Rate my crema

[GruB]

Espresso over ice cream is loverly. 

[Tewdric]

OK, I've just got through 250g of the Happy Donkey Brazilian, and it's nice, but just a tad rough to me.  Fave so far was the Flatus roast Red Monkey Organic Espresso, closely followed by Union Hand-Roasted Revelation (which was the coffee used in the pics upthread).  Next up is Red Monkey ready-roast Organic Espresso...

[Hot Flatus]

You do realise that if

Flatus roast Red Monkey Organic Espresso

 is more to your taste than

 

Red Monkey ready-roast Organic Espresso...

you'll be needing one of these?



And a mere month ago you were saying...

I really wasn't going to get into it that much..

hur hur hur  

[Tewdric]

Now, about this PID..

[Hot Flatus]

You'll need one.  


Just stuck a new batch of beans in the grinder that were roasted on Wednesday and something occurred to me that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, although I'm sure Dasmoth will recognise this.

As the beans get older you nearly always have to adjust the grind to get the same effect. So, if your beans have been around for, say, five days, you might have to grind slightly finer.  On an mc2 grinder with it's very low gear this will mean maybe 3 turns (clockwise)

If you are bit of a dopey fukwit like me, you'll forget you did this and wonder why nothing is coming out a week later when you stick the new beans in

[Tewdric]

The thing I've found with Red Monkey beans - both yours and theirs - is that the roast beans are quite oily, so the grinder delivers short doses as the beans stick to each other.

It's your beans in front by the way - although Union Revelation are a very close second and more consistent in use.  I've just backflushed and am trying Union Evolution at present, which is absolutely gorgeous.

[Hot Flatus]

On lates tonight? 

 

[Tewdric]

Well the Red Monkey was great, but really inconsistent to grind so I wasted a lot.

I'm back to Happy Donkey Brazilian for a bit, then I'm going to try Has Bean.  Union Revelation is now back in first place for flavour and ease of living with.

[andyoxon]

Silly Q, but how do you vary your time of extraction while keeping a reasonably small volume?  Our MR Roma espresso, fills an average sized cup in around 20+ secs; I normally have the pump going for 10s ish.

Grind fine.  Very, very fine.

You can vary the dose a bit.  In general, less coffee == water comes through faster, but at least some machines do have a counter-intuitive effect whereby overfilling the basket leads to faster extraction, too.

In my experience tamp does matter a bit , but less than the other two.  You should be able to get a good extraction across a fairly wide range of tamp pressures, and all that really matters is keeping it reasonably consistent while you change other variables.  In particular, super-hard tamping certainly won't help very much if your shots are coming much too fast.

And, of course, the most important advice: have fun and enjoy your coffee.

The other day I tried grinding the coffee beans very finely, but I defeated the pump since the pressure was not sufficient to produce more than a really slow drip.  Is this a pump issue, or is it possible to 'clog' the filter holder, by overgrinding.

Oh yes, what 'standard' (preferably fairtrade) coffee beans do people recommend?

[Hot Flatus]

You've either squeezed too much coffee in, or ground too finely ...or both!

Which grinder are you using?

There are plenty of bean recommendations in this thread and the Silvia thread

[dasmoth]

Grind fine.  Very, very fine.

The other day I tried grinding the coffee beans very finely, but I defeated the pump since the pressure was not sufficient to produce more than a really slow drip.  Is this a pump issue, or is it possible to 'clog' the filter holder, by overgrinding.

I wouldn't say it's a case of clogging the filter, as such, but yes it is possible to grind too fine for the pump.  I don't know you're machine, but in general I'd think that "a really slow drip" means you're not too far off.  I'd back off on the grind in fairly small steps 'til you're getting a drink of your preferred size in high-20s seconds, then see if you like what you taste.

[andyoxon]

Thanks f/d, this is the grinder James Martin by Wahl Mini Grinder 150W Stainless Steel Got it for £11 - no expense spared...    But it seems to do the job.  Perhaps I should see if I could stick to an approx grinding time/regime.

[tiermat]

Thanks f/d, this is the grinder James Martin by Wahl Mini Grinder 150W Stainless Steel Got it for £11 - no expense spared...    But it seems to do the job.  Perhaps I should see if I could stick to an approx grinding time/regime.

TBH, for not much more you could have picked up a burr grinder, blade grinders just pulverise the beans and can make mush rather than ground coffee.

[Rhys W]

Well, I've been getting a bit obsessive about this now. After a bit of lurking on various forums, it seems that most Gaggia domestic machines are designed to be used with pre-packaged pods as well as ground coffee. What this is means in practice is that they're set at the factory to produce about 11 bar (to get through the pod packaging) rather than the 9 bar ideal for ground espresso - the pump produces about 15 bar, but the excess pressure is shunted off by a valve (OPV) and water flows back to the reservoir through the 2nd tube (I always wondered why there are two tubes). Luckily, this pump is adjustable by taking the machine apart and undoing a large brass nut. You can then estimate the pressure the OPV lets through by measuring the backflow in ml/min and looking at a graph to estimate the corresponding pressure. So now my machine produces 250 ml/min, equivalent to 9 bar. Other users who've done this report a big improvement in crema and a longer shot time - since my shots were originally coming out at 13 seconds I guessed too high a pressure could be a factor. Combined with one notch down on the grinder, I'm getting 20-22 second shots, but still not gloopy like Tewdric's money shot.

