I got a Hamilton Beach 40715 ($70) for Xmas and I'm trying to make the best with I have and figure out how to make decent espresso. I purchased a steel tamper after measuring the portafilter, HB had no idea how large it was and gave me the wrong size! The tamper has made a huge difference with the crema, I was amazed.

However, when I buy espresso from a coffee shop or sample it from a machine at Williams-Sonoma the espresso is much stronger, a little creamier throughout, and much more SOUR at the bottom. Mine is never sour and I don't know if I want it to be that sour.

I'm using the Allegro Southern Italian roast (Whole Foods) and grinding them myself, however the HB does not like a fine grind (it gets soupy inside) and says to give it a sugar type grind. What can I adjust proportionally to give it more body/make it more like an expensive machine. Should I just add more coffee? Grind it finer and let the pump do the work? I can't buy any more equipment so let's work with what I have

Thanks,

JS

It takes more than an espresso machine to make good espresso.

Spend some time reading the how to section and you will begin to understand that a proper grinder and fresh coffee are also required. Whole Foods bin coffee is not the same as coffee freshly roasted from an artisan roaster. It is surely better than Folgers but it is still not acceptable for good espresso.

The Hamilton Beach machine is a good start but there are other things you will require for the best possible results.

Look into a non pressurized filter basket to start with and get fresh roasted coffee. And remember to have fun and not take it too seriously it is just coffee.

I didn't get the bin coffee it's sealed in a bag but same beans. They also sell locally roasted which is my next purchase. I have a Krups burr grinder which actually works quite well for the $27 I paid for it on Ebay. I'm just looking for suggestions on how to extract more flavor from a pressurized filter that doesn't like a fine grind.

I wouldn't trust the freshness of either of those beans unless there is a roast date printed on the bag. This roast date on the bins is usually just when the most recent beans were added. So that is one place to start looking, fresh beans.

I'm not sure what frame of reference you have for "quite well" referencing your grinder. Just that it functions?

Not to be harsh, but here is the thing: You have to put in the work learning what you are doing, otherwise all the advice we can give you here will not be able to be placed into a proper context for you. For example, a machine at Williams Sanoma is not extracting 'good' espresso, nothing worth using as a metric for your success. And, most of the shops in the US (even some in coffee mecca places like seattle and portland) are not extracting quality stuff either. So that being said, you need to do the hard work for your self to learn as much as possible, then come here and ask specific questions with enough context that 'expert' advice will be able to be wielded expertly. Look through the 'how tos' sections, read each article carefully and start practicing. But as a previous poster said, have fun. If it isn't fun for you to, then just be happy with where you are at and enjoy it for what it is.

karl_a_hall wrote:...you need to do the hard work for your self to learn as much as possible, then come here and ask specific questions with enough context that 'expert' advice will be able to be wielded expertly.

Very well said!

The Home Barista's Guide to Espresso is a must-read reference. Next stop is the FAQs and Favorites with a refresher on forum search tips. As documented in Hall of Shame: ''What I did when I was a newbie'', we all had to start somewhere, however today's espresso aficionados benefit from a huge wealth of well-documented knowledge not available when I began!

Welcome Jason,

Would you consider posting a picture and coordinates of whomever gave you that "Hamilton Beach espresso machine?" We will dispatch a hit squad at the shortest possible delay.

Speaking more seriously, most people who think they are drinking espresso are blissfully happy in whatever ignorance they are wallowing in. It is not my place or that of anyone else here to tell you what you should drink. Undoubtedly you found this site with a search engine like google. There is good and bad in that. On the one hand you might discover a new interest that will make you appear weird to all your (former) friends and colleagues. On the other hand you might be happier doing a disk cleanup and removing the browsing history from your browser and never coming back here.

If you stay, I promise it will be interesting and you may become poor as a result. If you leave you will be just like 98% of the general population and most of them seem to me to be relatively happy. Good coffee does not happiness make, however bad coffee, once you realize it is truly bad, is intolerable.

Good luck whatever your choice.

ken

First, Thanks Dan for your comment.

Ken, you make a good point about ignorance is bliss (and used whom* correctly, yay!).

Jason, I hope you are encouraged in a way that is proportionate to the amount of effort you are willing to put into espresso. Just as Dan linked to in his post, those are the places to start, especially if you have only a medium amount of impetus. As a person who owes most of what he knows about espresso to the online community, trust me when I say there is so much there that you may not have to ask a question in here for another three months after reading that info and practicing your technique and broadening your 'tasting' horizons.

Also Jason, a serious warning... if you are a guy who likes to tinker and does not have cash to play around with right now... it may just be best to follow Ken's advice and only come back here when you have enough time/money/tools to commit to the temptations you will find in the pages of these forums (commercial machines, lever, PID, pressure profiling, grinder, bigger grinder, bigger-er grinder, etc.)\

Does that make sense Jason? Feel free to ask if you are confused about the advice we have given. We have actually backhandedly answered EVERY question you posted in your initial post... but we have given it to you in a way that is far more valuable than you even know right now (i.e. those links that Dan gave).

Ken Fox wrote:If you stay, I promise it will be interesting and you may become poor as a result. If you leave you will be just like 98% of the general population and most of them seem to me to be relatively happy. Good coffee does not happiness make, however bad coffee, once you realize it is truly bad, is intolerable.

So true! Are you sure you want the red pill?


"Blue or Red Pill?" from BentTV Productions (weird humor)

I'm not trying to enter the Westminster espresso show or anything, much like I'm happy with a cheap nice tasting wine others would scoff at. As all food is art who is to say what it should and shouldn't be? Ah but we do it anyway! I'm not looking to build a facility in my tiny kitchen and make espresso in a particle collider at 4 trillion degrees so that it has stars being born inside the crema.

I just want something with some sort of flavor that is enjoyable enough. I can enjoy any coffee even if I know it's better or worse than something else I've had. It's all about appreciating what you have and what you've made with what you've been given. Perhaps this is my Proustian side speaking. Obviously this is preaching to the choir but people tend to get carried away in their pursuits of things and begin to dissect things into minutiae which is not what a person like myself can do with a HB machine!! Keep it in context!

Good espresso isn't necessarily more expensive than bad. Just a bit more effort.