No one can "instinctively" make a good espresso shot. The effort required is something in between art and science and it has to be learned. If you are going to learn to do it well you will need to want to learn or you will not succeed. On the one hand there are rules and on the other hand it is necessary to experiment with certain parameters in order to discover what you like best in a shot. There is one main rule, however, that one must never forget:

As with food, taste is the only criterion of importance in making coffee. Taste is highly subjective so once you have learned the rules you will be on your own to find out what tastes best to you. It takes roughly 1 minute to complete the process of making an espresso shot so one can afford to experiment.

It should be noted, however, that drinking every experimental shot that one makes cannot be recommended because one can quickly exceed the maximal recommended limit for caffeine intake. Caffeine is a psychostimulant and it is not harmless. Most people can tolerate 3 or 4 espresso shots per day without noticeable side effects, but overdoing can be very unpleasant. There are approximately 100 mg of caffeine in a single espresso shot made from pure Arabica beans, or approximately one-third the amount in a large mug of black filter (drip) coffee. Don't worry about the numbers, just don't overdo. If you find yourself shaking and in a cold sweat you overdid. Note how much you drank and limit yourself to about half that amount in the future.

The best coffee for espresso

is the coffee that tastes best to you. There is no such thing as "espresso coffee." There are blends that tasters have assembled according to what is most agreeable to the majority of people, but there is no rule that says you have to use a blend when making espresso. Many coffee beans make magnificent espressi when drunk as SOs (single origins). One exception is coffee that is by nature quite acidic (e.g. Kenyan). These are not generally suitable for espresso because the extraction process tends to bring out the acidity to an unpleasant degree.