The other thing I did, on Flatus's recommendation was get a blind filter basket and some Puly Caff detergent and clean the machine. I've descaled it regularly and cleaned the group head and shower screen with an old toothbrush but never tried backflushing. I have a really clean machine now, and some Happy Donkey beans waiting, which should be fresher than supermarket beans... so I'm expecting big things now!

[tiermat]

...SNIP.... it seems that most Gaggia domestic machines are designed to be used with pre-packaged pods as well as ground coffee. What this is means in practice is that they're set at the factory to produce about 11 bar (to get through the pod packaging) rather than the 9 bar ideal for espresso - the pump produces about 15 bar, but the excess pressure is shunted off by a valve (OPV) and water flows back to the reservoir through the 2nd tube. Luckily, this pump is adjustable by taking the machine apart and undoing a large brass nut. You can then estimate the pressure the OPV lets through by measuring the backflow in ml/min and looking at a graph to estimate the corresponding pressure.

Now that I didn't know, guess I will be taking my Evolution apart this weekend then

finger still hovering over the buy it button for a blinf basket and detergent (the state of my bank account is all that is preventing me hitting it!).  Incidentally I find the most flavourful coffee I have got so far is using Monsoon Malabar ground for espresso using my cheap and cheerful German grinder (can't remember the make and CBA to get up and go into the kitchen, as Mrs T and TLD are in there baking ATM)

[Hello, I am Bruce]

...SNIP.... it seems that most Gaggia domestic machines are designed to be used with pre-packaged pods as well as ground coffee. What this is means in practice is that they're set at the factory to produce about 11 bar (to get through the pod packaging) rather than the 9 bar ideal for espresso - the pump produces about 15 bar, but the excess pressure is shunted off by a valve (OPV) and water flows back to the reservoir through the 2nd tube. Luckily, this pump is adjustable by taking the machine apart and undoing a large brass nut. You can then estimate the pressure the OPV lets through by measuring the backflow in ml/min and looking at a graph to estimate the corresponding pressure.

Now that I didn't know, guess I will be taking my Evolution apart this weekend then

My Evolution has the same problem.   The pressure valve on the Evolution (and other domestic Gaggia models apart from Classic and Baby) is described as a "safety valve" rather than an OPV, and apparently it has quite a high limit that serves to stop the machine exploding if something gets blocked, rather than to regulate the output pressure accurately.  On my machine there is never any water dripping from the valve back into the reservoir so nearly the whole pressure of the pump must be reaching the boiler.  I've tried removing the valve to clean and descale it thoroughly, but haven't ever managed to detach it from the pump.

I still get nice espresso from the beans I buy at Artisan Roast in Edinburgh though.

(I'm talking about part #31 on this diagram).

[Rhys W]

Try starting here and subsequent links. I think there was some discussion about other Gaggia models and the "lesser" type of OPV, replacing it with another part...

Warning - it will take up a lot of your time!

[andyoxon]

Thanks f/d, this is the grinder James Martin by Wahl Mini Grinder 150W Stainless Steel Got it for £11 - no expense spared...    But it seems to do the job.  Perhaps I should see if I could stick to an approx grinding time/regime.

TBH, for not much more you could have picked up a burr grinder, blade grinders just pulverise the beans and can make mush rather than ground coffee.

yes, Ok, had to look up 'burr', from wiki

Blade grinders create “coffee dust” that can clog up sieves in espresso machines and French presses, and are best suited for drip coffee makers. They are not recommended for grinding coffee for use with pump espresso machines.

We have a manual (burr?) grinder, which is really inefficient, and takes forever (unless I haven't got it adjusted correctly), and is beyond the call of duty...

[Hot Flatus]

Unfortunately I don't know of any grinders costing less than a ton that do a good enough job for espresso

BTDT haven't got the t shirt but I have got a cupboard full of grinders 

[dasmoth]

Unfortunately I don't know of any grinders costing less than a ton that do a good enough job for espresso

I used a Zassenhaus hand grinder for a while and it did a reasonable job.  The adjustment on mine drifted quite rapidly, but I think that might have been a one-off issue rather than a general problem.

[andyoxon]

Looks like we have a 'Zassenhaus' too (inherited with espresso machine).  Looks identical to this...

Zassenhaus Manual Coffee Grinder | Manual Coffee Grinder

 How does it adjust?  

[dasmoth]

How does it adjust?  

Knurled nut just under the handle.  Screw down for coarser grind, up for finer.  If you screw it up tight then gently turn the handle, you'll probably be able to feel the burrs rubbing together (obviously, don't force it like this!).  It's a while since I've used mine from espresso, but from memory try screwing it up so the burrs are touching then back off ~half a turn.  It'll take a little while to grind a shot, but hey this is coffee we're talking about, so it's worth it!

If it's been sitting around for a long time, you might want to run a little bit of rice through it to clean the burrs.

[Charlotte]

Thread necromancy time - I was just wondering how all you aspiring baristas are doing?

Anyone pulled the God Shot yet?

[Hot Flatus]

Provided that I keep my machine clean, feed it with Volvic water and Union Revelation then pretty much every shot is a god shot. Its taken me 20 years to get to this point, but it's the choice of coffee that has nailed it. I still can't quite believe how consistent it is.

Problem is, it's too good. I'm at the point of having to give up espresso.

[Phil]

I got my Hario Slim in the post today.  Surprisingly quick and easy to use, and the grind is as good as a > £150 electronic grinder. 

I'm going to have to tighten the OPV on my Gaggia down though - pulling a shot this morning took well over thirty seconds, with much sputtering at the overflow pipe.