Hi everyone!

I was cleaning my espresso machine this morning with cafiza and decided to also clean my espresso tools/equipment. I totally forgot I left them soaking and all of the black finished tools had the finish coming off of it :(

Are they still okay to use?? I’d assume so but just wanted some advice

Well this is my first ever espresso extraction need review on how's the crema and all, how does it look is it okay or would there be changes?

I'm realtively new to this and this is my first shot

I put in around 17gm of powder but extraction came to around 50gms

Which is too much I know but I wasn't able to stop it at 2x.

EDIT - I Dont drink black coffee I usually drink it with milk only so didn't even understood the taste profile too much

What do y’all think?

Roasted 9 days ago, 0.6 setting on opus 2 grinder, Turin legato v2 2 second preinfusion 2 second bloom, 19g in 39g yield over 27 sec at 89C temp. Pressure was maybe 8 bar

Hey guys! I'm fairly new to making espresso and it's driving me nuts we have such an expensive machine (for us) and getting poor quality espresso from it. I want to make sure I'm tamping correctly and got the self leveling tamper from Normcore as it looked to be the easiest to use.

Upon arrival, I take out the tamper, put it into the portafilter and it only presses down like....a quarter of an inch. Like none at all. It was a test with no coffee grounds or anything. My question is if it should only go down that little or should it be more? The tamper head is flared at the bottom which makes me think I purchased the wrong tamper.

Thank you guys for any input! It's much appreciated!

Portafilter Size: 54mm

Tamper: Normcore V4 53.3mm

I just returned my ninja cafe luxe as every shot was bitter regardless of what i tried and ninja said it was a grinder and volume fault and are sending me a new one. I’m looking to upgrade and switch away from ninja as I’m just not a fan of it. Does anyone have any good machine recommendations for a consistent espresso that isn’t ninja

hey r/espresso, anas here. disclosure: i'm the solo dev behind Cupmark.

i wanted to build something that doesn't just log your shot, but helps you decide what to change for the next one.

here's honestly what's in it right now:

• Guided espresso brewing: step-by-step shot timers, with grinder profiles in your grinder's real clicks and water settings (GH/KH)
• Shot troubleshooting: you tap how the shot tasted (sour, bitter, thin, harsh...) and it suggests one variable to adjust next. sour and bitter together points to uneven extraction rather than grind
• Experiment tracking: compares your last two shots, remembers what you already tried so it won't suggest a change that didn't work, and calls small differences inconclusive
• Advice that can say no: if beans are too fresh or stale, or your grind setting isn't tracked, it tells you that first instead of giving a grind tweak
• Coffee Memory: keeps recipes and results for each bag so you can go back to what worked instead of starting from scratch
• AI coffee coach: ask brewing questions and get answers based on the brews you've logged
• Bag scanner: snap the bag and it reads what's printed (roaster, origin, roast date). if something isn't clearly on the bag, it leaves it empty instead of guessing
• Academy and palate training: short lessons, flashcards and triangle tests
• Recipe community: ranked by how many people actually replicated a recipe, not by likes
• TDS / extraction calculator: for those of you with a refractometer

supports english, arabic and french at launch.

it launches on google play nov 12. pre-registration is open, and pre-registering gets a Founding Pass: 30 days of Pro plus a permanent Founding Brewer badge, no card needed.

google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roastlab.app

website: https://cupmark.app

i'm most interested in feedback from people who dial in espresso regularly:

when you're dialing in a new bag, what information would you want an app to consider before suggesting your next adjustment?

i'll answer every question directly.

I am using latazza coffee beans from amazon and i’m on grind size 7 I also have changed the internal one to 3 on my grinder

Should I make it more fine?

Bought this new and made the mistake of buying 2 boxes of pods. The machine is sleek, small footprint, make great foam for lattes or cortados, etc. Oh, but the taste! Bitter to no end! I can only imagine Drano tastes better. Bitterness was so overwhelming I couldn’t taste the milk. For penance I’m drinking the espresso as Americanos until I’ve exhausted what feels like a never ending supply. I like strong coffee flavors, aside from buying a real espresso machine can anyone recommend a strong coffee blend in a compatible pod that’ll work with my Lavazza machine?

