The Translation: Channeling happens when pressurized water punches a single hole (or “channel”) straight through your coffee grounds instead of soaking evenly through all of them.
Use It In a Sentence: “I didn’t tamp my coffee flat enough, so I got terrible channeling and the espresso tasted watery and sour.”
Why You Care: Channeling is the enemy of good coffee. If water only flows through one tiny hole, it over-extracts bitter flavors from that one spot, while leaving the rest of the coffee untouched. If your espresso machine is randomly squirting liquid all over your counter, you are experiencing channeling.
Hobby Lingo 