Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

How fresh are they? Too fresh can result in sour shots. Rest 10-21 days. When pulling tight 1:2 ratios you often can end up grinding too fine chasing after that 30 second shot time. I'd go coarser and aim for a quicker 25 seconds, if still sour pull 1:2.5 . The better aroma is a sign you're in the ball park grind wise.
 
How fresh are they? Too fresh can result in sour shots. Rest 10-21 days. When pulling tight 1:2 ratios you often can end up grinding too fine chasing after that 30 second shot time. I'd go coarser and aim for a quicker 25 seconds, if still sour pull 1:2.5 . The better aroma is a sign you're in the ball park grind wise.

Well, I got it for my birthday which was back in the middle of Feb…thrown the bag away now so at least 7 weeks old.
 
cafetiere not sure what's wrong with a pre-heated pyrex glass cafetiere - much easier to keep clean and see what's happening
realised last week that I need to pulycaf my stainless milk pitcher regularly - dishwashing doesn't cut it.


...could temperature surf in the gaggia - brew thermostat was the only thing I had changed in my previous silvia, machine was sold old, but the old thermostat's still around.

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I always think I’d love to be a barista one day until the milk comes out
I don't make espresso milk drinks - just black , and a daily hot chocolate with wand, but need to try the cocoa powder thing that the pro did in that video
 
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Got the bambino and encore today so tried my hand at making a few shots. Followed barazzas espresso setting of 16. Took me 4 shots before realising it was too fine and choking. 22 on the fifth shot and was happy with a flat white.

It was too late to make any more so will resume testing again tomorrow. This is eyeballing a lot as the scale I have is not accurate to .1g nor does it fit under the portafilter.
 
I always think I’d love to be a barista one day until the milk comes out. Maybe I’ll open a cafe one day where it’s exclusively black coffee.
I've been to one many years ago. Didn't even do espresso. It was filter coffee only from different methods and served black. Closed something like 14 years ago now. Still think it would work today. Penny University run by Square Mile. Went a few times. Frankly, one of the best cafe experiences I've ever had.
 
It has 2 on setting, one with sound, one without sound. Since the buttons are touch sensitive, I found with sound to be more useful since it gives a confirmation of me pressing it.

Use M1 for pour over and M2 for espresso.
Arrived much quicker than I last used Ali!

First impressions, quality looks fantastic and not far off the more expensive scales.

Will be returning back to coffee in about the week, will get a better play around.
 
Arrived much quicker than I last used Ali!

First impressions, quality looks fantastic and not far off the more expensive scales.

Will be returning back to coffee in about the week, will get a better play around.

Now you need one of these tings that Hoffmann uses lol

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(I accidentally bought the large version)
 
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I always think I’d love to be a barista one day until the milk comes out. Maybe I’ll open a cafe one day where it’s exclusively black coffee.

Someone did something similar a couple of years back, didn't work sadly.


London Coffee Festival is on again next weekend. Thursday through Sunday.


Personally, will be looking at coffee subscriptions as Hasbean is no more. It has ceased to be. Fully rebranded as Ozone now and for the last few months it really has seemed like it's been 50% natural coffees (which I hate) and the quality of the others just isn't up to what we got with Steve in charge. So, will be moving on from them. Sad for me, I think I've had pretty much every In My Mug coffee apart from maybe 4 or 5... So that's around 200kg of coffee. :eek:

Other than that, see new toys, meet friends, drink great coffee and have a laugh. Few good roasters I'm looking at getting more coffee from. Danelaw, Plot, Lost Sheep, Redemption, Origin... Suspect I'll come home with a couple of kilo's of beans.

I'm going too, 9th year. Sunday Brunch slot. Sad to know Hasbean has gone, it was never the same after Steve left. I used to buy loads from them over 10 years ago. I won't buy as much at the festival as I have done in previous years. I may go again next year then pack it in after 10 years. I would like to try other coffee festivals instead.
 
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had you run machine in hot water through steam wand mode, during descaling - although fluid wouldn't really sit for a length of time in that region.
in for a penny - I'd cut the remaining plastic tube out and try using a pick to get olive out - I've used safety pins where I bent point at right angles with pliers.

Apologies, i meant to reply to this.

Plastic and metal end is out. Ive taken a hammer and flathead to it, pliers etc - no movement whatsoever :D

Still thinking on new machine, i need it to be sensible enough for my wife to use. I might want to manually control coffee brew on/off - she wont!

I was thinking the Sage Pro will do the job, but a bit put off on Sage experience now
 
Like a dosing cup isn't sufficient these days :p

Did you come in a box called funny coffee scales?

I don’t remember, thrown the box away now…show me a pic of yours?

My amusing scale arrived in a lightning fast 5 days last week, along with a leveller that actually fills the basket.

Thought I would need the beep off but with no palpable buttons the confirmation is quite useful

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Anyone got any suggestion of a really low profile espresso cup/glass? I need it to be 5cm max (and 5cm wide, this is the width of the double spouts), this is the amount of gap between the top of the scale to the bottom of the spout. All my espresso cups are at around 6cm tall, shortest is 5.7cm.

This is the best that I've found.

 
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maybe a low profile drip tray .. like

 
maybe a low profile drip tray .. like


oooooooooh, I like your out of the box thinking!
 
Was going to suggest the same. I get by with my scales and normal espresso cups as I’m using a bottomless PF and it works with the standard Gaggia Classic drip tray. The extended low profile looks ideal to me though and I’ll probably get one eventually.
 
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