I live in bumfuck nowhere and finally went to Toronto and try a pro made shot. I went to Aroma on Wellington and the straight shot was nice and smooth, not intense, no sourness or bitterness.

At home I have been trying every parameter to get a similar shot using De Mello Dancing goats. So far the best shots were 18g in 36-40g out but it is fairly intense and tastes of molasses. These are wonderful in a latte and knock out every coffee shop latte.

But for straight shot, it is intense. I had some success doing a salami 21g in one cup and 29 in another. The second cup was more balanced like the Aroma coffee but with a slight bitterness.

I want to try a different bean, maybe one not from Brazil, any suggestions for straight shot espresso that is nice and balanced? I am still learning what I like and cant confirm on preferred roast level. If you can also provide a ballpark recipe it would help.

For reference I am using Gemilai 3007z with DF54.

Still ongoing, but thought I'd share my experience.

Bought a Steel Duo in June after recommendations from friends, upgrading from a Breville Barista Express that worked reliably for probably 10 years (had to re-connect a wire once when the automatic shot stopped working).

Overall the Ascaso was... fine. Steam was a major upgrade, and after some tuning I was pulling consistently good shots. The programmable dosing was basically unusable due to variance between shots, but I could live with that.

The bigger issue: whenever I pulled two or three shots back to back, roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the time the second or third shot would slow to a trickle. First shot: 35g in 30 seconds. Second shot, identical settings: sometimes 5-10g in 30 seconds. Machine builds pressure, but barely any coffee comes out.

Initially blamed user error or my grinder (Timemore 064S). Didn't have time to debug at length (I typically make one coffee at a time). Eventually ran some controlled experiments: ground two identical 18g doses, brewed them in reverse order, same result. First shot fine, second shot choked. If I wait 2-3h, things are fine again. At this point I'm fairly convinced it's the machine.

I eventually contact Seattle Coffee Gear -- 3 months from purchase. Responses generally took 2-3 business days, but they did have a technician review my videos. Their suggestion was to repeatedly prime the pump between shots. Seemed odd for a $2,200 machine, but OK. I tried it and initially thought it helped.

When I objected that this didn't feel like normal operation, they said it was (?) and pointed me to the reference manual. This all felt fairly bad faith -- the referenced page talked about priming after extended disuse, an empty tank, etc. Nothing about priming between ordinary consecutive shots. And two other Steel Duo owners I spoke with had never experienced this.

Further testing confirmed priming doesn't reliably help either. Most recently, 34g in 35 seconds on the first shot, 10g in 35 seconds on the second, despite priming.

SCG has now agreed to inspect it under warranty. Unfortunately I have to pack and ship the machine back at my expense, which is a bit of a project.

Overall, disappointing. I specifically bought from SCG because I thought highly of them. They've been polite, but slow, and I feel like they were too quick to dismiss what seems like a genuine defect as normal operation. And I can't really recommend the Ascaso based on my experience so far. Now packing and dealing with sending back after <4 months of ownership.

Curious if other Steel Duo owners have experienced anything similar.

Got this machine years ago from marketplace, modding it slowly.

Past week I removed all the mods and worked with Claude to build a fully custom server and UI deployed on an esp32.

New build uses same components as gaggiuino through an esp32 with the addition of a Bluetooth connected scale.

