingering flavor, and today grind 41.5 ran 34s Normal — a 19-second jump from a 3.5-click difference, which tells you this bean is extremely sensitive to grind changes in the 40s range. The sourness here is worth investigating: a 34s shot with even flow on a natural-process Brazil should lean sweet and chocolatey, not bright and acidic. That gap between expected flavor and actual flavor is the key data point.

Brazil Cerrado natural, 8 days off roast — right in the estimated peak window. Natural process beans at 8 days are typically showing good sugar development. The flavor notes (baker's chocolate, dried apricot, walnut, creamy) strongly suggest this should not be reading as acidic and bright — that profile is more consistent with a washed light roast. This mismatch is a diagnostic signal: the shot is technically in range but extraction is likely still slightly light on the flavor curve. One more click finer should unlock more of what this bean is supposed to taste like. Worth noting: you mentioned 'based on the flow I would have expected more bitter flavors' — trust that instinct. Even flow with sour output on a low-acid natural bean means you need slightly more extraction, not less.

Shot 31 marks your first technically valid pull on the hardest bean you've encountered so far — a natural process that choked at every setting below 39 and blew past at 45. Getting a 34s even-flow shot on shot 6 of a difficult bean is a real win. The fact that you're now parsing flavor nuance ('I expected bitter but got sour') rather than just tracking whether coffee came out at all is a meaningful step forward.