Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Posted in the just purchased thread but thought I'd put it here as well...

Having looked at all the equipment here I know I'm a filthy casual :p but I just like the all in one press a button and heat the milk option :)

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They were doing this a while ago, and I think a few people from here may have ordered some. I'd be interested to hear about the quality of it.

For £1its a bargain, for full price the usual recommendations (I.E. hasbean/square mile) is much better quality and cheaper in some cases :)
 
I have drank tea since I was about 18 and Coffee (instant) was only for when I had ran out of Tea bags.
However approaching the ripe old age of 40! my taste buds seem to have changed. I can no longer take Tea and apart from visiting Coffee shops, my main experience with Coffee has sadly been drinking instant.

So Friday I decided I was going to buy a Coffee machine. Rightly or wrongly it was either going to be a Nespresso or a Tassimo. However doing my shopping in Tesco yesterday I noticed they were doing the Delonghi Vintage Icona ECOV310 machine down from £150 to £93.

It may not be a Gaggia Classic and it isn't really my cup of tea in looks either but for that price I thought it would be far better than a similar priced Pod machine.

I have only used Supermarket pre-ground Illy in it and Taylors Espresso but it is a night and day improvement. The Taylors Espresso is fantastic and seems to produce a far larger Crema than the Illy strangely

It has a few bad points of course but for £93 its been a good buy for me.

Now to buy a Tamper, metal jug, thermometer, Grinder, Metal bin for waste coffee....this could be an expensive hobby!.
 
I'm defo doing something wrong. When I remove the holder from my machine there is water on top Of the coffee and not dry like in the video.
There are lots of symptoms of a wet coffee puck; bean age, grind size, tamp pressure, too much coffee in the basket, a problem with the pressure release valve on the machine, and possibly a few more. Ultimately though, it isn't a problem and shouldn't be considered as one. Providing the coffee is tasting good, do not worry about it :).
 
I just wish mine would come out gloopy like Joels.

NooB question but is there a way to increase the crema when making a espresso from a machine?. I have noticed mine is fairly poor recently but it varies between cups.
 
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I just wish mine would come out gloopy like Joels.

The main reason its coming out gloopy (beyond the fresh coffee, top notch grind, tamp etc) is the fact that hes profiling the pressure throughout the pour, its a pretty damn advanced technique and only really available on a top end machine :)

NooB question but is there a way to increase the crema when making a espresso from a machine?. I have noticed mine is fairly poor recently but it varies between cups.

the biggest thing you can do to improve your coffee at the moment is fresh beans and a ginder, no idea how good that delonghi machine is but pre-ground will severely limit the quality of the coffee you get out, and the crema (which should really just be seen as a by product of a well poured coffee)

I'm not sure how the 'FILTER CREMA DEVICE' on your machine works but all it'll be doing is adding a fake 'head' to the shot which is why your getting pretty random results.
Going from this post you might be able to get rid of it: http://protofusion.org/wordpress/2010/02/depressurizing-the-ec-155-portafilter/ which, once you have your grind set right, will stablise your chrema and most likely improve you coffee.
 
So...any tips for the cheapest place to get a bottomless portafilter? I fancy some nekkid action.

I can see some for £30... Which is fine but if I could get one cheaper it would be awesome :)
 
There are lots of symptoms of a wet coffee puck; bean age, grind size, tamp pressure, too much coffee in the basket, a problem with the pressure release valve on the machine, and possibly a few more. Ultimately though, it isn't a problem and shouldn't be considered as one. Providing the coffee is tasting good, do not worry about it :).

compact, hard and dry was around 6:40 mark

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I freshly grind my beans from Hasbean in a Kurps burr grinder. If I'm getting water is the ground too fine or course. am I tempering too hard?

I know that he's using advanced techniques to get a syrup kind of coffee, but it just looks like a damn fine cup of coffee when he makes it. Never seen anything like that before as it is like he is making a cup of pure crema. :eek: :D
 
So...any tips for the cheapest place to get a bottomless portafilter? I fancy some nekkid action.

I can see some for £30... Which is fine but if I could get one cheaper it would be awesome :)

Mine is from Happy Donkey, works perfectly well. Seems to be the recommended one tbh. I did contemplate machine the bottom out of my own portafilter, but then if I wanted to pull 2 singles I'd be stuffed.
 
Disaster strikes.

Seems my gaggia has developed a fault with the steam wand. When I try to foam my milk it does nothing but warms it up.

I am even able to put my hand under the steam wand when it is on and not burn myself.

Have run the gaggia decalcification solution through it and still the same. Is there anything I can do or am I going to have to get Gaggia to fix it. (Is it worth it as it is over a year old?)
 
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