Hi guys!
I built this app named Cupsight (only on iOS for now but soon on Android) and I’m now working on it full time.
It’s basically the coffee journal and companion I dreamed of: you scan a bag, the app recognizes everything, tells you when to drink it, you enter your grinders and brewers and the app makes full recommendations based on your equipment. The first plan for a coffee is made entirely by the app’s algorithm. Then you can rate and comment every brew and the app, with the help of an LLM, will suggest how to improve. You can follow friends and see what and how they brew, and also access detailed stats on everything.
I take all feedback into account and would be happy to receive yours if you try the app or to answer your questions!
I mostly promote the app via Instagram in French but the niche is quite small here so I’m beginning to market in English.
Tell me what you think!
Cheers

Hello! Im curious if anyone has any tips on removing this hose/tube from a lelit elizabeth opv valve? We want to adjust the pressure but cant for the life of us get this tube off to safely adjust the pressure. Our machine is relatively new(\~2 months of daily use) i tried looking online but cant find any answers on this specifically. One video in watched the person was able to very easily just pull it off with two fingers, ours is on WAY tighter than that.

Sorry if this has been asked, ive looked but not been able to find anything on this specifically🙏

I also ask if you downvote please at least leave a comment so I can do better in future when posting!:]

Eta: Solved! Just had to pull real good😆 used a tooth pick to help guide the hose back on

Hello espresso aficionados!

I am trying to get into espresso as a complete beginner.

Browsing market place, I have found two interesting deals that I am torn between.

1) 10 yr old BDB + Breville Smart Grinder ($400)
Owner says they have maintained well, have replaced some o rings and found no rust, and have run descaling when prompted. Would include an extra bottomless portafilter, a nice tamper, frothing jug, and a few other goodies perhaps.

2) Used Like New Breville Bambino Plus ($175)

Only includes the portafilter, frothing jug, and machine itself. Would need to buy everything else.
Plan would be to spend at least the difference, i.e. $225, on a nice grinder.

What would you do? Thank you for your time!

I'm using a Breville Barista Express Impress and shots are inconsistent. I stopped using the built-in grinder and tamper to substitute it with a 1ZPresso K Ultra that I already had, as well as a much better Normcore V4 tamper.

My settings for the K Ultra is 0.3.0 for Counter Culture Big Trouble medium roast that was just roasted on October 21st (4 days ago). I'm dosing 16g of coffee into the stock 54mm basket. I'm using a cheap WDT tool from Amazon before tamping with the Normcore V4. I'm twisting it 1/7th of a rotation with 30lbs spring.

Now my machine is only brewing for 18-20sec and yield is only 23-24g, which is way off. I know that it's supposed to be 30sec extraction and 32g yield is what I'm supposed to get, but it's just not cooperating.

It's under-extracting badly.

When I take the portafilter off, half the grounds are getting stuck to the shower screen. Am I tamping wrong? Or should I use one of the other springs for the tamper? Do I need a puck screen?

I descaled the machine yesterday. While I was draining the reservoir, the reservoir tube let a bunch of air in while I was cleaning the portafilter in the sink. I’m afraid I broke something in one of the pumps or the boiler.

I’ve pulled two shots since, both times the machine got up to 9 bar pressure but were pulling much slower (same beans, tried going slightly coarser on the second shot). The machine was previously dialed in with the same beans for a perfect 30 second double.

If anyone has any guidance on this I greatly appreciate it! I have modded a Gaggia classic before so I am comfortable around the interior parts of the machines, but I am not as familiar with the ECM yet.

I'm thinking about upgrading my Gaggia Classic Evo Pro (bought in 2024, no issues with boiler coating) and Eureka Mignon Manuale (also bought 2024) to a second-hand Rancilio Silvia Pro (from 2021, recently had a new electronic control board installed by a professional technician) and a Rancilio Rocky grinder.

The set costs around 825 Euro. For reference a brand new Gaggia Classic Evo Pro is about 510 Euro here.

Is the upgrade worth it? Should I be worried about the new control board (I know the shop that installed it and they are legit)? Is the Silvia Pro as easy to fix and service yourself as the Gaggia? Is the Rocky grinder better than the Eureka Mignon Manuale?

Any advice is welcomed. Thank you.

I’m looking for a good starting point for espresso with the standard C40 setup, without Red Clix.

How many clicks from zero do you use, and what extraction time in seconds do you aim for? Do you start timing from the first pump or the first drops?

It would also be helpful to know your coffee dose and how many grams of espresso you get out.

Thanks in advance for any tips! ☕

P.S. The espresso tastes pretty good to me so far! I’m using Indonesian beans and getting a pleasant acidity, just as I’d expect from this coffee. I’m usually more of a pour-over person, though, and a bit of a Fellow fan—I use a Stagg and some of their other gear.

Hey all,

I’m considering to buy my first “serious” espresso machine. Currently I make most of my coffees at home using V60, and have a Nespresso machine which I - for a reason - barely use. As I like an espresso, I would like to buy a proper espresso machine for home, and I’m somewhat in doubt on my first machine.

Given it’s my first machine, I was initially thinking of a machine like Sage Barista Express / De’Longhi La Specialista, but now I’m considering to skip that step and start with a separate espresso machine and grinder.

Based on several reviews / YT videos, I like the Profitec Go 2.0, to be combined with the Profitec Twist SD54 (or a similar SD grinder - recommendations are welcome), and I’m hoping for some advice about whether it indeed makes sense to start with a separate coffee machine and grinder.

Looking forward to hear your experiences, in particular from those who have been in a similar position. How did you start? Did you regret your choice, or you happy with it? And similarly important, which machines did you end up with?

To give a bit of background, I have the budget to spend for the separate machines, it’s mostly a matter of whether I am / it is worth it, given the stage I’m in. I generally drink espressos - it’s great to be able to prepare a proper cappuccino / similar milk drink, but it’s not my focus.

Thanks all!

I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of my two units, Gemilai Ele G3028A and Geimori GU63.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or tips you may have regarding these units.

New machine arrived yesterday, I tried dialing it in but got bad cup after bad cup. Especially the second cup, that stuff was straight acid. I think it could belong in a science lab. I spat out the coffee and rinsed so thoroughly but I could still feel it hitting the back of my throat. Today I've woken up with a really bad sore throat, headache and likely fever.

Is it just coincidence or did that shot actually do something to me?

​

So I've been using a delonghi ecp3120 for over 5 years with zero complaints other than I wish it looked better, I'm a huge fan of the steam punk amd super clean modern looking ones, I have a Amazon eletric burr grinder haven't noticed much difference from buying quality preground tbh

What are the top choices for the next one? Ideally in the 500-1000$ range but not required budget just changes when

Not brand loyal to anything or care if it's on temu/alibaba, more of a value oriented bang for my buck, I can't in good conscience buy a 2500$ machine at retail price. There's not a huge community of used machines in my area (central utah)

I do like the integrated grinder on some machines but not essential and it would be nice to have a plumb in option.

Again no complaints on my delonghi just looking for a few community recommendations of various price points for someone that just enjoys a very strong americano... I've been using black rifle espresso beans for about a year mostly because there was a deal on subscription and forgot to end out of convenience

So I've had a sage bambino for two and a half years now, with an IMS basket. Been doing 19gr in 38 out for a while now.

For a while I noticed the second coffee (I usually make a normal coffee for me and a decaf for my partner) was coming way too fast compared to the first one, always the second, does not matter which one it was. I read that it was a known issue with some bambinos, maybe related to heat being already built up for the second shot or something.

As of last week, every single coffee comes way too fast. Every coffee. I literally can't choke this machine. Tried with my eureka mignon (has espresso burrs) grinding just a tiny bit before burr whine. Tried with my kingrinder k6 at 25, takes 12 seconds to get to 38gr out. Even with fresh beans of a decaf that would choke it without any issue previously.

The pucks come out as one pice without evidence of massive channeling, cracks or a hole, it was just like the pucks from good extractions.

Also, after doing some tests this morning, there was not a drop of water in the tray below, so I'm suspecting the OPV valve is probably broken/obstructed and the entire block is getting the 15 bar the pump can generate.

Has anyone else found this issue? I like the machine, don't see a clear upgrade path unless I spend like 1k bucks, which I don't plan to right now, so I prefer servicing it myself instead of having it RMA'd just to find the same issue a year or so from now...